Supplements for pets. Wonderful cure? Potentially damaging? A complete waste of time? Well, of course, the answer is all three. They can be life changing in certain situations, wasteful, or, on rare occasion, harmful in others.
Supplements. What are they?
Supplements, according to the Food Standard Agency (FSA) include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fibre, essential fatty acids, and various plants and herbal extracts. The FSA do not mention probiotics, pre-biotics, or post-biotics, but for the purposes of this article I will be including them due to their vital role in gut health.
When our pets don’t need a supplement
A healthy, active, happy dog or cat without any nutritional deficiencies and eating a species appropriate diet (as supplied by Honey’s) is unlikely to require a supplement.
Why might our pets need a supplement?
In a perfect world the soil is rich, the air clean, the water pure, all is peace and harmony, and we feed our pets local, organic, seasonal, species-appropriate foods. And then there is reality. Most pets are not living the life of their ancestors, roaming the plain, hunting at will, drinking from streams, living in a close-knit pack. Chronic stress is a part of modern life. And supplements can be a great aid in countering the effects of this stress.
The stressors
Air. Air quality affects our pets as well as ourselves. Inhaling pollutants and particulate matter (think smoking, heavy industry, household cleaning sprays, and even plug-in air fresheners) puts a good deal of stress on the body via the lungs. Frequently, I have found indoor cats who come into my clinic with breathing problems be cured simply by switching off those plug-ins and swapping out those anti-bacterial sprays. Rural areas can be better, but even then, crop types such as rapeseed with its strong aroma and heavy pollen load, and spraying fields with agrochemicals can cause a good deal of respiratory distress, especially in horses and asthmatic cats.
Water. Water purity. How many of our dogs and cats will only drink, or where available, choose to drink from the water outside that has been filtered through a plant pot, from puddles or a pond? Tap water in some areas can fur up a kettle in a matter of weeks. Other tap water exists where you can smell the additives (London for instance). An indoor pet in a big city is particularly prone to disease from poor quality water ingestion. They tend to drink less due to its poor taste which puts a lot of strain on the kidneys, and the water itself may cause bladder or kidney stones to form. Indoor water fountains can be a life saver here since the water is filtered and flowing, making the water a lot more palatable.
Soil. Our soils are now so nutrient depleted that the vast majority of us, and consequently our pets, are ending up with chronic nutritional deficiencies (especially minerals such as Magnesium), despite eating a diet that 80 years ago would have contained everything we need. Thankfully biodynamic farming practices are on the rise, so steadily things are improving, but it is likely to be quite a while before the optimal soil nutrient levels return.
The local environment. Undoubtedly a largely outdoor life is optimal for our dogs and cats. However, again, contaminants in today’s modern society abound. In cities our barefoot pets absorb chemicals and toxins through the skin, and when they lick their paws, into their gut too. Sniffing the ground also allows entry through the nose into the airways. In rural areas there are different chemicals and contaminants, usually a lesser load, but they are still a stressor to the body.
Life stage. As with us, as our pets age, degenerative processes are a part of the cycle of life. Digestion becomes less efficient, eyesight wanes, muscles lose strength, joints wear out, and back pain can develop. Supplements can help. Many older pets respond well to an essential fatty acid supplement that helps reduce inflammation in their joints, for instance.
Genes. Humans and pets can suffer from genetic weaknesses or abnormalities. Many Dalmatians, contain a genetic defect that results in the formation of urate bladder stones (hyperuricosuria), and some Border Terriers have genes that cause severe gluten-sensitivity (canine epileptoid cramping syndrome). There are many more.
Feeding the best quality diet – using high welfare, fresh meat suitable for human consumption and chemical free vegetables – ideally organic or wild – is, of course, the foundation of good health. But supplements can play a very important role for dogs or cats with health issues. To offer just one example, many diseases begin with a leaky gut and the right supplements can be incredibly useful in helping it heal.
Supplements – what to give and when
Most nutrient components, such as vitamins and minerals are involved in a host of functions too numerous to mention. For example, the body uses magnesium in over 600 different ways! The mammalian body, as with all things in nature, is a complex system. Because of this there isn’t any room for reductionist thinking.
In human medicine there are many tests for nutritional deficiencies. In pets very few. And even then, not all tests reflect the level of the nutrient in the body. Take vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, which is a water-soluble vitamin vital for many physiological processes such as cell metabolism, synthesis of DNA, amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, nerve myelination and haematopoiesis! Cats and dogs are not able to synthesise cobalamin, hence they require it within their diets. The way in which it is absorbed by the body is complex and is found in all tissues but predominantly the liver. Any excess, as it is water soluble, is excreted in the urine. The veterinary test for Vitamin B12 is a blood test, which just tests the level in blood. We know that if levels in the blood are low, then the pet has a severe vitamin B12 deficiency. However chronic low levels cannot be accurately tested in this way.
