Ever wonder what veterinarians use on their own pets? Well, I use the same products for my pets that I recommend to clients. I don’t make money from mentioning anything on this blog and my interest is not in persuading you to buy particular products, but I’m passionate about some supplements because they make such a difference in a pet’s life. My three favorite products are Nordic Naturals fish oils, Missing Link, and Joint Optimizer.
Fish and Flax, two great sources of Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Omega 3 fatty acids help pets in almost every conceivable way:
· Promote immune health to decrease the incidence and severity of cancer
· Decrease the severity and incidence of allergies
· Decrease the severity of arthritis
· Promote heart, kidney, liver, and brain health
· Promote learning and ability to model desirable behaviors
· Maintain healthy skin that doesn’t flake or have an offensive odor
The best fish oils are from Nordic Naturals
For pets that do well with fish, the best sources of fish oils are Nordic Naturals pet products. There are hundreds of fish oils out there, and many are made by wonderful companies, but I’ve never seen any that work as well for dogs and cats as the Nordic Naturals products. In addition, Nordic Naturals has independent third-party laboratory testing that guarantees purity and freshness of their products. This is essential with pet supplements because we have so many adulterated products on the market.
The best flax seed products are from Designing Health
For pets that don’t care for fish, for pets with a tendency to constipation, and for pets with cancer, I recommend Omega 3 fatty acids from flax, such as those made by Designing Health. Whole ground flax is better than flax oil supplements because of the benefit of lignan in the flax seed hull. Thus, I recommend the whole ground flax, rather than the oil.
Designing Health makes a pet line with Missing Link and a human line including MegaFlax and Omega 3 Basic. I often recommend that pet families choose one of the human products because they are made with organic flax, but all of the Designing Health products will benefit pets. Most pets enjoy the taste—even cats—and it’s easy to add ground flax to the normal diet. Be sure to stir it in so that your pet doesn’t take a deep sniff and suck ground flax up its nose.
The best joint product is Joint Optimizer
The joint product that works better than anything else I’ve ever tried and that I regularly recommend for dogs is from Pure Encapsulations. It’s called Joint Optimizer. In my experience, Joint Optimizer controls pain better than products with MSM, and it contains antioxidants that provide widespread benefit. It my favorite joint product for dogs with arthritis and for dogs prone to develop cancer, especially the Boxer, Golden Retriever, and German Shepherd.
Joint Optimizer also helps pets with trauma, including over-use athletic injuries, which are common in working dogs, assistance dogs, and dogs training for agility trials or herding trials. Joint Optimizer is one of the medications I recommend for Dachshunds, Pekinese and other dogs with disc disease.
These medications are safe
Fish oils from Nordic Naturals, Flax products from Designing Health and Joint Optimizer are safe when given to health pets. They can be taken with other medications or when taken for long periods of time. This is not true of all medications, and you should be careful to check with your veterinarian before starting supplements to ensure you're not hurting your pet. For example, you can harm a pet with calcium-based bladder stones by supplementing with cod liver oil.
What's coming?
In an up-coming blog, we’ll look at the best flower essence remedies, and you’ll see why SpiritEssence is so widely recommended by holistic vets like me.
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