Humarian's Probonix Passes this Dog Mom's Picky Pants Testing
Anyone who knows me, knows how particular I am about, well, everything. Ensuring that Bernie and Lizzie have the healthiest life possible is important to me. After searching for the ideal probiotic for them for almost two years, I discovered Humarian's Probonix during the BlogPaws 2018 Conference.
Our Probiotic History
The Duck Flavored Chew That Shall Not Be Named...
During our second veterinary visit with Bernie, our first vet liked that we bought an elevated feeding station for him and suggested a daily probiotic. The brand she liked was available on Amazon and seemed simple enough. A duck-flavored daily chew that I could add to my "Subscribe & Save" monthly delivery.
Unfortunately, as I researched more about this product, I didn't like some of the ingredients which were listed *before* the good bacteria that I wanted Bernie to have. Since ingredients are listed by weight, I wasn't impressed that there were 10 other ingredients before the dried Bacillus coagulans fermentation product.
Canola oil was the seventh listed ingredient. For background, Mercola Health has an informative article "Canola Oil: When a Great Oil Isn't So Great After All..."
One of my larger complaints about canola oil is that it's almost exclusively a GMO crop:
In 2012 The Huffington Post reported that "About 90 percent of the U.S. canola crop is genetically modified."
The Non-GMO Project lists canola as a high-risk crop for GMOs.
We switched to ProBloom Dehydrated Goat's Milk by The Honest Kitchen.
Now this is The Honest Kitchen, not The Shady Snackshack! Their products are made in the U.S., and contain no corn, wheat, soy, or GMO ingredients. The ingredient list for ProBloom is made up entirely of fermentation products.
The pups loved their Goat's Milk. Sometimes I would pour it over their meal. Other mornings I would give it to them solo before their breakfast. They lapped it up either way.
My issue with ProBloom centers entirely around convenience. Once you hydrate the powder with hot water, the clock starts ticking. You must refrigerate and use the product within three days, which means taking into consideration serving sizes for my two pups, I could make two cups of goat's milk at a time. Having to make goat's milk on some mornings was a time challenge.
I still have some ProBloom in my pantry. On our next vet visit, I'm going to ask our current veterinarian if I could still give some goat's milk to the pups as a treat. With Bernie's atypical Addison's Disease, I also wonder if the goat's milk would be a good choice to help him hydrate after an Addison's flare up.
The Poop Emoji in the BlogPaws 2018 Conference Swag Bag
On the first day of BlogPaws 2018, I met Dr. Shawn Benzinger when he interviewed me for the Humarian Health Podcast. Listening to him interview a few other pet bloggers made me appreciate how curious this man is to learn more. He was also a gracious host who made my first podcast interview a breeze!
Later that night, I dug into my swag bag to find a poop emoji stress buster! Out of all the fantastic products I received that poop emoji is still my favorite. Clearly, I've been around middle school students too long!
During the next two days, the schedule kept me hopping. The educational sessions I chose were all informative plus I met some other inspiring bloggers. While I did walk through the vendor hall several times, the Humarian booth was always busy. I didn't want to interrupt anyone, but I also knew that I had to look into their product.
Once home, I scoured the Humarian website. I was impressed with everything I was reading, and then I received an email inviting me to apply to become an Ambassador for Humarian. Once I was welcomed into the Humarian family, I realized I better buy Probonix so the pups could start using it.
What makes Humarian's Probonix stand out?
Positive *meaningful* labels: organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, sugar-free, and no wheat or soy.
Made in the USA. Their facility follows cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice). Those regulations are enforced by the FDA.
Affordable! One bottle costs around $30 and should last a month. I started Bernie and Lizzie on Probonix on May 26, and I'll be updating how our usage goes over the next several months.
No refrigeration necessary! Just remember to shake the bottle before you use it.
Easy to use. Simply add to your dog's food or water. Since we have two dogs, I add 8 drops to Bernie's food since he's over 30 pounds, and 6 drops to Lizzie's food since she's under 30 pounds daily. Oh, and you can give Probonix to your feline friends as well. Cats all get 6 drops each day.
Need more reasons to love Humarian?
I absolutely loved chatting with Dr. Shawn Benzinger, Humarian's co-founder and CEO, for my interview. After listening to the 16 podcasts featuring brands and bloggers from BlogPaws, I'm even more of a fan.
In his interview with Aimee Jurenka from The Lazy Raw Feeder, they discussed how much Amy dislikes "flavoring" in pet food. When Aimee saw Probonix listing "Natural Liver (Non-GMO) Flavor" she wanted to know where that flavor came from.
Dr. Benzinger's response was "It's actually liver tissue and is actually that. It's not salt-enhanced. It's not MSG-enhanced." He went on to say, "We had to fight for quite a bit, for a period of time. We didn't put our product out because we couldn't solution this problem until we found a company in California that was 100% clean."
Aimee is currently working on a post about Humarian's sourcing! Once she publishes, I'll be sharing here, but until then go take a listen to her interview. Aimee's interview on the Humarian Health Podcast is an informative 20 minutes on raw feeding, dog nutrition, and food allergies in dogs.