Pets are truly a joy, aren’t they? P
art of the satisfaction of having pets rests on keeping them as healthy and vibrant as possible. Healthful food is important, of course. Furthermore, a good approach to nutrition is as important for pet health as it is for your own health. This means more than just good food. It also means that healthy pets depend on, the same as human nutrition does.
Benefits of Pet Supplements
The muscles, joints, nerves, and skin of pets are similar enough to our own that pets can suffer the same problems as we do. Inflammation is the driving force behind pain, degenerating joints, itching, and allergies. This truism underscores the concept that reducing inflammation is the most important benefit of good pet care.
The nutritional advantage that pets have is the ability to synthesize their own vitamin C, usually in large amounts. (Among our more common pets, guinea pigs are an exception.) This means that they have an efficient antioxidant recycling system in place based on the chemistry of innate vitamin C. It also means that pets already make a crucial ingredient (vitamin C) for building collagen for healthy skin and connective tissue.
What this also means is that other vitamins, as well as a diversity of dietary antioxidants, can have a greater positive impact on pet health. Pet supplements thereby play a crucial role in maintaining the vitality of animals throughout their lifetime.
Evaluating Ingredients
It is just as important for you to read and understand ingredients labels for pet products as it is to do so for your own supplements. Actually, it is even more important, since pets are incapable of doing it for themselves. Keep two things in mind when reading labels on pet supplements. First, look for what is not included in the formula.
In this regard, a top quality product will contain no harmful additives. Common additives to avoid include food dyes, wheat or other grains, salt, sugar in its various forms, yeast, or fillers such as maltodextrin. Even birds do much better with real seeds instead of cereal grains.
Second, take a look at the herbal sources of the antioxidants in a formula. These will include many of the same herbs that benefit your own health. In fact, the label on a top pet supplement will look every bit as good as a top supplement for people.
A partial list of herbs that provide powerful antioxidants for pets might include ginseng, astragalus, angelica, and goji berry, among others. These are the same herbs that you will find in your own supplements, if you want to treat your pet as well as you treat yourself.
In addition to providing powerful antioxidants, herbs such as ginseng and astragalus also offer unique phytochemicals that are well-known immune boosters. Pets are subject to infections by bacteria and viruses that are often unique to them. They can benefit from immune-boosting herbs as much as you do.
Choosing a Good Basic Pet Supplement
The EnlightaPet All-Natural Vitality Formula is a good place to start. The Vitality Formula is a broad-application herbal mixture for use on dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, horses, birds and other animals.
