I have a girl who has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and have been advised to avoid food with kelp in it. I feed the others Nutro but since this contains kelp I have not given this to her.I see that Burns and JWB all contain kelp too. I know  Arden Grange doesn't contain it but I have reservations  with this food due to the beet pulp. I went to buy Nature Diet but this also contains kelp. Does anyone know which food doesn't contain kelp and has anyone tried PAH's Natures Menu??

Thank you

That is strange as I thought that Kelp help keep the thyroid levels up?

Who told you to avoid kelp? I asked my vet about using "plaque-off" as it contains kelp (one of my dogs is hypothyroid) and was told it was OK. It is only if you have an animal that is HYPERthyroid it should be avoided. She actually said it may be benefical because, as Brainless says, it keeps the thyroid levels up.

I must admit that I was of the impression that it helped to raise thyroid levels. I phoned Nutro to ask them for advice and they were stumped and referred me to Nutro in America. I called the vet and he said that it repressed thyroid levels and it was best to avoid it.

I am sure that I read somewhere that it helped to raise levels. Could it be that he advised this until we get the right levels of medication for her???? I am so confusedShe has been started on quite a high level of soloxine.

I am inclined to leave her on the Nutro as all my gang are doing well on it and the others are sniffing at her food bowl as if to ask why she is getting something different,makes me feel so guilty.

I had serious Hyperthyroidism 6 years ago, and was warned not to take supplements containing iodine or kelp for obvious reasons, but perhaps in Hypothyroidism, it can also interfere with the regulatory effect of thyroxine at stabilising the thyroid levels.

I saw this on a health food website:
There have been several case reports of high intakes of kelp providing too much iodine and interfering with normal thyroid function. People with thyroid disease should check with a doctor before taking supplements that contain kelp.

And this is in a Timesonline report on Hypothyroidism:
But don't take iodine or kelp supplements, as these can make your hypothyroidism worse. Although it is true that the thyroid gland uses iodine to make the thyroid hormone, too much and the thyroid gland could shut down. Using excess iodine in drug form is often used to treat an overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyrodism), so don't touch supplements unless under supervisioon.

I was lucky and medication stabilised my over active thyroid with 9 months treatment - been at normal levels for over 5 years now, but I still avoid multi-vits containing kelp/iodine.

Nothing wrong with beet pulp,arden grange one of the best three on the market  

I agree,i dont see any problem with beet pulp either.I can think of a hundred other things to avoid in pet foods before BP. As for the kelp,this is added to foods in such trace amounts(unlike preservatives etc),i doubt it would make a difference for or against any disease.

Nutro chicken&Rice adult:

Dried Chicken Meat (min. 26%), Ground Rice (min. 26%), Rice Bran, Rice Flour,
Corn Gluten, Poultry Fat (min. 8.0%), Beet Pulp, Sunflower Oil (min. 2.5%), Oatmeal, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Dried Kelp.

Kelp is the very last ingredient,which means it is the smallest/least ingredient contained in this food,and IMO not enough to make any appreciable difference to the diet.I would be more worried about ground rice.rice bran,rice flour and corn gluten

HERE is a link to some information on beet pulp by canine nutritionist Linda Arndt

I feed my dogs JWB and have a hypo-t dog, in fact my second one with it.  No problems with her levels once stablised.  Also have another dog with lowish levels and have put him on kelp to see if I can keep his levels up with out medication.  I have also used plaque off after asking my vet who could see no problems with it.

Sue

I pointed out to the vet that I felt the amount of kelp would be very smalll since it was listed last but he seemed to insist

What is wrong with ground rice.rice bran,rice flour and corn gluten and what problems can they cause?

I have previously fed Burns but I felt that the oil content was too low and Arden Grange caused my old boy's colitis to flare up big time.

Thanks for all the input.

What is wrong with ground rice.rice bran,rice flour and corn gluten and what problems can they cause?

Individually the rices arent that bad,but when there's 3 seperate ingredient splits in the one food,it's just too much much rice,then add corn gluten into the mix,which has the substance of gluggy glue and you're feeding a carnivore a rice based diet

Corn gluten:

>An inexpensive by-product of human food processing which offers very little nutritional value and serves mainly to bind food together. It is not a harmful ingredient but should be avoided simply for its poor nutritional value and quality.<

I dont want to get into a debate over dog food ingredients,my *point* was you're worried about beet pulp when IMO there are other things in this food which are more detrimental than a bit of fibre :).