If you prefer to maintain a natural approach to your kitty's healthcare, there are a variety of natural supplements for cats on the market. The challenge is determining which one is safest and most likely to benefit your cat, but a little expert advice can help your quickly evaluate the effectiveness of each option.
How to Choose Holistic Supplements for Cats
I recently had Russell Louie of Optimum Choices on my radio show, and we talked about how to choose good holistic supplements for cats. Rather than talk about specific products, we focused on the overall concept of holistics. I was so moved by what Russell Louie had to say that I felt I could not let my readers at LoveToKnow miss any of this very important and interesting information.
Identifying True Holistic Cat Supplements
"Holistic" means to treat the whole body and not just a specific symptom or disease. For example, many people take glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate or MSM supplements for arthritis. However, one wouldn't take that same supplement for digestive problems. One would probably take a digestive enzyme supplement, right? So, these individual supplements are simply treating the symptoms and not the whole body. In my opinion, that's not holistic
There are numerous supplements for cats on the market today that promise to relieve itchy skin allergies, anxieties and other symptoms of ill health. Unfortunately, most of the products promoted as "holistic" are not truly holistic. Just because a supplement is made from "all-natural ingredients" doesn't mean it will act on the cat's body in a holistic manner. According to Louie, "Many products are made from a proprietary extraction process that just takes out the active ingredients. While this produces a very strong therapeutic supplement that gives instant results, the overall effect on the body could be a suppression of symptoms and a further unbalancing of the body".
So, how can you tell a truly holistic cat supplement from one that's not? According to Russell Louie, "You need to compare what a supplement says it can do to actual results. I've seen a lot of so-called holistic products come and go. They simply did not stand the test of time or rigorous scrutiny. So, if a supplement seems to work, based on my holistic experience, I take the next step and evaluate it based on science. I have a geophysical engineering degree and my wife has a biology degree. We read all the manufacturer's marketing material and research and compare this to our own knowledge base to see if the product is really holistic".
The Evaluation Process
According to Louie, "First of all, it's necessary to get nutrition from whole foods and whole food products as Nature intended. I look for a product that has ingredients native to a cat's diet. I feel that giving an exotic herb from the Amazon jungle or an extract from a tropical fruit to fix a symptom is simply using a natural product in an allopathic way. While this may be necessary in the short-term, one is still treating the symptoms and has introduced the possibility of side effects and further imbalance in the body from foreign substances an animal would not normally get in the wild".
Louie further advises, "If a cat supplement is truly a whole food product, I look for other benefits gained throughout the whole body after using the supplement for a period of time, other than elimination of specific symptoms. For instance, if the cat's whole body is truly affected, are the cat's skin and coat looking better? Does the animal have more energy and flexibility and have its emotions been calmed down? A whole food product should help all three conditions and not have to be remedied by three separate supplements".
Learn More
There simply isn't enough time in a two minute tip to fully cover the benefits of holistic supplements for our cats, but you can access Russell Louie's 55+ years of holistic wisdom by visiting his website at OptimumChoices.com.
"Remember the animals in your life are not just your pets they're your friends" WNR
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