Our current market is exploding with products claiming to enhance individuals' health and wellness using vitamins and nutritional supplements. Pet Parents are now exploring the same products to complement the health of their pets. The benefits of suitable all-nutritional supplements are overwhelming and can add many healthy years to your life and your dogs.
Dogs Age More Rapidly Than People
Longevity is credited 30 percent to genetics and 70 percent to lifestyle. Up to 90 percent of illnesses in dogs are due to the degenerative processes associated with aging.
Does Your Dog Act Her Age?
Because a dog ages seven times faster than its pet parents, significant health changes transpire in a short amount of time. Dogs are considered puppies for approximately one year and are deemed adults aged two to six and seniors at age seven. Like Mastiff Dogs, Giant breeds age even more quickly and are considered seniors at age five. Indications of aging in dogs occur slowly but generally begin at maturity, somewhere between age one and two.
The late Dr. Denham Harman's Free Radical Theory of Aging pertains to pet parents and pets, including dogs. This universally esteemed theory states that aging is when the body's systems deteriorate faster than they can restore them.
The changes occur due to oxidative damage produced by harmful compounds called free radicals. Free radicals are toxic, unstable electrons. As we age, they produce more promptly.
Free radicals harm your dog's body, comparable to the method used for oxygen to trigger iron to rust. They damage your dog's genetic material, DNA and RNA, cell membranes, and enzyme systems.
Free radicals develop each time we take a breath. Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays and environmental toxins, pollution, heavy metals, and stress contribute to free radical accumulation. Your dog's diet and medications, such as antibiotics, are also determinants.
Free radicals impair your dog's natural defenses and development of up to 90 percent of the age-related degenerative conditions we correlate with aging:
Arthritis
Diabetes
Cataracts
Cancer
Heart disease
Premature aging
In addition to the length of your canine's life, our life expectancy is eventually determined by how rapidly free radicals cause hazardous oxidative changes to transpire. Therefore, what you feed your dog and the supplements you choose for your dog are both very significant.
Help Your Dog Enjoy a More Abundant, Healthier Life
Your Dog's Nutrition
People and pets alike are what they eat. What you feed your dog directly impacts his health and quality of life. By providing your pet a healthy diet, your pet has a greater possibility of living a longer and higher quality life.
Like people, dogs are omnivores and are meant to thrive on a diet of meat, vegetables, and fruit. If your pet has known health issues, consult with your vet to determine the best diet for your dog. Commercial varieties are worth looking into; however, I have only found one all-natural commercial dog food that provides complete nutrition mixed with the company's fish oil. Everything made for pets at pawtree was created by Veterinarian Nutritionists whose goal is to help every dog a long, happy life.
Homemade diets take more time and effort but, if not researched carefully, can leave your pet with nutritional gaps in their diet. Homemade diets are worth the extra effort and provide pets with a complete diet if done correctly. However, the amount of meat, vegetables, and fruit you would need to buy weekly can add up quickly.
Healthy All-Natural Dog Treats
Vegetables and fruits are naturally healthy, low-calorie treats most pets can enjoy. Treats rich in antioxidants are especially beneficial for your dog:
Oranges
Strawberries
Watermelon
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots
Cantaloupe
Spinach
Apples
Peas
Oranges are rich in Vitamin C, tomatoes filled with Lycopenes, and sweet potatoes are Vitamin E and Beta Carotene sources. Cantaloupes and carrots also provide Beta Carotene for your dog.
Antioxidant Supplements for Your Dog:
Currently, antioxidants provide very bright prospects for increasing the quality and length of your dog's life. Besides, scientists have found that sooner is better than later as your dogís potential health benefits. Antioxidant supplementation started as a puppy before free radical damage can increase your dog's healthy lifespan by up to 20 percent.
Antioxidant supplements, including Vitamins A, C, and E, the minerals Selenium and Zinc, and the nutrients Alpha Lipoic Acid and Coenzyme Q10, are the bodyís natural defense against free radicals damage. They can help protect your dog by neutralizing free radicals and decreasing the resultant levels of oxidative damage.
Other noteworthy antioxidant supplements for your dog include:
Bioflavonoids: Helps to decrease allergic reactions to asthmatic attacks and have anti-cancer benefits for your dog.
Green Tea: whose antioxidants may decrease heart disease and cancer risk and help protect the blood vessels nourishing your dogís heart and brain.
Lutein: a plant pigment from marigolds, helps protect your dogís eyes and may reduce the risk of cataracts.
Melatonin: a potent antioxidant that acts to normalize sleep patterns. It also protects your dogís brain and has been used successfully with cancer therapy.
The effects of antioxidants are beneficial and act synergistically for people and dogís undergoing cancer therapy. In well-controlled studies, people and pets treated with antioxidants (with or without chemotherapy and radiation) have tolerated treatments better and experienced less weight loss. More importantly, they enjoyed a better overall quality of life and lived longer than individuals receiving no supplements.
Nutritional Supplements for Your Dogís Bones, Joints & Cartilage
Glucosamine is an amino sugar naturally produced in your dogís body from glucose, your dogís blood sugar, and the Amino Acid, Glutamine. It helps the cartilage between the joints retain water so the cartilage can act as a cushion to absorb shock and withstand compression. Glucosamine is vital to protecting the health and integrity of your dogís bones, joints, and cartilage. It helps to:
Decrease joint inflammation and pain
Promote cartilage repair
Aid healing of damaged joints
Increase mobility in dogs with arthritis and hip dysplasia
Glucosamine is also a standard component of the urinary bladder in dogís and catís and may relieve urinary disorders.
