DoggyRade Pro User Guide

✔️What is DoggyRade Pro and what is it used For?

DoggyRade Pro is an award-winning isotonic solution that contains water purified by reverse osmosis, amino acids, electrolytes, dextrose and prebiotics. It is also highly palatable to dogs. DoggyRade Pro is specially formulated to maintain the health of enterocytes with the goal of helping to maintain gut integrity and the mucosal barrier. DoggyRade Pro is used to provide early nutritional support to dogs.

What are the benefits of early enteral nutrition? (Why should I feed my patient now?)

Anorexia is common in sick or seriously injured patients. Anorexia rapidly leads to gastrointestinal (GI) mucosal atrophy, decreased GI motility, pancreatic atrophy and cholestasis. Early nutrition helps maintain normal GI function thus helping to decrease patient morbidity.

Even small volumes of enterally-delivered nutrients have been shown to:

  • Help maintain GI mucosal blood flow
  • Help decrease the incidence of stress ulcers
  • Help maintain the integrity of the intestinal barrier thus decreasing the likelihood of bacterial translocation
  • Enteral nutrients are also essential for secretory IgA which is a key component of the gut mucosal defence system

Many patients cannot tolerate the caloric density and fat content of standard nutrition products in the early phases of their illness, but DoggyRade Pro provides an alternative strategy.

✔️Patient selection and support

Every sick or injured animal will benefit from early nutrition. This is especially important in severe trauma, immediately postoperative following gastrointestinal surgery, parvovirus enteritis and in any patient that has been anorectic for longer than 24 hours at the time of examination. Other than patients that have a major surgical condition there is no patient whose GI tract benefits from “‘nothing by mouth”.

Key point: If it is anticipated that the patient will not voluntarily eat within 12 hours an attempt should be made to start DoggyRade Pro within 6 hours.

How does DoggyRade Pro help?

DoggyRade Pro can be used for both outpatients and inpatients. A dog with a typical, mild case of gastroenteritis or other illnesses can be given DoggyRade Pro to drink at home. See Section 3 below for administration guidelines.

Patients that are more severely ill and require hospitalisation will also benefit from DoggyRade Pro. The goals of providing DoggyRade Pro early in the patient’s hospital stay are to encourage maintenance of normal GI function, help with healing and allow a smoother and earlier transition back to a normal diet. A patient that eats can be discharged to continue their recovery at home. Many sick or seriously injured patients will not voluntarily eat or may not tolerate normal diets, which prolongs their hospital stays. DoggyRade Pro can help prepare the intestine for normal food intake.

How to administer DoggyRade Pro?

DoggyRade Pro is highly palatable and ready-to-use. No further mixing or dilution is required. It is best administered at room temperature, or slightly warmed to about 30 C.

Because DoggyRade Pro is highly palatable, many patients will voluntarily drink it even in the face of mild nausea. DoggyRade Pro can also be administered orally using a normal syringe. Because of the significant benefits of early enteral nutrition, tube feeding (nasoesophageal or nasogastric) should be considered if the patient will not voluntarily drink or eat in the first 12 hours following admission to the hospital.

DoggyRade Pro should be started at 1 ml/kg/hr, usually given every 4 hrs the first day. The volume can be increased by 50% every 12-24 hours if it is being well tolerated. The stomach of the dog (and humans) normally receives approximately 1.5 ml/kg/h of fluid composed of a combination of saliva and gastric secretions.10, 11 The volume of DoggyRade Pro initially administered is not likely to worsen nausea, vomiting or gastric distention.

For patients who are vomiting, small amounts of DoggyRade Pro can still be considered. If vomiting is more frequent than every 4 hours or if the feeding triggers vomiting, the volume should be decreased by 50% for 8-12 hours and then increased again as tolerated. It is important to try and keep a steady flow of micronutrients to the intestinal cells, even though it may only be a small amount. This approach to microenteral nutrition is preferable to ‘nothing by mouth’, with the goal of ensuring that the intestinal cells are ready to resume normal activity when the acute situation has resolved.

It should be noted that patients that are losing large volumes of fluids due to their underlying disease may need additional parenteral or enteral fluid support, to support adequate cardiovascular status and hydration. DoggyRade Pro is formulated to support intestinal function, at low volumes. Veterinarians should also note DoggyRade Pro is not a significant source of calories, as it contains 11.4 kcal/100 ml, or 0.11 kcal/ml. DoggyRade Pro is not intended to provide balanced nutrition. It is intended to serve as a transitional support product. After 24-48 hours on DoggyRade Pro, most patients are ready to move on to more calorie-dense products, such as recovery/ critical care diets or other intestinal support diets.

✔️What are the ingredients in DoggyRade Pro?

DoggyRade Pro is composed of electrolytes, glutamic acid, fructooligosaccharides, glycine and dextrose.

What are the benefits of glutamic acid?

Glutamine is an amino acid derived from glutamic acid. Glutamine is the preferred energy substrate for the enterocyte and as such it plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the gut barrier. It is also the preferred fuel source for other rapidly dividing cells such as lymphocytes and fibroblasts especially during times of critical illness.

What are the benefits of fructooligosaccharides (FOS)?

FOS are prebiotics and naturally-occurring substances that provide beneficial effects on digestion through their activity in the large intestine. FOS are fermented in the colon to product short chain fatty acids, which have important anti-inflammatory effects. FOS help to increase the concentrations of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp and may decrease concentrations of harmful bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens.

What are the benefits of glycine?

Glycine has been shown to improve intestinal mucosal morphology and hasten the resolution of diarrhea. Glycine also enhances the update of glucose from the gut.

What are the benefits of glucose?

Glucose enhances sodium and water absorption through a cotransporter mechanism, even in the face of active secretion due to infection. Glucose in the gut also enhances mucosal blood flow.

What are the benefits of the electrolytes?

DoggyRade Pro contains a maintenance level of sodium and potassium – equivalent to what the body normally loses daily through urine and faeces.

✔️Storage

Store unopened product in a cool dry place (5-20 °C, 40 – 75 °F) out of direct sunlight. Once opened, refrigerate remaining product, and use within 3 days.