Good nutrition is the foundation of your pet’s health and well-being. A major cause of both physical and behavioral problems can be poor nutrition, so making sure your pet is getting what they need is always the first step in any health maintenance or healing program.
Animals have the same need for essential nutrients that humans do. Unless you are feeding your pet homemade meals or organically grown food, your pet’s diet may need to be supplemented. You can give your pet the same whole-food-type supplements you use in your own diet, such as brewer’s yeast and kelp, or choose nutritional supplements especially formulated for animals.
When choosing supplements, it is vital to know what vitamins and minerals the raw or commercial food already contains. For some vitamins and minerals, it can be just as harmful to take too much as too little. Be particularly careful about supplementing a premium pet food as they already contain many more nutrients than standard pet foods.
If you are feeding your pet a balanced raw diet, you probably don’t need to add commercially-produced nutrients to Nature’s own. But if you need to supplement a commercial diet, or want to make sure your pet is getting everything it needs, here are some recommendations from nature-oriented veterinarians.
DIGESTIVE ENZYMES
The first thing you lose in feeding a cooked or commercial diet instead of raw foods is the digestive enzymes (also called “prebiotics”). These are the helpers that allow your pet to digest their food and release the nutrients. Since enzymes in fresh food are killed when heated to 118 degrees, they are not present at all in commercial or homemade cooked foods. In the wild, animals get plenty of digestive enzymes because they eat all their food raw.
Plant-based enzymes are recommended over pancreatic enzymes. You don’t need much, just a little with each meal. Make sure the product you choose contains at least the enzymes protease, amylase and lipase.
Fresh fruits and vegetables and grass naturally provide digestive enzymes, as does raw meat.
INTESTINAL FLORA
These are beneficial bacteria (also called “probiotics”), such as acidophilus, which populate your pet’s intestines. The presence of these beneficial bacteria helps keep “bad” bacteria in check and prevent intestinal problems. While live-culture yogurt contains a small amount of these bacteria, it is generally recommended that they be taken in supplement form.
OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids, which means that our pet’s bodies need them but can’t synthesize them, so they must be obtained from the diet. Omega-3s are important for immune system function, nervous system development and function and the skin. They are precursors of vital hormones, they help regulate blood circulation and blood pressure, maintain kidney function and fluid balance, and many other life-maintaining functions.
A good source of Omega-3 fatty acids is fish oil. You can get fish oil capsules at the natural food store labels “salmon Oil,” “Marine Fish Oil,” “Deep Sea Fish Oil,” or “Cold Water Fish Oil.” And, of course, you could feed your pet raw fish that contain these oils naturally.
Another good source is Flax Seed Oil, which is lower in cost, and also must be converted in your pet’s body into Omega-3s. Though this plant product may be tastier for humans, animals love fish, and so would probably be more likely to accept the fish oil.
ANTIOXIDANTS
Antioxidants neutralize “oxygen free radicals,” which are normal by-products of body metabolism. A certain amount of free radicals are necessary to fight bacteria and viruses, make hormones, and participate in enzyme-catalyzed reactions, however, excess free radicals can damage cellular DNA and lead to long-term immune system damage and cancer. Excessive amounts of free radicals are the result of too much sunlight, environmental pollution and dietary fat.
Antioxidants are present in fresh fruits and vegetables, and hardly at all in commercial pet food.
Antioxidant supplements include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, L-Cysteine, L-Lysine, proanthocyanadins (grape seed extract), chlorophyll, milk thistle, and coenzyme Q10. You can purchase any of these as human supplements and give your pet 10 to 20 percent of the dose. You don’t have to give each supplement every day, rotate them around so that over the course of a week or so you go through the list.
FORMULATED SUPPLEMENTS
Many of these single supplements are combined into formulas specifically for pets. Ask your vet to suggest supplements that are appropriate for your pet’s needs.
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