Having said this, the various available tests are a great help in deciding what nutritional deficiencies may exist. However, it is also advisable to involve an experienced clinician i.e. a vet capable of looking beyond the tests at the symptoms and making an accurate diagnosis. In this way a targeted and monitored bespoke nutritional approach can be developed. It is also to be noted that pet supplements included in the dietary treatment protocol are aimed to work synergistically, and may only be required until the pet is fully recovered.
Some commonly used supplements
Probiotics are friendly bacteria and yeasts that are vital in maintaining a healthy flora in the gut, thus assisting the digestive process. There are studies showing great effect of targeted bacterial and yeast probiotic supplementation in treating disease, even the severe, often fatal disease, Parvovirus. Much work is being done on the canine gut microbiome to work out its components and their specific functions. This information will allow a more accurate treatment regimen in the future.
Pre-biotics are foods that enable beneficial microbes to grow and multiply. Typically, they are made up of foods that your pet does not digest or absorb. For example, different types of fibre and fermented products.
Post-biotics consist of the so-called ‘waste’ components left behind after absorption of nutrients, pre-biotics and pro-biotics. These products include the B vitamins, vitamin K, free fatty acids (FFA), amino acids, and anti-microbial peptides (which keep harmful bacteria in-check). As you can see, post-biotics are also vital for our pet’s health. These can be found in foods such as yoghurt, kefir and sauerkraut. Be aware though that for our pets they have to be the right versions of these foods. The devil is in the detail. So, no sweeteners, no onions, no casein A1 containing dairy products! One way to introduce postbiotics is via faecal microbiome transplant, which I have successfully used in clinic. It involves fertilising the lower bowel with faeces from a healthy dog, that then re-populates the gut with those all important components that make up a healthy postbiotic flora.
Vitamin B12 – one of my favourite vitamins. I use it often, as part of my protocol for treating both acute and chronic disease, especially in older pets. It comes in four different forms, all of which have different benefits. In most oral preparations for pets cyanocobalamin is used. This is the synthetic version and in sensitive individuals can be harmful due to the micro dose of cyanide present. The injectable hydroxycobalamin version tends to work best in most patients in my experience.
Essential fatty acids Pets with skin issues can really benefit from the addition of these supplements. The multiple functions of essential fatty acids include better absorption of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), effective cell metabolism, and as a major source of energy. If your pet has a concurrent gut issue or is a fussy eater spot-on preparations are also available. It is worth noting that cats and dogs have different essential fatty acid requirements. Cats have a higher omega 6 requirement, and that is found in fish oil. Again, a word of warning, the source of the fish oil matters, as heavy metals (such as mercury) and toxins (such as Bisphenol A) may be present in certain fish, which then end up in the supplement.
Calcium must be at an optimal level, especially for all pregnant and nursing animals. If the level is too low then they will develop life-threatening seizures. It is one of the true emergencies that we see in general practice, and it is incredibly rewarding to see the turnaround after the calcium injection has been given. However, if the level in the diet is too high this is also detrimental as irreversible skeletal deformities can occur. Calcium supplementation in the late stages of pregnancy used to be very popular with breeders, but thankfully has now fallen out of favour for this reason. A good quality diet is all that is needed throughout these reproductive life stages.
Zinc problems are mostly seen due to deficiency. There are three types. Genetic (commonly Huskies and Malamutes), poor diet, and diets or supplements that affect the absorption of zinc (eg calcium). They are generally quite readily treated.
Magnesium is an example of a mineral that is very rarely needing to be supplemented in our dogs and cats, and can be harmful if given without knowing if it is truly needed. In cows however, it is a common deficiency.
Pancreatic enzymes. Some of our dogs and cats are so depleted from gut disease that they have great difficulty breaking down nutrients and then absorbing them into the body. The pancreas is an organ that sits alongside the upper small intestine to help the breakdown of food by producing enzymes that enter the gut when food arrives. The current accepted wisdom is to only use pancreatic enzyme supplementation for the disease called Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI). It is my view that in many of the severe gut diseases I see (think leaky gut syndrome) that the pancreas needs a good deal of help, so I supplement these patients with these enzymes for a more rapid recovery.
Herbal supplements: a word of caution
Herbal supplements, as with the combining of some supplements (Calcium and Zinc for instance) need to be treated with care since they can interfere with the function of certain medications and cause harm. Best to contact your vet or have a consultation with a herbal vet before administering them if your pet is on medication. https://herbalvets.org.uk/find-a-herbal-vet/.
Sourcing
Sourcing supplements must be done with care, so as to avoid buying products that do not contain what it says on the label and are free of harmful contaminants. Supplements are not regulated in the U.K. and studies have shown that there is a lot of poor-quality supplements on sale. The basic rule of thumb to minimise this risk is to go for a reputable brand with third party testing of its products.
In conclusion
I hope the usefulness of supplements when used appropriately is now self-evident, and that it is clear that they work best when given in a thoughtful and targeted way. As stated earlier, the mammalian body is a complex system, and expert, professional advice will ensure that the right supplements are employed.
By Dr Bella O’Connell MRCVS
Dr Bella O’Connell MRCVS can be reached by emailing: contact@thenutritionvet.co.uk.
