Seven major issues about nutritional supplements for elderly pet dogs
1. What is a supplement?
Dietary supplements or dietary nutrients are substances added to foods that usually make them more nutritious and balanced. Dietary supplements, also known as health foods or animal health products, provide more nutrition to animals, and have significant effects on preventing or treating diseases. Compared with the nutrition of the food itself, therapeutic supplements have higher nutritional content.
2. What are the benefits of supplements for elderly animals?
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Aging refers to the degenerative changes that occur after maturing in various organ systems, resulting in a decrease in the body's ability to adapt to the environment. Where deterioration occurs: the musculoskeletal system (muscles and bones), the gastrointestinal tract (including teeth), the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, nervous systems and specialized sensory organs (especially auditory and vision). These can slow down the rate of degeneration by appropriate supplements of nutrients. Lesions caused by degeneration of the kidney, eyes, liver, musculoskeletal system and nervous system are particularly common in elderly dogs and cats.
Supplements can help alleviate this aging process. Effective use of nutritional supplements requires consideration of the situation of pets. If the pet's organ system needs support, safety, effectiveness and balance should be ensured in the selection of supplement dose.
3. Aging is not a disease in itself, but due to the influence of metabolic levels, elderly pets may experience dysfunction, malnutrition, and reduced resistance. Dietary supplements are changed according to changes in activity, digesting and absorbing nutrients and being able to excrete by-products and toxins. The dietary levels of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber and minerals may need to be adjusted according to the individual pet's condition.
4. What nutrition is usually recommended for elderly animals?
B vitamins (including vitamins B1, B2, B6 and B12) are often recommended as supplements because they are very risky and toxic as water-soluble vitamins. Even if they exceed the body's needs, the excess will be excreted from the urine. Vitamin B is used to help eliminate fatigue and improve appetite, especially its antioxidant effects can eliminate inflammation and enhance immune function. Vitamin E can be used as a nutrient for antioxidants and has good therapeutic effects in inflammatory skin diseases.
Coenzyme Q10, α-lipoic acid, DMG (dimethylglycine) and L-carnitine can all improve body function or reduce the incidence and severity of age-related diseases. Coenzyme Q10 and L-carnitine help improve the ability of heart muscle to contract and can be used as a drug for treating immune arthritis. Alpha-lipoic acid promotes health and helps slow down neurodegenerative diseases. Increasing fatty acid intake, especially saturated fatty acids and zinc, helps keep skin and fur healthy and can slow inflammation. Digestive enzymes and probiotics can increase the effectiveness of dietary nutrients.
5. What other supplements are needed for specific diseases?
Specific supplemental treatments are performed under certain diseases, such as gland therapy or whole tissue digestive enzymes or microecological preparations for gastrointestinal diseases; cartilage protective agents such as glucose can improve joint mobility and prevent degenerative joint diseases and delay the development of the disease. If you plan to supplement nutritional supplements for elderly animals, you can consult a professional doctor at Barbietang Pet Hospital to seek recommendations that are more suitable for nutritional supplements.
6. How do I know that a single ingredient nutritional supplement is effective?
There are many owners who listen to others to introduce that some supplements are effective for pets and blindly use them, but in fact, some supplements do not help your pets. The appearance improvements in older animals (especially fur and appearance) and increased energy are both easy for both owners and animal doctors to observe changes. In other cases, supplements have some hidden advantages. For example, after supplementing a certain nutrient and combining it with other supplements, it changes the current physical condition of Ai Pet. Therefore, some supplements are used alone. After a period of time, Ai Pet will still improve the physical condition caused by the supplement, and the above reaction may not occur after stopping the supplement.
7. How do I know that the supplements my pets use are safe?
Animal doctors have done animal research in combination with anatomy and physiology and have summarized the knowledge they have, including toxicity and predictable side effects. Barbietang Animal Hospital has a unique insight into the selection of supplements. Whether supplements can guarantee quality can be judged by different sources and manufacturers. Well-known manufacturers will provide labels with detailed information about the product, and Barbietang's professional doctors will also provide you with product information.