MSM (methyl-sulfonyl-methane) is a natural source of sulfur that works along with Glucosamine to help protect the health and integrity of your dogís bones, joints, and cartilage.
Essential Fatty Acid Supplements for Your Dog
Essential Fatty Acids are vital to life and support all bodily functions in your dog. They help keep cell membranes soft and pliable, so your pet's cells can absorb dietary nutrients. They enhance your dog's skin and hair coat and are needed to form normal development of the nervous system and brain.
Fatty Acids are vital to brain health and help to preserve mental clarity. They decrease the risk of Alzheimerís disease and dementia in dogs, cats, and people. Fatty Acids may reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure, as well as provide therapeutic effects in your dog for:
Arthritis
Lupus
Inflammatory bowel disease
Cancer therapy
Kidney disorders
Flea allergies, food intolerances, and bacterial skin infections can often be relieved by providing your dog with fatty acid supplements.
The proper balance of Fatty Acids helps to reduce wear and tear on your dogís body by decreasing stress-triggered increases in cholesterol and the stress hormone Cortisol. Research indicates that the ratio of 5:1 of Omega 6 to Omega 3 Fatty Acids seems to provide the most significant clinical benefits, surpassing that of any individual Fatty Acid alone.
Amino Acid Supplements for Your Dog
Glutamine is the most abundant Amino Acid in the body. It is the primary energy source for the cells that line the digestive system and strengthens your dogís natural defense system known as the immune system.
Glutamine promotes healing of the digestive system, thereby reducing bowel disorders. It spares protein and reduces muscle loss during periods of injury, stress, and high endurance activities. Therefore it is especially beneficial for pets recovering from trauma and for working and showing dogs.
Glutamine also has many anti-aging effects. It helps preserve memory and prevent the harmful effects of Cortisol, the hormone responsible for accelerating the aging process in people and your dog.
Digestive Enzyme Supplements for Your Dog
Digestive Enzymes are produced by the salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, and liver and then released into the digestive tract. Enzymes help your dog's body break down proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to be absorbed and utilized in your dog's food.
Your dog's production of enzymes naturally decreases with increasing age. Illnesses, stress, food intolerances, allergies, and drugs like antibiotics also reduce enzyme production and function. Lack of these enzymes can result in various digestive disturbances ranging from flatulence and gas to diarrhea, life-threatening dehydration, and malnutrition.
Digestive Enzymes are vital to maintaining your dogís overall health. They improve digestion efficiency so your petís body can utilize the nutrients essential for energy production and ultimately for life itself.
They help the body to recover from disease and promote the restoration of good health in your dog. Enzymes are helpful to reduce pain and swelling after exercise or trauma and help speed up recovery rates. Enzymes support your dogís immune system, thereby enhancing his ability to ward off disease and infection. They have also been used effectively in cancer therapy for people and pets.
Papain is an enzyme that has aspirin-like effects of decreasing swollen, painful, inflamed tissues in your dog. Bromelain is an enzyme found in pineapple stems that inhibits the spread of lung cancer in mice.
Digestive Enzyme supplements may benefit dogs with digestive problems and immune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, cancer, and various bowel disorders. They are instrumental in older dogs with reduced digestive ability.
The Anti-Aging Supplement List For Your Dog:
Vitamin A/Beta Carotene: Antioxidant enhances immunity, essential for your dog to utilize protein in his diet
Vitamin C: Antioxidant, needed for tissue growth and repair, enhances immunity, required for your dogís body to utilize Vitamin E.
Vitamin E: Antioxidant, prevents heart disease, promotes wound healing, needed for your dogís body to utilize Vitamin C.
B-Complex Vitamins: As a group, B vitamins help your dog maintain healthy nerves, skin, and muscles.
Coenzyme Q-10: A powerful, newly discovered antioxidant. Essential for immune function, beneficial in heart disease, and gum/dental disease for your dog.
Alpha Lipoic Acid: Antioxidant. It helps your dog to restore energy metabolism.
Selenium: Antioxidant. Works with Vitamin E to help your dog fight infection. Beneficial to the dog's skin and hair. A dog with a deficiency in Selenium is at a higher risk of developing cancer and heart disease.
Zinc: Essential mineral your dog needs for protein synthesis, promotes a healthy immune system, aids wound healing. Critical for hundreds of biological processes in the body.
Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids: Essential component of cell membranes in your dog and is needed for healthy heart, brain function, and skin and hair coats.
Bioflavonoids: Enhances absorption of Vitamin C, has antioxidant effects and promotes average blood circulation for your dog.
Glucosamine and MSM: Promotes normal healthy bones, joints, and cartilage for your dog.
Digestive Enzymes: Essential for your dog to utilize and absorb nutrients from their diet.
Melatonin: Immune modulator, antioxidant, triggers restful sleep for your dog.
Ginseng: A metabolic tonic that promotes your dog's brain health and overall wellness.
L-Glutamine: Amino acids are needed for your dog to energize the cells of his digestive system so dietary nutrients can be adequately absorbed and utilized.
Colostrum: The first milk your puppy receives from his mother. Provides your dog with antibodies to protect him against disease and aid immune function.
Exercise: 20 minutes twice a day minimum for your dog.
Balanced, all-natural diet: Feed your dog at least two meals daily. Balanced all-natural sources are the most beneficial.
Relaxation: Stress and anxiety affect pets and people adversely. Set aside an hour a day to relax and enjoy your dog. Something as simple as watching tv while your dog is lying in your lap and gets petted is the perfect night for your dog.
Positive mental attitude: The mind-body connection is a potent promoter of well-being for you and your dog.
Pure water: Fresh, non-chlorinated water is essential for people and your dog.
Comentarios