VETIQ® Green-UM Lawn Burn Solution

Please follow the following precautions in response to your consuming a large amount of the Green-UM tablets. Green-Um is generally well tolerated and has a wide safety margin but occasionally problems may develop such as tummy upsets, but this is usually offset by concurrent administration with the diet.

The dog should be allowed free access to water so that it will serve to flush their system. If after 2-5 days the dog is clinically normal then they are probably fine but you should give them 7- 10 days before continuing the green-um tablets so as to let their system settle down.

The dog should be monitored, just in case for any signs of adverse reactions such as diarrhoea, vomiting or in extreme cases any signs of liver, kidney damage and if any occur, then you should take them to your vet and he/she may give some kaolin or charcoal to line the stomach to prevent any more absorption of the product. Your vet may also give drugs that may cause vomiting so excess tablets in the stomach would be expelled but as your dog seems ok this would be unlikely to have to happen in this case.

Fertilising a lawn with Nitrogen would also contribute to the Green-Um tablets not working and lawn burn increasing or not improving.

Lawn burn is caused by the nitrogen in dog urine. Because dog urine is very high in nitrogen-containing waste products, when the dog urinates, it is similar to pouring a nitrogen-containing fertilizer on the lawn. A little nitrogen is good for the grass, but an excess causes damage. The prevention of lawn burn involves trying to reduce the amount of nitrogen coming into contact with the grass.

Heavily fertilized yards are already receiving near maximum levels of nitrogen. The additional amount of nitrogen in dog urine may be all that is needed to put these lawns over the edge and cause lawn burn

Reduce the stress on your lawn by not over- or under-fertilizing and by watering frequently.

Successfully treating and preventing lawn burn often requires a multi-step approach which we usually advise:

– Saturate the urinated spots with water – A watering can works well. – Feed a high quality dog food that does not exceed your pet’s protein requirement. High quality foods also have more digestible protein sources that are more completely utilized by the pet and create less nitrogenous waste in the urine. – Encouraging your dog to drink more water will help dilute the urine and decrease the risk of lawn burn. – Train your dog to urinate in a location that is less visible. – Reduce the stress on your lawn by not over- or under-fertilizing and by watering frequently.

Why a dogs diet matters – The dietary composition is important when looking at lawn burn.

If the dogs diet is very rich, or has recently been changed to one that is quite rich, there will be an increased amount of protein in their diet. This protein is then broken down into nitrogenous (Ammonia) compounds during digestion of the food and these cause your pets waste matter to burn the lawn, resulting in lawn burn.

The feeding of plant proteins such as rice, soy, maize together with the use of low ash animal protein such as chicken or liver provides a highly digestible diet and also reduces the amount of ammonia produced. Chicken also has a high biological value and as such supplies the normal requirements of essential protein without the necessity for a high protein content in the diet.

The VETIQ Green-UM product has a wide safety margin and contains mainly natural ingredients including the main active ingredients yucca schidigeria and amino acid DL-methionine. It could possibly be used in conjunction with steroids with no negative effects on the pancreas and bowel conditions.

However I would recommend that the customer contact her local veterinarian for advice, as it is difficult to comment without knowing the full medical history of the dogs various conditions.

Green-UM is composed of amino acids and plant extracts. They work in combination to help prevent yellow spots appearing on your lawn.

Yellow spots are caused by highly alkaline urine being excreted from your pet onto the grass which causes it to turn yellow.

The amino acids in the product help to lower the pH of your animal’s urine making it less alkaline; thereby preventing the appearance of those yellow spots. In addition the plant extracts in the product help to prevent excessive ammonia in the urine from burning the lawn.

A dog’s normal pH is around 6.5. Most (95%) dogs whose urine burns the lawn is above pH 6.5 which means it is too alkaline. By feeding Green-UM the dog’s urine pH will come down to the normal level of pH 6.5 and this helps to eliminate the brown spots.

**The pH lowering effect is dependant on the animal’s diet. If the protein content of the diet is too high the effectiveness of Green-Um is significantly reduced**

If you give your pet a diet high in protein it will generate high amounts of nitrogenous by-products post digestion which causes high alkaline urine. This will result in the Green-Um tablet having too much work to do to reduce the pH of the urine.

This is dependant on the amount of work the tablets need to do to bring your animal’s urine into control and if any modifications need to be made to their diet. In general, administration of the tablets for a continuous 7 day period should be sufficient to get the pH of the urine under control.

We recommend that you should give Green-Um during grass growing season only so as to prevent your animal developing a tolerance to the active ingredients in the product. We recommend a one month break after a feeding period of six months.

No. Green-Um will not damage your pet’s kidneys if used according to our recommendations. Prolonged use can cause kidneys stones with can be a serious problem and this is why caution is advised when using our product.