Metamucil For Dogs – Whole Dog Journal

You can use Metamucil for dogs to combat minor gastrointestinal upsets, like diarrhea and constipation. Along with canned pumpkin, Metamucil is one of the vet-recommended home remedies for dog anal glands problems.

Metamucil is an over-the-counter psyllium fiber supplement designed for people. A plain psyllium product without flavors or sweeteners of any kind is the only psyllium for your dog—but you need to be especially careful here, as it can be very difficult to find unflavored, unsweetened psyllium products in your local grocery store. It may be wise to choose a psyllium product made for dogs.

You may wonder about Metamucil vs. pumpkin as an option to add fiber to your dog’s meals. Both help with constipation and diarrhea in dogs, which sounds contradictory, but they both add fiber, and therefore bulk, to the stool. Fiber eases constipation by stimulating the bowel muscle and draws in fluid to help bowel movements flow more easily. For diarrhea, fiber firms up stool and slows the transit time in the intestines.

The Metamucil dosage for dogs is up to 1 teaspoon (tsp) twice a day for dogs of 50 lbs. Medium dogs of 35 to 50 pounds should get no more than ½ tsp, and small dogs are best at ¼ tsp maximum. Start low and raise the amount to find the lowest effective dose for your dog. It is extremely important that your dog has excess to plenty of fresh water and is drinking that water, if you give any psyllium fiber product like Metamucil.

Dosages for plain (no added spices) canned pumpkin are: for small dogs, 1 heaping tsp canned pumpkin per meal; for medium dogs, 1 heaping tablespoon (tbsp) canned pumpkin per meal; and for larger dogs, 2 heaping tbsp canned pumpkin per meal.

Adding fiber is generally a simple, safe way to help your dog over a bout of diarrhea or constipation. However, with many potentially serious causes of both, it’s important to check with your veterinarian. For example, if your dog has an intestinal blockage—and both diarrhea and constipation are possible symptoms—giving Metamucil won’t help and may make things worse.