Important: this archive article (written 2009–2016) mentions medicines, doses, poisons, emergency first aid or raw diets. It has not been checked by a veterinarian against current advice. Do not use it for doses or emergencies: call your vet or an animal poison helpline. About our articles
| Suppliments for pets II |
| Vitamins Vitamins are substances required in small amounts for healthy growth and development. Because they cannot be synthesized in the body, they are essential constituents of the diet. Vitamins are divided into two groups. The water-soluble group includes the B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, and bioflavonoids, which are sometimes called vitamin P. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K, all of which are stored in the body, and essential fatty acids, which are sometimes called vitamin F. Lack of sufficient quantities of any of these vitamins or their close relatives manifests as a deficiency disease or some form of impaired health. Many veterinarians believe supplements are both a waste of money and potentially harmful. Others, such as Wendell Belfield, D.V.M., disagree. Belfield has found that vitamin and mineral supplements make a dramatic difference in the health of dogs and cats. Of course, all of his patients developed their deficiencies eating commercial pet foods. When fresh foods provide all the nutrients an animal needs, supplementation isn't necessary. In an ideal world, all our animals would be fed as Francis Pottenger's cats, cows, chickens, and guinea pigs were, on fresh, whole, raw foods in fresh air and sunlight. Alas, this is not an ideal world. Unless you provide everything your pet needs from your own bucolic farm or sheep ranch, your dog or cat probably will benefit from occasional supplements, and if your pet has spent a lifetime on commercial pet food, the right vitamins and minerals may save his life. Vitamin C Because of nutritional studies conducted shortly after World War II, most veterinarians believe that dogs and cats produce all the vitamin C their bodies need. For this reason it is not an ingredient in pet foods. However, when Belfield began using vitamin C on his canine and feline patients, they responded dramatically. According to Belfield, vitamin C prevents a variety of health problems, including degenerative spine disorders, arthritis, skin and coat conditions, ruptured discs, hip dysplasia which he considers a subclinical form of scurvyand feline leukemia. For best results, use a natural C-complex vitamin that includes bioflavonoids. Adult dogs and cats on a raw diet that includes fresh fruits and vegetables don't need large amounts of supplemental C, but the addition of 500 milligrams every few days is inexpensive insurance. If using vitamin C from whole-food sources, smaller doses are effective. Whenever the animal is stressed from overwork, breeding, emotional or physical trauma, surgery, an accident, or illness, give additional amounts of this essential nutrient. Vitamin A Vitamin A, a fat-soluble nutrient, is essential for the maintenance of soft mucous tissues, normal growth, and healthy eyes. Deficiencies cause stunted growth, night blindness, and other vision disorders. Beta carotene in foods such as carrots and yams converts to vitamin A in the canine body; animal sources such as cod liver or salmon oil are recommended for cats. B Vitamins The B-complex vitamins (thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, biotin, folic acid, pantothenic acid, and others) are vital to the health of the nervous system. Deficiencies in this group can manifest as symptoms anywhere in the body, most often in the mouth, eyes, and reproductive organs. These are among the most fragile and heat-sensitive vitamins. Like vitamin C, they are water soluble and are not stored in the body. Liver and other organ meats, fish, poultry, brewer's yeast, eggs, beans, peas, dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products are rich sources of B-complex vitamins. Once or twice a week you may want to give your pet a supplement derived from whole-food sources for humans and adjust the dosage to your pet's weight. Vitamin D Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin because exposure to sunlight manufactures it in the body. Vitamin D, which is also supplied by fatty fish, is necessary for healthy bones. Veterinarians recommend up to 100 International Units (IUs) per 20 pounds of body weight, but half an hour in the summer sun can produce that much and more. According to recent research, winter sunlight in latitudes north of New York City produces no vitamin D, but if exposed to sufficient summer sunlight, the body stores enough for the rest of the year. While excess vitamin D produced by the sun is nontoxic, excessive