Moringa & Your Dog: Benefits, Risks, and Dosage | Short

Hi, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog.

Through an herbal lens.

So let's get to it and dive right in.

Welcome back to another episode of Dogs are Individuals. Rita's shorts. Listen, so this is a shorty short sponsored by Green Juju. So I recently tried Green Juju's greens for myself. I said, you know what, I'm just going to try these. I want to put them in a smoothie. I'm going to shove them in my food. And I really loved them. I, I, yeah, I'm eating, I'm eating stuff for dogs. Why not, right? They have these freeze dried greens that I just love and they have nettles in them. And I said, you know, I'm just gonna give it a try. I, you know, I do have a little issue with turmeric and ginger cause I'm a warm person. But it was just a couple meals throughout the week and I really loved it and it tasted great. Their greens have zucchini and celery and it's all organic. Organic kale, organic dandelion greens, organic coconut flour, organic parsley, organic coconut oil, organic nettles, organic ginger and organic turmeric. And I added it to my stir fry and it was awesome. My hat goes off to, you know, it really goes off to Kelly of Green Juju because she's really doing it right. You know, her and Billy Hochman like really are doing it right. They're making sure all of these wonderful ingredients are organic, organically grown and they're being caused in the matter. And I absolutely positively love it, love it, love it. Okay, so what are we talking about today? I'll tell you what we're talking about. We are answering a question. So Caroline writes in and she says, hi, Rita. Moringa has become popular supplement in the natural and holistic dog space. Could you please talk about it from a perspective as an herbalist? Absolutely. So Moringa is an herbalist. It's a plant, right? It is a plant and I love plants. So I can talk about it until the cows come home. And I wish the cows will come home in the form of one of those really fuzzy little fuzzy four headed cows, like the Scottish cows that are miniature. Yeah, I'm inside. I really, really want to bond with one. Okay. I need it. All right, so moringa. Moringa is I, well, the Latin name, let's go over the Latin name. Moringa, olifera okay. O L E I F E R A and what I love about it, you know, it doesn't necessarily grow here, okay. It's from South Asia. And what I love about it, it's a, it's a drought resistant plant which is always special for our planet. It grows, you know, in, I would say, tropical and subtropical regions. So you could, you could grow some maybe in California or Florida, I'm not sure. But it's imported, okay. And most everyone's using the leaves. And it's very, it's a nutritional supplement. And I, it does fall into that superfood category. But here in the United States, Nettles is a superfood, okay? But moringa has vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and it has essential amino acids which help with your nutritional profile and trying to meet the needs of your dog and yourself. So one of the things I love about moringa is it's rich in antioxidants, okay? And those are the things that keep down aging. They promote longevity and they help the liver and they combat free radicals. So some of the antioxidants, you know, we've got beta carotene, we've got quercetin, and I think that when we're looking at a superfood to rotate in and out of the diet, we definitely want something that's high in antioxidants. Like mushrooms are high in antioxidants. And you can mix them with moringa. Moringa is warming, okay? It's a warming herb, it's anti inflammatory, it reduces inflammation. It's not as warming as turmeric and it's not as warming as ginger, okay? So you could go slightly warming to warming. It supports the immune function, it's high in vitamin C and vitamin A and it promotes again an anti inflammatory state in the body, which we love. And it does have amino acids and it does have protein, okay? These essential amino acids are things that your dog's body cannot synthesize on its own. It has to be supplemented. And that's definitely in that superfood category. And then we have fiber, okay? Moringa aids in digestion and it has a range of vitamins and minerals. So it has fiber, okay? It also has fat and again protein. So I think for like 100 grams of protein, it has like 9.4 grams of protein. I mean 100 grams of leaf, 9.4 grams of protein. It has fiber and it has some other types of vitamins and minerals. It has, I, I did say vitamin A, I did say vitamin C, but it has calcium Potassium, iron, and the other vitamins are vitamin E and vitamin B. So. And it's not in trace amounts for the vitamin B. It's in pretty moderate amounts. Okay. Pretty moderate amounts.

