Activia Yogurt and I need a substitute for gatorade

[BlossomSilkies]

Hi all. I'm caring for Goldie, our Buff Orp. She was in bad shape earlier because of the heat. I got great help over in the Emergency forum. Couple of things, they suggested yogurt and replenishing her electrolytes with gatorade or pedialyte.

I only have Activia in the house as far as yogurt, can she have that?

I have no gatorade or pedialyte. Is there something I can substitute until I can get to the store tomorrow?

Thank you.

 

[Kikiriki]

Quote:
Active should be fine. Just tiny bits at a time. Try mixing some egg yolk in since you don't have anything else...

 

[aggie9296]

Activia has some active cultures and should be fine. Cottage cheese would also work.

You can make a similar drink to Gatorade by using crystal light or lemonade or even water. Just a whiff of salt (go by taste until it has just a hint of salt). A little sugar to make it taste fairly sweet. Pretty close to what is in Gatorade.

 

[TrystInn]

Please don't give her yogurt - chickens are lactose intolerant and cannot properly digest it, the pro-biotics that help mammals have absolutely no use in their digestive system.

 

[aggie9296]

Quote:
I don't know where you get that info because it is not true. They need the active cultures (probiotics) just as humans do to keep a healthy balance in their gut.

 

[TrystInn]

Aggie,

I've read it now in multiple extension office research reports - yogurt gums up the crop and can lead to growth impairment and diarrhea. There are literally millions of different types of probiotics, those used by mammals and birds are not similar. Chickens do not produce the enzymes necessary to break down dairy products because they are not nursed. While you can attempt to raise chicks on lactase products, like Kefir.

 

[aggie9296]

Yogurt (and any other active culture product) had most of the lactose digested by the bacteria. In small amounts, it provides good bacteria and protein to a sick bird.

Thousand of people on here (me including) feed dairy products as treats and get no diarrhea from it. I'm not sure how it "gums" up a crop when it goes thru so fast.

I'd be happy (along with the other thousands on here) to read some of the reports you have referenced.


And there aren't "millions" of different pro-biotics. There are a limited number of bacterial strains that aid in digestion. Lactobacillus, Bifidus, and certain strains of Streptococcus. Chickens have some of the same bacteria in their gut as we do.

 

[Medicine Man]

Quote:
I don't know where you get that info because it is not true. They need the active cultures (probiotics) just as humans do to keep a healthy balance in their gut.

I've read similar reports about yogurt, I've never fed yogurt to a chicken nor do I see the need to. They are in contact with various biotics on a regular basis anyway and I fail to see how falling-out as a heat casualty equates to a need for pro-biotics. I once had to drop out of a run, in spite of being a stud runner, because I was dehydrated - nobody considered giving me yogurt.

 

[TrystInn]

For those who want to start researching this:

On the web: Lactase (the enzyme necessary to digest and process lactose) is encoded by a single genetic locus on chromosome 2.[12] It is expressed exclusively by mammalian small intestine enterocytes and in very low levels in the colon during fetal development - Wikipedia.

http://books.google.com/books?id=t5dhP1 … mp;f=false

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14519787
Chickens do not possess the necessary enzymes to efficiently hydrolyze lactose into glucose and galactose.

 

[aggie9296]

"Yogurt made with active and live bacterial cultures is a good source of calcium for many people with lactose intolerance. When this type of yogurt enters the intestine, the bacterial cultures convert lactose to lactic acid, so the yogurt may be well-tolerated due to a lower lactose content than yogurt without live cultures. Frozen yogurt does not contain bacterial cultures, so it may not be well-tolerated."

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/lactoseintolerance/