Antioxidants for Dogs: Good or Bad

Good health is soothing for the first-time experience but complex to maintain. While talking about the best food for your pets we often fail to develop our insights in favour of getting to know about the ingredients or composition used to make this ready food for your pet. Let’s drop a pin wherever your research about antioxidants have led you because here you will find everything about it in much simpler ways. We will discuss the benefits of antioxidants, types of antioxidants, what are antioxidants and what are natural antioxidants in brief.

Before understanding antioxidants, let’s focus on their roots. Look at this term ‘anti-oxidants. It clearly states that it’s the prevention of oxidants to increase their impact. Now, we won’t ask you to take a note because you will become familiar with the concept of antioxidants in no time.

Let’s understand what are oxidants and what causes oxidation.  Oxidation is the process in which there’s a massive increase in the ions of oxygen in the body with the introduction of ‘Free Radicals’. These reactive chemicals enter the body with the help of oxygen intake.

What are Free Radicals?

Free Radicals are the chain of chemicals, unbalanced chemicals which create a chemical reaction in the body and cause multiple problems. Once these chains become active, it gives rise to oxidation. Remember that brownish shade over the diced fruits if kept unattended for a long time. Or in much easier terms, oxidation equals rusting.

As we can’t saturate natural oxygen, we can take preventive measures to stop the effect of oxidation. This scenario is common for both human and pets. Talking about dogs, there are a lot of ways, a lot of improved dietary supplements which can help reduce its impact on the body. An antioxidant is a compound build as a defence that stops the impact of oxidation, puts a break in its process by removing free radicals from the body.

Compared to humans, dogs are much more prone to oxidation because of their daily lick-rative behaviour. Just handle it with a bit of humour. Because dogs are not humans, which is best in a multitude of ways, it becomes our responsibility to cater to their healthy growth; especially when they have licked every corner of the house. As they are down to earth practically as well, they tend to confront chemicals even if you take the best care of them.

• Rolling over the leaves in the garden which have been sprayed with the chemicals
• Licking every furniture, walls, toys, probably anything which is in front of them

Oxidation impacts severely in animals. When there’s a massive increase in the molecular agents of oxidants it gives rise to oxidative stress. It triggers damage in the cells and tissues in dogs and impacts their overall health. Some of the most common yet chronic impacts include:

• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Cancer
• Ageing
• Respiratory Issues
• Cataracts
• Arthritis and Joint Problems
• Immunity Reduction

Even if we can’t keep them away from getting impacted by these chronic problems, we can do our bit in giving them nutrient-rich food. Only a balanced diet can help them fight against a multitude of oxidative problems.

Why are antioxidants useful for dogs?

As we now well acquainted with the fact that antioxidants play a vital role in helping dogs become strong internally. These give a steady boost to their immunity by providing a range of vitamins and minerals to their body. Let’s study some vitamins and minerals and learn how they help a body cope with the effect of oxidation.

• Vitamin E: Products with this nutrition value are a boost their immunity. They add certain integrity to the cells of their body and make them free and weaponised so that they can easily fight the diseases. These are one of the best additions in the body that directly fights with the Free Radicles. When your pet dog is going through any issues rounding to impaired vision, neurologic abnormalities, reproductive dysfunction etc then that’s the queue of Vitamin E deficiency in your pet dog’s body.

• Vitamin C: This is again one of the best sources of antioxidants. These help your pet dog cope with excessive joint pains, gum inflammation, and overall immunity. Vitamin C benefits against the issues with heart, skin problems, and overall digestive health. These types of vitamins help in covering the depleting oxygen from the body and decrease the impact of oxidation over the cells and overall body functions. When your pet dog shows any sign of stress or fever, consider it an indication of depleting vitamin C from their body.

• Selenium: It is one of the known antioxidants presents in most animal food. It helps to add support against any health disease, improves cognitive function, supports the thyroid, and helps reduce symptoms of asthma. Make sure that your dog food has this ingredient in its composition.

What are natural antioxidants?

There are two types of antioxidants and after knowing about those you will be able to differentiate between them easily. One is the Synthetic Antioxidant and the other is Natural Antioxidant. They can be easily differentiated based on a suffix in their name.

Here’s a list of natural antioxidants for your better understanding:

• Berries: Blueberries, Strawberries, Cranberries, Raspberries & Blackberries
• Fruits: Apple, Plum, Dried Plum, Peaches, Black Plum, Coconut, Mango,
• Vegetables: Cabbage, Cooked Potatoes, Broccoli, Barley, Black Beans, Cooked Tomatoes, Carrot, Pumpkin, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach,
• Honey
• Proteins: Fish

If we talk about the synthetic sources of antioxidants, those too help in helping their body to fight against diseases. Mainly all the synthetic sources help in the long run. A few of the synthetic sources of antioxidants are:

• BHA - Butylated Hydroxy Anisole
• BHT - Butylated Hydroxytoluene
• TBHQ - Tertiary Butyl Hydroquinone
• Ethoxyquin
• Omega Fatty Acids – Omega 3 & 6

You don’t have to keep your pen and paper ready or to learn these complex names; try and remember in short forms. Whenever you go out or buy the best dog food online, read the product description and consider those products which have either synthetic or natural sources of antioxidants. Learn more about it here.

While choosing the best dog food, make sure to consider a balance of antioxidants. There is a world of brands that offer food based on antioxidants. We will name a few for you below: 

• Farmina N & D
• Royal Canin
• Doggie Dabbas
• JerHigh
• Pedigree
• Kennel Kitchen
• Taste of the Wild

These are a few of the well-known brands that cater to food with either natural or synthetic or even a combination of both natural and synthetic antioxidants.

Is there a need for antioxidants in the form of supplement?

As we have discussed the role of an antioxidant in keeping the body healthy and defence against diseases or even chronic problems. It is essential to keep on using the right resources so that the ratio of antioxidants in your pet dog’s body isn’t decreased.

Whenever there’s an attack of certain inflammations, the body self-trains and guide it’s building blocks to prepare their share of antioxidants. When fighting, there are chances that these antioxidants get depleted, making the body vulnerable to such problems. Always consider the suggestions of the vets because they will give you the right ratio in which you will require to buy supplements at online pet store.

Is it healthy to feed puppies with food rich in antioxidants?

There’s no doubt that in the fact that antioxidants are always good for the dog, be it puppies, adult or senior dogs. Puppies are at their growing age, and their tiny body requires proper nourishment. Feeding them food with antioxidants will keep their body ready for any attack from the diseases or any chronic inflammations. However, you can always communicate with the vet about their feeding percentage because you don’t want to end up overfeeding them.

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