amounts from supplements are potentially dangerous. Vitamin E Vitamin E is essential during every phase of life, including gestation. Animals with high vitamin E levels tend to have stronger, healthier litters and easier birthings than those with low levels. Vitamin E speeds the healing of wounds and burns, improves the assimilation and distribution of nutrients throughout the body, keeps the heart healthy, invigorates older animals, slows the symptoms of aging, protects cats against steatitis (a painful disease of fatty tissue resulting from diets high in the unsaturated fats of fish oils), improves the skin and coats of all animals, and boosts resistance to disease. Food sources include vegetable oils, nuts, dark green leafy vegetables, organ meats, seafood, eggs, and avocados. Dogs and cats with heart disease, athletic or working dogs, breeding or pregnant animals, and any pet under stress may benefit from supplemental vitamin E. Standard Process Cataplex E-2 is a superior product that can be given in low doses to improve heart function and help prevent disease. Vitamin K liver, cheese, oats, cabbage, turnip greens, and other dark green leafy vegetables. Healthy animals on a natural diet receive ample amounts of this vitamin. Bioflavonoids There are a thousand or more bioflavonoids, which usually occur in combination with vitamin C in leaves, bark, rinds, flowers, and seeds. While bioflavonoids often act as coloring pigments in plants, their more important function for human, feline, and canine nutrition appears to be their synergistic partnership with vitamin C. Citrus fruits are high in hesperidin and eriocitrin, buckwheat is rich in rutin, and other sprouts are rich in quercetin, to name four of the most familiar bioflavonoids. Antioxidants Vitamins A, C, and E, bioflavonoids, and the mineral selenium are antioxidants; that is, they protect fatty acids in cells from damaging oxidation by free radicals, which are unstable molecules that damage healthy cells while robbing them of electrons. Belfield has described several chronic illnesses in dogs and cats that responded to antioxidant therapy after conventional treatments such as antibiotics failed. These included ear infections, the gum disease gingivitis, miliary dermatitis, colitis, heart disease (valvular insufficiency), and cancer. When Wendell Belfield began treating dogs and cats with vitamins, his work created a storm of controversy. How times have changed. Now even conventional veterinarians prescribe vitamins, and the production of supplements for pets has become a worldwide industry. Vitamin K regulates blood clotting and other clotting factors; it is also essential for kidney function and bone metabolism. Food sources include beef, liver, cheese, oats, cabbage, turnip greens, and other dark green leafy vegetables. Healthy animals on a natural diet receive ample amounts of this vitamin. Natural Versus Synthetic In any discussion of supplements, it's necessary to examine the differences between vitamins and other nutrients found in food and their synthetic counterparts made from chemicals. Nobel Prizes have been awarded for vitamin synthesis, the scientific community regards synthetics as identical to natural nutrients, and the low cost of synthetic supplements makes them affordable to all. But are synthetic and natural nutrients really the same? Their molecular structures may match, but they are not mirror images of each other. Living bodies can tell the difference, and the difference can be debilitating. In the 1930s, Barnett Sure at the University of Arkansas conducted hundreds of experiments on the links between nutrition and fertility, for it is in their reproduction that animals most dramatically and rapidly manifest nutritional imbalances and deficiencies. Sure's laboratory animals repeatedly showed that supplementation with synthetic B-complex vitamins interfered with normal reproduction, causing lactation problems, sterility, stillbirths, and infant mortality. The more synthetic vitamins his animals ingested, the worse their reproductive health.The natural vitamin C in citrus fruits, acerola cherries, amla berries, rose hips, red and green peppers, and other fruits and vegetables does not. In addition, ascorbic acid is only one of many chemicals in the natural vitamin C complex; it really is not vitamin C at all. Some vitamin C supplements are labeled "natural and organic" because they are synthesized from corn sugar (glucose), which technically fits that definition, but they are not the same as a natural vitamin C complex from whole food. Bioflavonoids such as rutin, quercetin, and hesperidin occur naturally in the pulp and peel of citrus fruits, peppers, buckwheat, black currants, algae, and other plants. Because