22 ingredients across 5 products. How well each one has been studied in dogs.
ingredients
22ingredients
papers cited
69papers cited
of them in dogs
32of them in dogs
Chapter 1 · Joints
What keeps a joint moving
A joint moves freely when the cartilage on the end of each bone stays smooth and well fed. The 9 ingredients in Joint & Mobility include green-lipped mussel, turmeric and the building blocks of cartilage.
How a joint keeps moving
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Cartilage is the smooth layer on the end of each bone in a joint.
A shellfish farmed only in New Zealand. It carries omega-3 fatty acids, the joint nutrient with the most support in dog trials. In 3 placebo-controlled trials, more dogs improved on the mussel than on placebo.
Share of dogs whose score improved from week 0 to week 8. 45 dogs with osteoarthritis, 15 per group.How the study worked
Who
45 pet dogs with osteoarthritis of the hip or elbow, 15 per group.
Design
Randomised and double-blind, with a placebo group and a carprofen (pain drug) group.
Dose
Lyproflex 500 mg capsules: 4 a day (6 over 40 kg) for 10 days, then 2 or 3 a day. The paper gives 20–49 mg/kg a day for the start.
Length
8 weeks on treatment, then 4 weeks off.
Measured
Vet mobility index, 2 force-plate measures, an owner pain index, pain and walking scales, and extra pain-drug use.
Result
Mussel against placebo, share of dogs improved: mobility P = 0.031, owner pain index P = 0.028, pain scale P = 0.011 (Table 1). By week 8, 7% of mussel dogs and 27% of placebo dogs needed extra carprofen each week. On the 2 force-plate measures, the mussel group did not differ from placebo (P = 0.26 and 0.28).
Funding
Finnish Foundation of Veterinary Research and the Helvi Knuuttila Foundation. The mussel maker gave the product and placebo free. Pfizer gave the carprofen.
Turmeric
Curcuma longa · TER-mer-ik
The orange root that colours curry. Its curcumin is studied for joint comfort. Turmeric is paired with black pepper: in people, piperine from black pepper raised curcumin absorption 2,000%.
Dog trials: mixed
Vets scored less pain in 2 dog trials. The force plate showed no difference.
The gut takes in food, keeps bacteria out of the body and holds much of the immune system. The 12 ingredients in Gut & Immunity include fibres that feed gut bacteria, enzymes, mushrooms and live bacteria.
How the gut and immune system connect
1 / 5
A large share of the body’s immune tissue sits in the gut wall.
Mean faecal calprotectin, 15 dogs per group, all adult female Staffordshire terriers from 1 kennel. The supplement held bromelain, shiitake and quercetin with maltodextrin and appetite stimulants.How the study worked
Who
30 healthy adult female American Staffordshire terriers from 1 kennel, 15 per group.
Design
Randomised and double-blind. The placebo was maltodextrin.
Dose
Each gram of powder held 10 mg shiitake, 13.5 mg quercetin and 13.5 mg bromelain.
Length
28 days, once a day in food.
Measured
Faecal calprotectin, cortisol, short-chain fatty acids, indole and skatole, and N-methylhistamine.
Result
Day 28, placebo against supplement: calprotectin 5.72 vs 3.14 µg/g, cortisol 0.63 vs 0.40 pg/mg, total short-chain fatty acids 199 vs 270 µmol/g. P < 0.001 for each (Table 3).
Funding
University of Turin. An Italian veterinary company, Candioli, supplied the 3 raw materials.
Chicory root
Cichorium intybus · CHIK-o-ree
The root of a blue-flowered plant, rich in a fibre called inulin. Gut bacteria ferment it. In senior dogs, chicory at 1% of the diet raised bifidobacteria, a group of helpful gut bacteria.
Dog trials: positive
For gut-bacteria markers. No study shows better stools.
B. animalis ssp. lactis, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus
Live bacteria from 3 species, about 1 billion CFU on the label. Dog trials of probiotic strains have measured diarrhoea, stool quality and gut bacteria.
A small green fruit from the woodlands of northern Australia. It holds some of the most vitamin C of any fruit, with ellagic acid and other polyphenols.
Lab only
Its make-up is well measured. No dog study exists.
Share of 297 dogs that reacted to each food, pooled from published studies. 1 dog can react to more than 1 food, so the bars add to more than 100%. Emu and duck do not appear in the data. The studies cannot show whether they cause fewer reactions or whether few of these dogs had eaten them.How the study worked
Who
297 dogs with skin reactions to food, from published studies.
Design
A review of published cases. Each dog went on an elimination diet, then old foods came back one at a time.
No. Neither powder and none of the treats has had a trial of its own. This page shows the research on each ingredient. Most of those studies used a single ingredient, a different product or a larger dose than ours, and each finding says which.
To help the body absorb curcumin, the compound studied in turmeric. In a 1998 study in people, 20 mg of piperine from black pepper raised curcumin absorption 2,000%. No study has measured this in dogs.
Dogs do make vitamin C in the liver. Kakadu plum also carries ellagic acid and other polyphenols, measured in lab analyses of the fruit. No study has tested Kakadu plum in dogs, and we do not claim a tested effect for it.
Yes. Joint & Mobility and Gut & Immunity are formulated to be fed together. Shiitake mushroom and Kakadu plum are in both. Give the serve on each pack, and ask your vet first if your dog has a health condition.
The dog trials on this page ran from 4 weeks to 5 months. The green-lipped mussel trials found their differences from placebo at 6 to 8 weeks, and 1 of them found none at 4 weeks. Give a daily serve for at least 2 months before you judge it.
Ask your vet first. In a lab study, piperine from black pepper slowed 2 of the proteins that clear many drugs from the body. Turmeric supplements have rare reports of liver injury in people. Green-lipped mussel is a shellfish, so skip Joint & Mobility if your dog reacts to shellfish.
Colony-forming units: a count of live bacteria that can grow. Our label lists about 1 billion CFU across 3 species. The dog probiotic trials on this page gave 2 to 20 billion CFU a day, each with named strains.
Each treat is 1 animal food with nothing added. If your dog reacts, you know to what. Vets find food allergies with an elimination diet: the dog eats foods it has not had before, then old foods come back one at a time.
This page describes ingredient research. It is not veterinary advice. Wellaroo products are supplements and treats, not medicines, and have not been tested in a trial of their own. Talk to your vet about your dog’s health.
