Monday, February 2, 2009

Supplements Causing Burning Urine?

My dog was acting irritable and sometimes aggressive. I read that you can give tryptophan or 5-HTP to dogs to make them calmer, so I tried it.

Then he started having "accidents" - needing to urinate more often and, if we didn't rush him outside immediately, piddling on the carpet. On the second day as I was cleaning up after him, I realized that the 5-HTP might be causing the problem. I stopped adding it to his food and he immediately stopped having accidents.

I could relate to his problem because some supplements make my urine burn. I've wasted a good bit of money on supplements that were supposed to be good for you but then gave me symptoms similar to a urinary tract infection. The last one that did that was HCA. Since then I have avoided most supplements that have "acid" in their name.

Moral: When taking supplements, watch for changes that indicate possible side-effects.

Articles: 5-HTP Toxicosis in Dogs
Effect of Tryptophan on Canine Aggression (PDF)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What other supplements have caused this problem for you? Thanks

Linilla said...

Usually ones that are some kind of acid. Too much vitamin C also, although 500 mg is okay.