Has anyone tried the ProActive GI Tract Support?

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suzi1780

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From http://www.qualitymutationchinchillas.com/yourchinstore/supplementsandtreats.html

I was thinking about giving it a try since it has acidophilus in it, right now I get the capsules and spinkle it either on a pinch of oats or on their food, but I just never feel like they get very much of it that way. I have tried using a shredded wheat also, a) most of the powder ended up on the floor b) my girls don't really like shredded wheat! (they are weird girls hahaha)
 
You can make your own supplement much cheaper. Buy the herbs online and mix with rolled oats, wheat, triticale, rye and barley. We use a recipe that Egon Mosslacher developed in the '80s and published, he was a well-known German rancher. We combine chamomile flowers, peppermint, dandelion, sage, malva flowers, St. John's wort, fennel, all of which are dried herbs, rose hips and the rolled grains. The chins love it, it's really good for them and we mix powdered milk in when the mom's are littering. Mosslacher's book was published in 1986 in English and titled "Breeding and Caring for Chinchillas." If you order online you'll save a lot and you can freeze it in larger quantities.
 
We were told by a vet at Shindig a few years ago that acidophilus will not do any good for a chin because their stomachs are so acidic that the acidophilus won't live long enough to help the intestinal flora. I was surprised to hear that as I've used it before and 'thought' it was helping.
I have used Dawanna's (Chocolate Chins) lifeline with much success and highly recommend it. I believe it has acidophilus in it as well, along with many other things. I've nursed a couple of sick chins back to health with it.

I have never heard of the product you mentioned.
 
It probably wouldn't hurt your chin, but the acidophilus is only going to help if it's a really high billion count. The lower counts don't make it through the GI tract due to the acidity of a chin's stomach.

I'm not sure I would want to give calcium unless necessary. If your chins teeth are nice and orange, then it would seem to me the added calcium would just be overkill. I doubt it's enough to cause stones, but is it necessary even so?

I would probably just give a rosehip and sprinkle some acidophilus on their food, and it's probably cheaper too.
 
If you want to be sure your chin is getting acidophilus, you can always get the chewable kind. Or if you prefer the capsules, you can always break open a capsule and mix the powder with a little bit of water, and give it to them with a syringe or medicine dropper. That way you can be sure it is actually getting into their tummies.
 
thanks everyone for your advice, let me just say it is so wonderful to be able to get great advice before you go out a waste money on a product :thumbsup:
 
Since I'm the one selling the acidophilus I thought I'd weigh in here. I'm only going to say that I use this weekly with my own herd. Here is a letter from the Marty Hull who invented it specifically for chinchillas.

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Subject: Pro-Active Chinchilla GI Tract Management

Ingredients: Vitamin C (calcium ascorbate)
Probiotic (live culture freeze dried lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria)


Background: Chinchillas are pretty durable. They have excellent self-healing capability if given a chance. Over the years, we noticed that if one is able to keep the digestive tract functioning, then most chinchillas stay very healthy. GI function means the chin will continue to digest and absorb nutrients. This is a vital link in fighting disease and staying healthy. A number of occurrences can cause a chin to stop eating. High stress (very loud noises like barking dogs (probably rap music!!), changes in environment, onset of viral illness (reasonably common),or an injury can result in the chinchilla stopping eating. Hair balls, other items can cause obstructions which can stop digestion. That is a lot to watch for but the reality is much simpler.

At all times, all chinchillas have microorganisms present in their intestinal tracts that are potentially lethal if allowed to increase to high concentration. Practically speaking, if intestinal motility is maintained without interruption, then these pathogenic microorganisms are continually diluted as material moves through the GI tract. They never get to sufficient concentration to cause a problem. If there is an interruption, blockage, stoppage, then pathogens can proliferate very quickly, can perforate the intestinal lining and the chinchilla can be dead in 2 to 3 days.

I did a survey of available literature a few years ago. I found that Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria are normally present in all chins, also in horses, most other herbivores. Lactobacillus is very beneficial. It produces a range of antibiotics that inhibit the growth of a great number of these pathogens. The lactobacillus is not a terribly durable organism. The lactobacillus colony can be damaged by ingestion of chemicals (like chlorine or pesticides in water), toxins, or by the introduction of other competing microorganisms. The Pro-C supplement helps keep the lactobacillus colony continuously healthy.

The other ingredient of the supplement is Vit C in a calcium salt form (Calcium Ascorbate) instead of an acid form (ascorbic acid). The acid form irritates the chins noses and they won't eat it. Vit C helps the immune system, improves tissue integrity and quite happily also works as a natural laxative (same as high dose does in humans). It can be used to safely clear hair balls and most other stoppages/blockages. The combination of Vit C and lactobacillus has worked better than we could have imagined.

Rules of thumb for chin health: Give each chin 1 tablet 3 times per week. This continuously reintroduces lactobacillus so the colony stays healthy. Then on a daily basis, observe the chins droppings. As long as they are normal looking, dark brown, moist, and frequent, things are going well. If the droppings start to get smaller, light tan and drier then there is the possibility of a slow down or blockage developing. If that happens, then immediately increase dose of tablets: give several tablets in one day. This will usually clear up the problem in a few hours. Then drop back to
3 per week.