bioflavonoids enhance the absorption of vitamin C, they are often combined in supplements, but the bioflavonoids in a vitamin C product are as likely to be synthetic as the vitamin C itself. Antioxidant supplements are a big business, and in addition to the well-known combination of selenium and vitamins A, C, and E, antioxidants such as beta carotene, lycopene, lutein, coenzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid, and proanthocyanidins are sold separately. When beta carotene failed to protect heavy smokers from heart attacks, headlines condemned vitamin therapies without noting that the supplement tested was synthetic and not derived from food. Critics of isolated nutrients note that taking beta carotene by itself no matter what its source is unnatural, for foods rich in beta carotene contain other nutrients that work synergistically to protect health. For example, spirulina contains alpha carotene, beta carotene, zeaxanthin, cryptoxanthin, and other carotenes. Among their other benefits, mixed carotenoids have been shown to protect the skin against the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation and reduce DNA damage, a leading cause of cancer. Carrots are another rich source of carotenes, containing alpha carotene, beta carotene, epsilon carotene, gamma carotene, lycopene, and dozens of compounds that have yet to be identified. As David G. Williams, M.D., wrote in the August 1996 edition of his Alternatives newsletter, "It would be a serious mistake to think that a single beta carotene supplement would provide the same protection as the combination of carotenes found in carrots." In response to the increasing demand for natural or food-based vitamins, more manufacturers are supplying them. Labels are not always easy to decipher, however. If a label uses the abbreviation USP for United States Pharmacopoeia, this assurance of purity is also an indication that the nutrient was manufactured from chemicals, not from whole foods. Sustained-release or timed-release products are always synthetic, and any label showing that the supplement provides a substantial vitamin dose almost always indicates a synthetic product. If a label advertises nutrients "such as are found in whole foods," they may not come from whole foods. Check the ingredients or contact the manufacturer. |
| Cataplex E-2 tablets
contain only 2 IUs of vitamin E, and the recommended human maintenance
dose is two tablets per day. The Wysong product Food-C contains 150
milligrams vitamin C per capsule and Nature's Plus brand of chewable
Acerola-C Complex (available in health food stores) contains 250
milligrams vitamin C per wafer, whereas synthetic supplements of the
same size contain six to eight times those amounts. How can such small
doses make a difference to you or your pet? The answer lies in how our bodies recognize and process nutrients in food (which are familiar and easily assimilated) in contrast to our very different response to synthetic or fractionated supplements. Made from glandular materials, high-selenium yeast, and calcium, Cataplex E-2 is the most popular Standard Process product, best known for its ability to improve cardiac function, prevent heart arrhythmia and angina, increase the distribution of oxygen throughout the respiratory system, increase stamina, and help prevent infection. Given at the rate of 1 tablet every other day for cats and small dogs, 1 tablet per day for medium dogs, and 2 tablets per day for large dogs, Cataplex E-2 helps prevent reproductive problems, maintain heart health, promote efficient detoxification, and improve endurance. Wysong's Food-C contains sprouted barley, acerola juice, black currants, grape juice, whole rice syrup, rose hips, composted kelp, orange juice, barley grass juice, wheat grass juice and blue algae. Instead of a single vitamin, Food-C contains more than 115 nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, bioflavonoids, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids. Nature's Plus Acerola-C Complex contains acerola extract powder, lemon bioflavonoid complex, rose hip extract, black currant concentrate, green pepper extract, and rutin from natural sources, making it another easily assimilated source of related nutrients. Many excellent supplements make no claims of specific potency. The Vitamin Shoppe's Green Phyters tablets (see Resources) contain organically grown, freeze-dried spirulina, chlorella, barley juice, wheat grass, and alfalfa leaf. Wysong's Salad capsules contain extracts and concentrates of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red and green cabbage, kale, and broccoli sprouts. Neither product claims to contain any measured amount of any nutrient, but both are superior to synthetic supplements of guaranteed