What exactly is a nutritional supplement?

Nutritional supplements include a wide variety of substances. They can be divided into several categories:

• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Essential Fatty Acids
• Amino Acids & their derivatives
• Enzymes
• Probiotics
• Antioxidants
• Accessory Food Factors
• Glandulars

What does my pet really need?

In order to understand why a patient can benefit from supplements, let's start with defining the different levels of nutrition.

BASIC NUTRITION

Refers to the animal's daily intake, which should meet the daily nutritional requirements based on guidelines by the NRC (National Research Council).

PREVENTATIVE NUTRITION

Adding nutritional supplements to the basic diet to eliminate possible deficiencies caused by the diet and the animal's biochemical individuality.

THERAPEUTIC NUTRITION

Involves the use of nutritional supplements in animals who display specific health problems and disease conditions.

What is the purpose of supplements?

Just because your pet is receiving the appropriate 'basic diet' formulated in the pet food, does not mean that you are supplying all of the necessary vitamins and minerals, etc. that he may need to thrive and be the healthiest that he can be (i.e. preventative nutrition).

Now, add on top of it a medical condition that requires additional support from the body and your pet may require even more nutritional components in order to adapt to a medical problem (i.e. Therapeutic nutrition).

So, the purpose of 'supplements' is to supply additional ingredients to 'supplement' the basic diet. Every pet's needs will be different depending on his age, breed, lifestyle and potential medical conditions.