If the chin comes in contact with a viral or other illness, diarrhea may be the result. The tablets work for that also since the Vit C has some anti-viral properties. The Vitamin C plus the antibiotics naturally produced by the lactobacillus are pretty effective against disease.

Treatment: Same approach: increase number of pills to as many as you can get into the chin per day, up to 5 or 6. Even though the Vit C works as a laxative in the absence of disease, it helps eliminate diarrhea when disease is present. Once the problem has passed, then drop back to 3 tablets per week.

Most of the time, you will not be faced with these issues but it is nice to have an interceptive option that you can do 'right now'. One great aspect is there is no downside to use of the supplement. There is no possibility of overdose whatsoever. I read and article in which some veterinarians in So. California were giving 2.5 grams per day to a chinchilla to try to improve jaw bone health. No toxicity at all! That would be equivalent to me taking about 350 to 400 x 1 gram (1000 mg) tablets per day. That would not leave room for much else!!

Supplementation of lactobacillus has other substantial benefits. Lactobacillus colonizes the GI tract and the birth canal so when kits pass down the birth canal, lactobacillus enters the kit's digestive tract and a lactobacillus colony gets started at the outset. This helps deter subsequent pathogen colonization. Death rate of newborn kits drops dramatically. Accepted rule of thumb for newborn death rate has been about 1 in 4. (25%). We lose about 1 in 10.

Last item: If the chin appears ill and will not take tablets, then grind up a couple tablets, mix with something like strawberry yogurt and feed with a popsicle stick. Again, you try to get in several tablets in a day. That's it.

I would suggest buying 100 tablets at a time. Keep them in the frig or freezer. That should be enough for about 6 to 7 months.

Marty Hull
 
One last thing.

For those of you who are not familar with Meadowbrook Chinchillas and Marty Hull (aka MBCHINCHILLAS on this forum). They have been breeding chinchillas for 28 years and have done a substantial amount of rescue work over the years. They have at times taken in entire herds of sick chinchillas and nursed them back to health and re-homed them (incurring cost of over $10,000 in vet bills in one particular incidence). They are wonderful and generous people that have a wealth of information and experience to offer on just about anything that can go wrong with a chinchilla. They are willing to take the time to help anyone with chin issues regardless of who they are or where they bought their chinchillas. I consider them an asset to the chinchilla community.
 
Sorry, I have a headache and didn't fully absorb what I read...Is this a special GI pill for chins or is this simply giving your chin acidopholus? Also, is the article suggesting we also give our chins vitamin C? Sorry if this is clear and I didn't read it right but I wanted to make sure what I was reading...
 
RCR - I don't want you to think anybody was being insulting in this thread, so don't feel you need to defend them. Opinions were asked for and given, that's all.

I was agreeing with Brenda on the acidophilus because that's what we've been told by nutritionists as well as vets. If you don't have a very high count, it's useless. So why pay for it if it won't do anything anyway? Do you know how high the billion count is in these tablets? Do you know how much calcium is in them?
 
I was given a bag of Dr. Hull's pills to try when he was working on them about five years ago.

At the time I didn't know you had to give them more than one pill to clear up diarrhea because they didn't come with instructions.

I noticed that they were not as effective. You have to figure the capsule of acidophilus I was giving was designed for a human, much larger, vs. the smaller ones he designed.

I still give acidophilus if I have a case of squishy poo and they clear up in a few hours. Acidic stomach or not, it has been working for me for as long as I've been using it.

imo, the pills are the same as a capsule of acidophilus just in a smaller dose. The chins did like them.
 
I'm neither insulted nor offended. Everyone has their own tried and true way of doing things and I respect that. It's that diversity, wisdom and experience of the CNH members that make this forum such a great place! My intention was only to offer a more detailed description of the product and a little more information on the people who make it. I'm so sorry if it came across as defensive.

I will ask Meadowbrook about the type of acidophilus and billion count number. I do know that the Calcium ascorbate(vitamin C) is 135 mg.
 
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rcr -is this a chewable form of C? I'm still unsure if we're talking about multiple pills or if we are talking about one pill satisfying both requirements for GI health?
 
This is the information I have on the acidophilus.
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I can find out the CFU count. It will probably take about a week +. I think it is 5 billion cfu per gram but will need to verify that. I have never actually weighed out the number of milligrams of lactobacillus per tablet and therefore I have not ever determined the number of cfu per tablet.

The amount of each ingredient was developed over time. First you need something that will compact into a tablet and not fall apart. So, approximately 1/2 of each tablet is filler and binders (lactose and cellulose) and the other 1/2 is active ingredients. Each tablet has equal volumes of lactobacillus acidophillus and Calcium ascorbate. That ratio was developed over time. It works well.
Each tablet has approx 135 mg of vit C.

Oxbow tablets have 50 mg of vit C and no lactobacillus. The cost of ingredients in my Pro-C is probably 4x or more than the Oxbow tablets.

Marty
 
I give this to my chin, and I swear by it.

I started it after a round of antibiotics, and now I continue to give it to him daily. 1/4 pill/day.

He is happier, he doesn't get as stressed, his fur looks better, his sensitive "stomach" is gone, and he chews his sticks more. I can't say enough good things about it.

He also loves to eat it and thinks I'm giving him a treat. It has something in it that appeals to their taste.

(and no, I don't know the folks who make/sell it ;)
 
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