potency. Whole-food supplements are so different from synthetics that label comparisons can be meaningless. More is not necessarily better, and although large doses of synthetic vitamins have been used with much success in the treatment of malnourished dogs and cats, megavitamins not only are unnecessary for perfect health, but they also can cause nutritional imbalances and have adverse side effects. Minerals Since the late 1800s, America's farm soils have been stripped by modern farming methods of their minerals and trace elements. The result is such a severe depletion that the mineral levels of our industrially grown staple crops are insufficient to provide and maintain good health. The most widely used chemical fertilizers contain only two or three minerals, not the seventy-two or more trace elements found in nature. Mineral deficiencies interfere with vitamin absorption, digestion, and the health of every body system, from the brain's electrical circuitry to the healthy operation of the heart, circulatory system, reproductive organs, skeleton, skin, lungs, and everything else. A lifetime of health problems can be prevented by feeding puppies, kittens, and other young animals the minerals their growing bodies require. Mineral deficiencies often contribute to the development of seizures in dogs.A review of the medical histories of canines diagnosed with epilepsy revealed that an "astonishingly high percentage" showed significant mani-festations of pica, an eating disorder caused by malnutrition. In one case, a female German Shepherd Dog had a history of licking wrought iron and eating glass and Christmas tree lights. An improved diet supplemented with plant-derived colloidal minerals, digestive enzymes, and probiotic foods cured the pica within three weeks and the dog had no additional seizures. Seaweeds such as kelp and dulse provide dozens of minerals, including iodine. Brazil nuts are rich in selenium. Blackstrap molasses and wheat germ contain substantial amounts of magnesium. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables are rich in boron. Kelp, nuts, and seeds are sources of chromium. Avocados and fish are rich in copper. Deep-sea fish contain iodine. Organ meats provide substantial amounts of iron and potassium. Raw meaty bones offer calcium, copper, chromium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, molybdenum, sulfur, vanadium, zinc, and other minerals in perfect balance; bone marrow is rich in copper and iron. The advantage to food-derived minerals is that they are easy to assimilate in proportions that living bodies utilize well. Ian Billinghurst based his dogs' diet on bones because they provide a puppy's most complete and balanced supply of minerals, preventing hip dysplasia, growth defects, wobbler syndrome, dropped hocks, and bone cysts. ''We have been breeding Great Danes and Rottweilers for years," he explains. "The bone problems our dogs had been experiencing disappeared the moment we began to raise our puppies on a bone-based diet." The larger the breed, Billinghurst cautions, the more important it is not to use calcium supplements. These supplements have been shown to disrupt the balance of minerals needed by the body and exacerbate bone and growth problems. Whenever providing a mineral supplement, consider using a liquid or powder that contains most or all of the elements found in nature rather than a product that contains only one, two, or five minerals. Mineral supplements derived from plant material, ocean water, or salt lakes are easily absorbed, well tolerated, and in natural balance. These sources have been called dangerous because they contain small quantities of aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and other toxic elements. Although the microscopic amounts in unrefined sea salt have never been shown to affect human or animal health adversely, some manufacturers of concentrated colloidal minerals remove potentially toxic minerals and trace elements from their products. The claim that plant-derived minerals do not accumulate in the body is supported by research on kelp, some species of which are known for their high arsenic content. Elemental arsenic accumulates in the body, and it doesn't take much of it to kill a human, but plant-derived arsenic behaves differently. In Japan, which has the world's highest per capita consumption of kelp, tests on human volunteers showed that 100 percent of the arsenic ingested in seaweed was excreted in the urine within sixty hours. In addition to correcting mineral deficiencies, kelp and other seaweeds contain alginates that soothe and cleanse the digestive tract while preventing the absorption of toxic metals including mercury, cadmium, cesium, plutonium, strontium, and other radioactive isotopes. |