For.

I would say for every gram, it has two calories. Okay. So for 100 grams, a little over two calories. So for 100 grams, you're gonna have about 270 calories. All right. And I think, you know, using moringa, you can add it to their food. You can add it to your food. You can serve it as an infusion, like, as a tea. If you have a cooked food dog, you can put it in the food, you can cook it in there, and then you also can add it as a powder, and it also comes in a capsule. All right, so what are the dosages for dogs? Moringa has a lot of flexibility for dogs. I do cover. I do. I think I do an honorable mention for moringa in my book. I'd have to think back, but I really. I do. So for a small dog, and that's like 2 to 10 pounds. I would do, like, I would say a 16th of a teaspoon, and then, like, from 11 to 20, I do an eighth and then 20 to 40. A quarter, a half a teaspoon for, like, medium. For large dogs, like a golden retriever, and then extra large dogs, a teaspoon twice a day. Okay, twice a day. I don't see any side effects from moringa except for gastrointestinal upset. It can cause a little bit of issues if the dose is too much. Remember, it's all about dose. It's all about dose. Okay. But moringa is a good addition. It's a superfood. I don't think there's anything wrong with using moringa. And, you know, you definitely want to know how it's grown. Okay. You want to ask questions. What moringa supplement do I recommend? I'm not, again, brand loyal, so I'm gonna look for a moringa supplement that is possibly organic. Okay. And remember that they are gonna be imported. All right. So I do. Like, there's one called Pura Vita moringa. That's a good one. It's single origin. You know, where are they getting their moringa? That's another thing. You know, are they getting it from Africa? Are they getting it from Asia? Like, where are they getting it? Are they using different sources or single origin? I like the Pura Vita moringa. It's organic, it's single origin. I don't know if mountain rose herbs carries moringa, but if they do, then I guess I would look there as well, because they have very good ethics in their imports, which is very important because some companies just import for price. Import for price. You know, I actually think that they do carry moringa in powder and what's called sifted. Okay. And that's what you make a tea out of. And then you can use the powder, but it just depends on, you know, where they're getting it. Okay. And you usually like. It can come from Africa. It can come from certain parts of Asia. It can come from Sri Lanka. Right. That's a place where moringa is, if I remembered right, moringa is sourced. It comes from India. Like India, Africa, different parts of Asia. Like, I think that. Let's see. I think it's northeast Africa, Madagascar. It can also come from the Philippines. And like I said, there are places in the United States like California, possibly Florida, maybe Arizona, maybe Arizona. Also tropical Hawaii could grow it too. You could see. You could see if they had moringa too. I always like to keep it in the United States if we can. So check that out. I haven't sourced any from the United States or from Hawaii or anything, but you could check that out. But, yeah, moringa is a great one. Caroline and I highly recommend, if your dog isn't too warm, you can put it in the diet and rotate, rotate, rotate. Mix it with mushrooms. Use your imagination. See how your dog likes it. And remember, dosage is what causes upset. And when you have upset, you know you're going to get acid reflux, you're going to get vomiting, diarrhea, maybe some pacing. That kind of tells you, hey, I'm upset. This is upsetting my stomach. And do I might need a lower dosage or if you go down to a way low dosage and it still happens, then moringa is not for your pup, okay? Moringa is not for your pup. Stick to mushrooms and don't give moringa to puppies. Okay? Don't give moringa to puppies. Make sure they're at least, I would say, six to eight months old before you ever introduce something like that. Mushrooms are fine for puppies. Okay, I know this isn't about mushrooms, but I'm just putting it out there. Mushrooms are fine for puppies, but herbs just use a little more care. All right? So again, thank you, Green Juju, for being so awesome and bringing these little shorts to people like Caroline and all of you that are listening about moringa and, you know, right into the podcast, share your experiences.

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This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson.

And edited by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com, click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm gonna talk to you in our next episode. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian or healthcare provider first before starting anything new. And that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only. Regarding any products I may suggest the statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any production.