Posts Tagged ‘animal nutrition’

Vitamin D - Is Your Dog Deficient?

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

robbieincurlersAll nutrients play an important role in your dog’s body and therefore we should try to avoid them becoming deficient in any vitamins, minerals, amino acids or essential fatty acids. However, vitamin D is one of the nutrients that has an effect on their whole body, so it is really important to ensure they are not deficient in this vital nutrient.

Optimum levels of Vit. D3 have been shown to help prevent cancer and to positively effect the following conditions:

* Obesity
* Heart Disease
* Diabetes
* Dementia
* Skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis
* Gum disease
* Teeth cavities
* Bone disorders
* Hormonal imbalances
* Depression
* A number of autoimmune disorders
* Many other health disorders

Is your dog deficient in this vital nutrient?

Well, that depends on whether or not there are adequate levels in their diet. Unlike humans, dogs (and cats) cannot synthesize adequate levels of vitamin D3 through their skin. Therefore, if you believe that your pooch wouldn’t be vitamin D deficient because they are always outside and receive plenty of sunshine, this may not be the case at all as dogs are reliant on the dietary intake of vitamin D. Vitamin D3 is the form of vitamin D which is of animal origin and is the most beneficial to dogs. Vitamin D2 is of plant origin and can still be useful, but vitamin D3 is required in larger amounts.

Sources of vitamin D3

Good sources of vitamin D3 for your dog include oily fish such as sardines, salmon and herring. Veal, beef and egg yolks also provide good amounts of vitamin D.  If you feel that your dog requires supplementation for vitamin D3, you may like to try a high quality cod liver oil supplement. I give our dogs and cats a few drops of a pure, cod liver oil liquid once a day, mixed in with their food just to be sure. If you decide to give your dog cod liver oil, just make sure that the one you buy is guaranteed to be free from toxic heavy metals such as mercury and lead, as there are many cheap products out there these days that are far from healthy and your dog would be better off without these.

Avoiding nutrient deficiencies is one of the best ways to prevent many illnesses and conditions in your dog  – don’t wait for disease to develop. Take action and ensure you practice preventative health for your pets by identifying vitamin D deficiency and treating it.

Yours in Health     

Sara Rooney BHSc., ND., DC., DASc., GDSc. (Hons) Zoology, MATMS.                                                                                                                                                                                     www.animalnaturopath.com.au                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     www.healyourdognaturally.com

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Why Do We Need Nutrient Therapies For Dogs?

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Animal naturopaths often use nutrient supplements to help treat certain conditions in animals. Based on many years of clinical experience and research, I believe that to achieve 100% optimum health we all need a full range of nutrients and so do our dogs. If we are deficient in even one vitamin, mineral, amino acid or essential fatty acid, the body cannot function at an optimal rate and some, if not many, physiological functions will be compromised.  The nutrient-deficient body may be able to function for a while as it tries to make adjustments in order to compensate for the lack of essential nutrients, but eventually disease will almost certainly begin to take hold as the body gives up the battle.

It’s a bit like a process line in a factory: If some of the staff don’t turn up for work one day - it puts a bigger stress on the remaining staff to try to function optimally - and that’s what it’s like inside the body when there are some nutrients missing (in people or animals) - pretty soon the staff (other nutrients) can’t cope any longer and the whole process begins to break down. All living organisms require a certain amount of each of the nutrients to function properly and to continually not receive the required nutrients sets the organism up for disease development. It’s that simple!

Although there are certain nutrients that can be produced by the body, minerals and essential fatty acids cannot and therefore need to be derived from either the diet and/or supplementation. Given the right conditions, the body can produce certain vitamins and amino acids but other nutrients need to be provided to the body, in order to function optimally. 

So, Nutritional Medicine, or Orthomolecular Therapy as it is sometimes called, relates to providing the right nutrients in the correct amounts for each individual human, dog or other animal. It’s no good just guessing what your dog needs - different dogs require different nutrients at various stages of their lives and that’s where a well-trained practitioner who understands nutritional science really well, can be extremely helpful to your dog’s health. 

In nature, animals inherently know that they require additional minerals. An example of this are the elephants in certain areas of Africa - they put their lives on the line by travelling really long and often dangerous routes to access a wide variety of minerals that they derive from specific caves. In fact, it is well documented that they have been carving out these minerals from these caves for millions of years.

If we took more notice of the lessons that nature provides and acted on this information, our health and the wellbeing of our pets may be much better.

Sara Rooney BHSc., ND., DC., DASc., GDSc. (Zoology), MATMS.

Naturopathic Animal Services

www.animalnaturopath.com.au

www.healyourdognaturally.com

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