# Seameal or Kelp?



## GSD4LIFE21 (Mar 8, 2007)

I know the seameal has some added ingredients to their product, but was wondering if it was worth it or if I should just go with the pure kelp? Any opinions welcomed!


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## katieliz (Mar 29, 2007)

i have been using seameal for six years and think it's wonderful and worth every penny it costs. does amazing things especially for the coat and skin (luxurious and no smell, no flakes), and breath (fresh). great product, great company (solid gold). 

my kidz:

http://sera-and-cash.blogspot.com
http://shep-goes-home.blogspot.com

when i rescued the shepster his coat was sparse, brittle, and his skin was dry and flakey. within a month he was an entirely different dog. i feed pinnacle trout and sweet potato, seameal, eicosaderm (omega oil), and now springtime longevity and bug-off garlic. everyone comments about how my kidz don't have that doggy odor and how soft and luxurious their coats are.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Personally I would go with the kelp over seameal. In fact I just bought some kelp... I am leery of Solid Gold's supplements and would be worried whether they actually contain what they claim to contain.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

I had Basu on that seameal for a while and he had the most luxurious coat you could imagine! The Longevity contains kelp and I've found that my dogs get nice coats on that too.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

A caveat about kelp and seameals I figured I'd just toss out there -- for dogs that have any sort of thyroid (or suspected thyroid) issues, these products may have iodine that can seriously skew the balance. 

http://www.mythyroid.com/iodine.html

For young otherwise healthy dogs, these products are likely great. But for older dogs or dogs with other issues (including some inexplicable behavioral issues), we may want to go slowly.


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## katieliz (Mar 29, 2007)

chicagocanine, why would you be concerned about the honesty of the solid gold people and whether their products actually contain what they say they contain? there may well be something i'm not aware of but maybe should be...???


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: 3K9MomA caveat about kelp and seameals I figured I'd just toss out there -- for dogs that have any sort of thyroid (or suspected thyroid) issues, these products may have iodine that can seriously skew the balance.
> 
> http://www.mythyroid.com/iodine.html
> 
> For young otherwise healthy dogs, these products are likely great. But for older dogs or dogs with other issues (including some inexplicable behavioral issues), we may want to go slowly.


Even in dogs with a healthy thyroid, too much kelp can cause problems -- it can induce hypothyroidim and also recently reported autoimmune thyroiditis. I suspect that if you are feeding dog food, it has ample iodine in it and kelp isn't needed. On a homeprepared diet, Kelp in the right amounts can be a good addition, but be carefully if your dog has autoimmune thyroiditis.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: LisaTI suspect that if you are feeding dog food, it has ample iodine in it and kelp isn't needed. On a homeprepared diet, Kelp in the right amounts can be a good addition


Exactly what I would have said.


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## LJsMom (Jan 6, 2008)

[/quote]Even in dogs with a healthy thyroid, too much kelp can cause problems -- it can induce hypothyroidim and also recently reported autoimmune thyroiditis. I suspect that if you are feeding dog food, it has ample iodine in it and kelp isn't needed. On a homeprepared diet, Kelp in the right amounts can be a good addition, but be carefully if your dog has autoimmune thyroiditis.[/quote] 

How do you know if a dog has autoimmune thyroiditis and not just hypothyroid?

I ask because a couple months are giving LJ kelp, she was diagnosed as hypothyroid and also tested allergic to kelp.

I'm now giving her a home prepared diet and know I need to supplement Iodine, but they all seem to be made from kelp.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: katielizchicagocanine, why would you be concerned about the honesty of the solid gold people and whether their products actually contain what they say they contain? there may well be something i'm not aware of but maybe should be...???


There were issues with Solid Gold and the FDA in the past (several different times) which make me leery of their supplements.
Here is some info:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00064.html 

That was just one instance of several, there was another case where she supposedly listed ingredients in the pet food which were not actually in the food.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

The lady is a bit nuts but I haven't had problems with their supplements.


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## GSDgirlAL (Jan 4, 2008)

I have used the Seameal in the past with good success. Cooper was on it along with the Wolf Cub from 6 weeks old to a year. And, he is gorgeous. 

My only thing is that the food is already expensive enough, and then you had to add the supplements in there ... that gets very expensive. And, you have to mix it with warm water so the food gets moistened so it's not like you can just give it to them dry.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: LJsMom
> 
> 
> > Quote:Even in dogs with a healthy thyroid, too much kelp can cause problems -- it can induce hypothyroidim and also recently reported autoimmune thyroiditis. I suspect that if you are feeding dog food, it has ample iodine in it and kelp isn't needed. On a homeprepared diet, Kelp in the right amounts can be a good addition, but be carefully if your dog has autoimmune thyroiditis.
> ...


I think that's a really good question. If you ran a thyroid panel that included the TgAA (thyroglobulin antibodies) or the antibodies for T3 and T4 (T3AA and T4AA) and those were positive, then you have a case of thyroiditis. However, most vets don't test all of those, and if you test too late in the disease process when the thryoid is nearly completely atrophied, you will get false negatives. Also, there are other antibodies that I don't think they have a test for. Jean Dodds I think said that probably about 95% of the thyroid cases are autoimmune, so even if you don't know, it's safe to assume thyroiditis. 

Max had slightly elevated antibodies, so I know he's autoimmune. Indy's may be a result of her vaccine stuff -- she's probably not autoimmune, but secondary thyroid disease from a tired thyroid. Btw, LOTS of the dogs on the tick list end up with thyroid disease, occasionally it gets better when the tick disease is treated.

I don't supplement these guys' homeprepared diet with iodine consciously. Occasionally I'll supplement with spirulina which I'm sure has some in it.


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