Save 90% on your dog dementia medication, by DYI

World first research (MINE) and a world-beating way of saving 90% on the cost of non-prescription anti-dog dementia medication!

As a business person, I hate how some retailers find tricky ways of undercutting you. However when a company uses natural drugs puts them in capsules and marks up near 1000% on retail, then that is very hard to swallow. I have been searching for a way to protect my dogs brain as he ages and this looks like the best way, globally.

There are plenty of research papers on dementia for humans and dogs saying what the most promising anti-dementia medication for dogs are.  The main thing that aktiait and a few other dog brands have done is just put all these single chemicals into one jar.

The problem is that AKTIVAIT (not available in Australia but you can purchase on Amazon, eBay etc) has reviews that are often glowing. BUT there are no hard science facts on large trials over long periods.

In the last article, I wrote I looked at what the MAXIMUM or toxic levels of the active ingredients in this nutraceutical were.  There are many good reasons to do this:

1. How much does this corporation put into their tablets and why

2. How does it compare to such companies as Hills dog food anti-dementia food products?

3. Is there any chance of toxic build up of these chemicals, cross bad reactions or could the chemicals be found separately and the levels boosted safely at all?

The levels of drugs I found in the main OS nutraceutical were amazingly SMALL compared to estimated toxic levels in dogs. Typically (see the last article) the value of almost every ingredient is less than SIX PERCENT of the highest allowable value.

Considering that all of the chemicals are also ones that are recommended for humans and they have been thoroughly researched for their safety. The levels chosen in combined form are so well within limits that it makes sense that even a novice should be able to use similar amounts of the ingredient combinations.

In fact, while it would be useful to keep the same ratio as is used in these bottles, there doesn’t appear to be any specific major co dependence of ingredients to ensure they are used properly, nor will their value be diminished if the amounts used are different from the dog brands.

NOTE if you feed dog pellets (quality) or a raw diet such as myself (with high dosage Omega 3 and quality multivitamin already) then the amount of other ingredients you need to source are less again. BUT NOTE – the limited reviews I did find, all suggested that it was the synergy of the ingredients that provided the main benefit, not one or two used separately.

HOW TO SAVE YOUR DOG’S BRAIN AND BIG MONEY on dog anti dementia medication

While many owners swear by AKTIVAIT, the issue is that with 60 capsules in the mid to large dog bottles and mid-sized dogs needing two capsules per day, you will go through a bottle every 30 days and at $80 per bottle .. that is a sizeable chunk of money (twice that of some dog insurance costs) ..

Because of the commonness of the ingredients in this nutraceutical, I thought I would at least have a casual check of what the mark up might be between buying AKTIVAIT (from UK online) or making it up yourself ..  The following table is just some quick grabs I got off Google.

How the costs compare

Below is a comparison table of the cost of the ingredients (gram per gram) and it turns out that the right blue columns come up with a cost of 13 cents per ‘tablet’ DIY. Or 26 cents for a 20-40 Kg dog.

Buy the same mg of ingredients in capsule form already combined and the cost will be $80/ 60 = $1.34 per capsule or $2.68 per day (medium sized dog). That might seem cheap to many people, and awfully convenient (if you don’t mind shipping from OS) but it also works out at about $974 per year.

Considering that many people shop around for a good price on their commercial dog food, can’t afford pet insurance or vets, or other dog supplements for old age such as joint support …  well, I found that cost just a little too high for a mid-sized dog, for many people.

At a DIY price of 26 cents : ( 26 cents / $2.66 ) =  10% cost from DIY compared to an ALL IN ONE capsule.

CONSIDERATIONS IN SELF Preparation of dog anti dementia medications.

While these medications are HUMAN GRADE if you buy it in Australia and there is over 20 times safety margin on most of the chemicals before toxicity, you will need to understand how to divide down each capsule or tablet that the individual components come in, and handling instructions – reducing oxidizations etc.

For instance, buying individual N-ACETYL CYSTEINE 1000mg comes in 60 Tablets

You only need 60 mg per supplement tablet equivalent (20 Kg dog), and medium-sized dogs need two tablets (120 mg).  This is only 12% of the 1,000 mg tablet.  MOST people don’t have scales that measure accurately down to the mg.  And while they are cheap on ebay, you may want to use other methods such as those below to measure your chemicals.

The most useful method of making a DYI anti dog dementia drug cocktail would be to make several batches at a time and MIX THOROUGHLY, then divide.

IF you think that you will be unable to mix completely thoroughly (ie the powder doesn’t grind down into a homogenous paste easily)  then you will need to work other safe methods. Do not make a batch of greater than 30 will ensure that the mixture, even without thorough mixing, is nowhere near the toxic levels (see the previous blog).

Omega 3 (fish oil ONLY recommended) and CoQ-10 usually come in oil solutions.  Since I give my dog 2000 mg of Omega 3 per day (six capsules) I will continue to give that separately. Same for the big doses of Vitamin B series, E and C that he gets in a human grade multivitamin that I have made sure goes nowhere near the upper limit prescribed in the aafco dog food tables.

But you will also note that CoQ-10 comes in powder (as well as liquid form) as do most ingredients.

An example of common sized capsule doses

Below is a table of how many mg is in some common brands of the specified drugs and how many doses each capsule is equivalent to.

Assuming that you already give your dog whole Omega 3 fish oil capsules (to make up for the poor conversion rate of flax seed) then you will be mainly concentrating on the other ingredients. We found L-carnintine comes in lose powder, but you may prefer buying in capsules just to help with dividing it into smaller doses.

Alpha lipoic acid 100mg capsules would be equivalent to 1.67 doses for a 20-40 Kg dog. If you break down three capsules that is equivalent to 5 doses which you could divide into five even piles.

