Nick and Dr. Conor Brady discuss humic and fulvic acids from soil as digestive aids, and once-daily fasting for dogs. Brady explains that soil-eating (pica) is dogs instinctively seeking these compounds and probiotics. Nick's dogs Bluebell, Mouse, and Dudley thrive on one meal a day, though they suggest feeding twice daily close together as a practical compromise.
Do you think fasting for dog is good? Also been hearing amazing things about humic and fulvic acid for pets. What are your thoughts?
Humic and fulvic acid, which is coming, are these amazing properties that come from, or compounds that come from soil, and just fantastically useful. It's like, it's almost like typing in CBD into Google Scholar and you will go down every single rabbit hole. They are used for solves so many issues from digestive issues to inflammatory issues used in different doses in different ways. It's amazing. It's one of the reasons surely gut sick dogs will eat soil. When you see this kind of pica behavior in dogs, pica will be like where it's eating an unusual object. It's not normal. He's eating wood chips, which is a common enough one. Really bad inflamed guts, IBS, IBD dogs eating wood chips and bark and stuff. But the soil one is surely interesting. It may be one of the reasons why they bury their bones. Maybe what they're trying to do is preserve it and cover it in these amazing compounds, soil-based probiotics, which we know are amazing. And so there's so much stuff in soil that makes it so amazing. It's one of the reasons why I think dogs eat soil when they're gut sick. And I think particularly of relevance is the fact that your dog got at that powder and started eating it. That's classic zoopharmacology.
Humic acid is from humus, which is the organic component of soil. It just suggests that soil is an important component, not necessarily continually, but as part of the, the picture that we should consider when we're feeding our dogs. I've actually treated one or two itchy dogs by just feeding them clean, frozen, and then thawed soil, and I freeze it in order to remove parasites But it means that the fulvic acid and the humic acid and the beneficial bacteria are maintained.
What about the first part, Nick? Intermittent fasting, fasting the dog. Are you pro or con?
I'm totally in with intermittent fasting or fasting, full stop. Yeah, we feed pretty much once a day. Now, you were talking about Dudley, about him not being able to really do once a day feeding and Here's the truth of the matter is that we've got Bluebell, who's 4, and Mouse, who's 2. We were feeding twice a day because they were young, and both of them just kind of went off breakfast. Now, now Bluebell, she's a complete guts, and she would eat 5, 10 times a day given half a chance. However, she does great being fed more or less once a day. Ellie likes to give them a chicken wing after they come in from the walk in the morning. More or less they have one meal a day. And the beauty of that, I always say to clients that fasting is to the pancreas what sleeping is to the brain.
Yeah.
Okay. Really, really important. And also the gut. I think the gut.
So I don't worry so much about us, you know, that way.
Absolutely brilliant. Because I'm a bit of an extremist with many things. And so I'm always saying to people, we should be feeding once a day. And many people have a problem with that. And, you know, say, oh, my dog just can't do it, or they get hunger pukes or what have you. So, yeah, kind of a compromise situation is feed twice a day, but as you say, you bring them as close together as you can in just one phase. I like feeding in the afternoon.
