Purina FortiFlora Canine Probiotic Supplement - chewy.com Product Review

Sometimes, a new kind of treat or too many treats can cause Chewy to have a bout of mushy or even runny poops. There are various at-home remedies for the occasional diarrhea/soft stools, such as feeding chicken & rice, ground flax seed, or pumpkin puree. Another option is feeding probiotics to help balance out the gastrointestinal system. While humans often eat yogurt as a source of probiotics, it is unclear whether dogs benefit from doing the same. So, there are probiotics made just for dogs!

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets' probiotic supplement is called FortiFlora. It can be purchased without a prescription, but the feeding instructions say to use under veterinary supervision. This is important, as a veterinarian would be more adept at determining whether there is a serious underlying health problem. However, it can seem like overkill to run to the vet every single time your dog gets a case of the runs! Depending on the situation, you might decide to try treating for it at home by feeding probiotics.

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets FortiFlora Canine Probiotic Supplement

FortiFlora comes in powdered form that is packaged in single serving sachets.

Individually packaged powder packets

One sachet

The feeding instructions say to feed one packet a day. I sprinkle it right over Chewy's dinner, and he eats it all up. Easy peasy! 

The lighter colored powdery stuff = FortiFlora

The powder falls through the kibbles to the bottom of the bowl as he eats, but Chewy is a very thorough eater and will lick his bowl completely clean. He even uses his tongue to transfer a little water from his water bowl and "washes" his food bowl after eating!

Feeding FortiFlora for a couple days got Chewy's poops back to a good firmness, so it was definitely effective! Recently, he had been producing fishy-smelling farts every time he hopped on the couch, which was VERY UNPLEASANT when he wanted to cuddle, but FortiFlora stopped the fishy farts, too! FortiFlora gets paws up from us!


Disclaimer: We received a free box of Purina FortiFlora from chewy.com for review purposes as part of the chewy.com Blogger Program. We did not receive any monetary compensation for this post, and all opinions shared above are our own.

Indoor Activities: Blueberry Chase

When it's hot outside, Chewy becomes a lazier dog. After a few rounds of fetch, or even zero rounds, he will go find a shady spot to lie down.

Too hot for Chewy!

In order to get his exercise in, we have to play more indoors with the a/c on. Chewy is not really a fan of playing fetch in the house, but if it is food that needs fetching, you can be sure that he's interested!

I like tossing blueberries for Chewy because they're a healthy superfood with lots of antioxidants, they can roll very far and bounce off obstacles, and they don't leave a mess (unless Chewy squashes one).

Ready to pounce!

We have an open floor plan on one side of our house, so there's a nice straightaway for Chewy to run back and forth chasing the blueberries.

Running left

Running right

Chewy is quite food motivated, so he will sometimes run pretty fast after the blueberries. Sometimes he gets confused when a blueberry rolls between his legs, and then he backs up slowly to see if he can locate it. It's quite amusing to watch! One time, he accidentally stepped on one and it got stuck between his paw pads, and he searched frantically for it around his foot but just couldn't find it! I helped pick it out of his foot, and it was remarkably unscathed! He promptly ate it, of course.

It is best to play in a freshly vacuumed area, or else the blueberries pick up lots of dog hair/people hair/dust if they are a little damp from condensation or from being freshly washed.

Blueberry chase is one of our favorite indoor games because a) Chewy likes food, and b) I can stay in one spot while still getting him to burn off some energy!

Zuke's Tiny Naturals Delightful Duck Recipe - chewy.com Product Review

This month we received Zuke's Tiny Naturals in Delightful Duck Recipe from chewy.com. 

Zuke's Tiny Naturals Delightful Duck Recipe

These tiny training treats are:

• Made in the USA
• Grain free
• Less than 1 1/2 calories per treat
• Have added vitamins & minerals

Chewy almost couldn't wait to get a taste of them! He thought they smelled really scrumptious.

Maybe I can help myself?

He assumed his default "good boy" pose in hopes of getting rewarded.

Look, I'm sitting so nicely! Treat?!?

The treats are indeed tiny. They look like the pellets I feed my backyard chickens! They are much smaller than the usual chewy, circular training treats that most brands produce. Whenever I used that kind of treat, I would break each one in half or into thirds when training Chewy, so I like this smaller, "tiny" size.

Tiny treats

Chewy really likes these treats. When I gave him the okay to eat this pile of treats, they were gone in a flash! The very next shot that I got 2 milliseconds later had zero treats on the floor!

Chewy always gains a few pounds in the summer because he gets lazy in the heat, so these treats will be a good option for cutting down on some calories. Since they smell quite flavorful, I'm sure he won't mind that they are tiny!


Disclaimer: We received a free bag of Zuke's Tiny Naturals Delightful Duck Recipe from chewy.com for review purposes as part of the chewy.com Blogger Program. We did not receive any monetary compensation for this post, and all opinions shared above are our own.

Sharing Fruit Smoothies with the Dog

I don't like the taste of yogurt, so I always make smoothies when I feel like consuming some healthy probiotics. Now that summer is here and many fruits are in season, I make smoothies more often. In our house, Chewy always gets a serving, too! While it is unclear whether dogs benefit from the same probiotics that people do, the pureeing of the fruit ingredients should make them easier for digestion. 

If I'm the only person in the house that wants a smoothie, making an extra serving for Chewy fills up the blender more, helping it blend much better. Win-win!

Smoothies for two

Chewy is always on standby once we start prepping fruits and filling up the blender.

For me?

The prospect of food is always exciting for a Chewy!

*slurppp*

A few Chewy-approved smoothie ingredients: plain yogurt, strawberry, blueberry, banana, peach, mango, pineapple

Chewy-DISapproved smoothie ingredients: MINT!

Chewy will eat almost anything, but if you give him a mint leaf, he will spit it out and go "blegh!!!" He will also reject smoothies with a strong mint flavor.

I wonder if Chewy would enjoy drinking green juice. I'm waiting for my spinach to grow out to give it a try!

A Garden Update

It's feeling like summer already! And that means our garden is starting to thrive now, too! 

Almost two months ago, our carrots looked like this:

Carrot seedlings (and radish to the right)

Chewy was so excited about the new growth, he jumped in the raised bed and left a bunch of mischievous Chewy footprints in my nice, loose soil:

Why can't I eat them yet?

Now, the carrot bed is all full of carrot foliage, and Chewy took it upon himself to help thin them out. Thinning out the carrots gives the remaining ones more space to grow larger, and Chewy can enjoy munching on the baby carrots.

You're welcome!

This year we planted a rainbow carrot mix, so we'll have carrots in lots of colors. Chewy thinks they're all equally delicious, of course.

Our cucumbers are starting to grow, too. Here are two baby ones that are just starting out:

The kale is coming in nicely, too. Chewy likes to crunch-a-munch on the stalks, shred the leaves, and then clean up his mess (for the most part).

Kale for me!

Our strawberry patch has also kicked production up a notch. I put bird netting over it to keep the neighborhood birds from biting into all of them, but a determined Chewy cannot be stopped by bird netting. He ripped right through it trying to pull out a nice, big, ripe one!

Want strawberry!

It can be pretty funny watching Chewy pick strawberries, as he sniffs around to only get the ripe ones!

Walking right on the netting...target acquired!

People aren't the only ones that can enjoy a farm-to-table lifestyle. Chewy loves having access to a feast right outside our house! If he had his way, he'd get to eat it all!!