N-acetyl cysteine is equivalent to 8.33 doses – so you could probably round that to 8 doses.

HOWEVER, since the drugs have a safety factor of about x 20 being slightly over or under this formulation should not make a big difference. So what I have done is look at how many doses are in every single capsule and looked at the biggest dose capsule and how to make the other drugs the same number of doses.

The last two columns in the above table show this.

Except for L carnitine (need to find in capsule form to make preparation easier) you can see that the largest dose per capsule is ‘Acetyl l carnitine’ (35 doses).  Using 20, 4, 1, 1 and 2 capsules of the corresponding drugs (see the last column of the above table), rounds out the doses per drugs to about 33.

If you want to ensure that minimum levels are maintained (Co enzyme is only 25 doses per capsule) then use the shown number of capsules, grind together, and separate out into 25 doses.  This is a good number as it ensures freshness and that even with imperfect mixing that no single chemical will be near toxic levels. To remind you why you are doing this 25 doses (almost a month) DIY =  $6.50 compared to premade capsules 25 x $2.66 =  $66.50.

ALTERNATIVELY, you may want to use the binary system. 

The largest dose number in the table is 33 which is close enough to 32 (2 to the power 5).

This means that if you grind down your mixture (that is enough for 33 doses), and the half each pile FIVE times, you will have thirty-two piles of the same size, and 32 equal doses.

Now I know that saving a little bit of money is going to make no difference to the uber rich. For them its all about convenience, the price is no object. But for the average person with bills rising all around them, many will not be able to afford any anti dementia drugs at al for their dogs. Let alone trust single patented drugs – that is why a DYI made up of readily available human grade chemicals (many of them already made inside of our bodies) is such a great option.

Ideally you should start your dog around age seven on these and if they live to fourteen, then buying premade will cost you $973 x 7 = $6,800 Versus DYI solution of ($95 x 7 ) =   $666 over 7 years.

Note when you figure vet bills, dog food, dog toys, joint pain medication, other dog supplements, HEALTHY DOG TREATS, etc into your dog bills – you can perhaps see why many people would stop their premade anti dementia medication within the first year –

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCLAIMERS

As always, CONSULT your vet before giving any supplements THIS blog is speculative and does not constitute medical advice for you to follow.

I believe in doing the best for my dog, and giving him the best life I can afford to give him. If some supplement companies are making MASSIVE profits at my, or my dog’s expense, then I consider looking at alternative options, for the same result is only being sensible and caring for my dog.

Anti dog dementia medication is like insurance for your dog, you will read reviews how some dogs actually seem to become smarter on it even in old age and don’t lose their sparkle. If your dog is on a meat based diet, exercised off a lead and gets anti-dementia medication you may find that they are both mentally and physically alert up until the day they die of ‘natural causes’ ie their heart stops beating.

I would do anything to preserve the quality of my dog’s life, and this is definitely one great easy step to do so!

++++

APPENDIX

It is noted that tests on AKTIVAIT (24 dogs showing brain declined in 2007 all over 8 yrs old) showed good improvements, yet tests on individual chemical treatments were “disappointing”. It seems that it is the combination of the supplements within the nutraceutical that is of value.

If you intend on giving the brain protecting supplements long term, and why wouldn’t you – then such relatively low doses (compared to toxic levels) should be safe for several dog lifetimes.

++

Comparative study of select biochemical markers in cerebrospinal fluid of healthy dogs before and after treatment with nutraceuticals.

Galan A1, Carletti BE, Morgaz J, Granados MM, Mesa I, Navarrete R, Lombardo R, Martínez CM, Martín-Suárez EM.

Background: Several studies indicate that changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) composition depend on the disease stage and reflect modification of brain energy metabolism (BEM). Also, it has been reported that a decline in cognitive functions may be mitigated by incorporating nutraceuticals in the diet.

Several studies indicate that changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) composition depend on the disease stage and reflect modification of brain energy metabolism (BEM). Also, it has been reported that a decline in cognitive functions may be mitigated by incorporating nutraceuticals in the diet.

OBJECTIVE:

Assuming the beneficial effect of nutraceuticals on BEM and oxidative damage, the aim of this study was to determine if the administration of a nutraceutical compound results in changes of select CSF biomarkers in healthy adult Beagle dogs.

result All studied variables remained within reference intervals, before and after treatment. A significant increase in CSF sodium and glucose concentration, and a decrease in lactate levels, was observed after treatment (P < .05), and the lactate/pyruvate ratio was decreased after treatment (P = .05). In serum, sodium and chloride concentrations were significantly increased (P < .05), and creatinine concentration was significantly decreased (P < .05) after treatment.

CONCLUSION  After 50 days of treatment with a nutraceutical compound, CSF glucose, sodium, and lactate concentrations, and L/P ratio were significantly different, suggesting an influence of nutraceuticals’ administration on CSF composition.

©2014 American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology and European Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology.

Nutritional supplementation in cases of canine cognitive dysfunction—A clinical trial

Sarah Elizabeth Heath   Stephen Barabas   Paul Graham Craze1

Abstract:    Canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) is a clinical condition, which impacts significantly on the lives of elderly dogs and their owners. It is hypothesised that nutritional supplementation can be used in the management of the condition and this trial was designed to investigate the therapeutic effects of a specific supplement when compared to a placebo. The trial was conducted in a clinical context and involved 20 UK veterinary practices, giving geographical spread across the country.

The duration of the trial was 56 days, including a baseline period of 7 days and a post trial period of 7 days. There was a significant difference between the treated and the placebo groups in relation to improvement in their scores for disorientation, changes in interaction and house soiling behavior at day 21, day 28 and day 42. These results support the clinical practice of nutritional supplementation as a valuable component of the therapeutic approach in cases of canine cognitive dysfunction.