Marin Plus Soft Chews for Dogs (60 Soft Chews)

I rescued a wee 9-lb puppy from the pound who was diagnosed with a cerebral cyst and a liver shunt. She refused to eat anything in the realm of dog food, and would have small seizures that seemed to be related to her blood sugar levels. I took her to three vets, and they felt she'd only live another 2 months to 2 years. I started her on a low protein diet, lactulose, and antibiotics, per the vet recommendations, and she somewhat held steady, but the seizures and refusal to eat remained. Very low energy. I read that some holistic vets were recommending high protein (human grade) diet instead of the standard low protein diet (which she hated every version of) and it prompted me to switch her to a "bucket list" diet... if she wasn't destined to be here long, I figured I'd feed her people food during her short time with us, and that made a great difference. I stopped the meds and instead gave her a syringe of kefir and extra (human) probiotics everyday and fed her grass fed, free range pork, beef, chicken mixed with veggies (like roasted chicken soup with carrots and celery)... and she got better, with somewhat of an appetite and a decent level of energy for several years. After a few years, she started to show signs of hepatic encephalopathy, so I started her on Sam-e supplements, and the mental confusion, pacing, and frequent accidents diminished significantly. A little more than a year later, continuing those approaches, she again showed signs of advancing hepatic encephalopathy -- pacing, confusion, lower energy, constant drinking and frequent accidents. It was to the point I considered having her put down, after 4.5 years of successfully handling her various issues. I read up on the benefits of milk thistle, which I'd try before without any evidence of benefit for her, and how zinc and vitamin e deficiency was common with hepatic encephalopathy. I thought I'd try the Marin soft chews for her. You could see a difference in energy and confusion levels within 2 days of giving her these. She refuses to eat them, and won't even eat chicken with this crumbled and blended in it. So I break 1/2 of one up into smaller pieces and give it to her like pills. 1/2 of one of these once per day (she's 9 pds) has made ALL the difference. She's alert, she wants to go for walks, she's no longer drinking constantly... she's back to being top of her game. I'm actually shocked by what a difference these made in such a short time. I'm not sure how much more time these Marin chews will give her, but in her case, they are honestly life savers.

I’m giving this product all five stars and I JUST received it less than two hours ago. Before I begin I must preface and say that I struggled with my pup for a MONTH. He was in pain, not sleeping, pacing and biting his private areas. I went to the vet and did a full blood panel and his ALT was at 226- a little high when the normal range is between 120-130. I couldn’t use Denamarin because it would give him diarreah so my vet suggested these.I started off today just giving him half and I cannot tell you how this dog has NOT bitten himself, is not pacing and is right behind me with his paws up sleeping. To paint an even better picture, his vet prescribed him tramadol for pain and I have not even opened the bottle- no need! I am assuming the THC in this product, along with the liver aiding portions of it have helped my doggo and that’s only been with HALF.Yes this is NOT like a chew. It’s more powdery and will kind of crumble apart when you try to break it in half (I used a small knife) but my dog had no problem eating it when I hid it in his wet dog food.I will go back in a month to retest his enzymes and I will update this review. I needed to write one now because I’d like to help any dog mom out there struggling. I am the pickiest, most anal, worrisome person when it comes to my baby. I wouldn’t give him something bad. This is proving to be not bad at all.

My 13 year old Elly is on so many meds, I am glad my daughter told me about this.Now I don't worry so much about her liver .

My dog has Addisons disease and due to daily required lifetime medication treatments (steroid), she gradually developed liver & pancreas problems. -- PROS: Marin Plus definitely helped bring down those liver values. It does work! (I had her blood work done two months after starting Marin Plus one chew at night & Denmarin tablet in the morning.) The blood work does not lie. My dog, a mcnab/border collie mix has never indicated any nausea, vomiting or any other digestive or noticeable negative side effects from this supplement. She tends to have a sensitive stomach at times; so along with the very expensive meds that she needs and I don't want vomited into the yard...that's important to both of us! -- CONS: My dog does NOT care for the taste and refuses to eat them by themselves as a stand-alone chewable. However, I mix a chew into her wet canned food morning and night, along with her other meds. She hasn't turned her food down yet, so far so good. My biggest complaint, as others have mentioned is the "bag" packaging which causes about one-third of the "chews" to become powdered by the time you receive them. I do use it and add the powder into her food, but dosage is definitely a problem. And, I'm not sure if the chews maybe do not have as consistent dosage from one chew to the next or maybe one batch to the next? One of the liver values did increase again after I'd stopped giving both Denmarin & Marin Plus, and was using only the Marin Plus for 4 months or so. I've changed back to the Denmarin tablets in the mornings, so we'll see. I'll come back & update this review if I can remember to do after next blood work. (fyi, She will not eat the Denmarin chewable tablets alone either, so I have to break them up into the wet food.)

We really liked these because they were a cost effective way to get my dogs liver values under control. Her blood work improved within a few weeks on these. I noticed they were out of stock everywhere so I contacted the company that makes these and was informed that they have discontinued Marin Plus. :(

Gave these per vet's recs after my pup had sago palm poisoning and liver failure. She ate them at first, once she was feeling a little better, she didn't like the taste. I put them in pill packets (treats) and she'd eat them right up. Happy to say with time and liver supportive meds, her liver function is back to normal and she's a happy pup!!