Herbal Supplements-Too much of a good thing can be bad for you!

 

Image Source: RCHM.co.uk

Yes you read that correctly, even water can kill you and we don't mean drowning, we mean water is toxic if consumed in excess.

This is a really important topic right now because so many are adding in supplements just because others do, but supplements are meant to bridge nutritional gaps, those therapeutic supplements are meant to cater to ailments with potent doses because food is insufficient.

Herbal supplements are the biggest issue in our opinion, you really do have to be careful adding these in because they are medicinal too, many herbal remedies have been carefully formulated and/or have strict dosage guidelines.

Herbal supplements can also interrupt medications that have been prescribed by vets, or improve their bioavailability and increase the risk of side effects too.

We're not trying to slam herbal remedies as we are great advocates of them, but they have to be used correctly, for example:

Turmeric is used in medicine for it's anti-inflammatory properties however, it's also anti-coagulating which means it thins the blood, reduces red blood cell count too, which is important to know especially if your dog is due for surgery, even a simple neuter/spay. You're meant to stop giving Turmeric 2 weeks pre surgery and don't give for 2 weeks post surgery either. You most definitely shouldn't be feeding it alongside medications that thin the blood.

This is the best example we can use because many add in golden paste for joint support, but it's never caveated sufficiently and those risks are unknown, relevant questions also wouldn't ever be checked by a vet before surgery either. 

This is also super important to know because some dogs can suffer with ITP, which as an immune disorder, where the body simply doesn't produce sufficient red blood cells,  so the last thing you want to do is hinder this even further by adding in Turmeric.

This brings us on to Garlic, we recommend garlic a lot for preventing flea and ticks, but if your dog is on blood thinning medication such as Warfarin (Coumadin), you shouldn't feed garlic, garlic has been shown to accelerate the drugs role in the body, thinning the blood even more than intended which can have fatal complications.  That being said, you'd also want to be careful feeding Garlic alongside Turmeric daily long term, occasionally would be fine after all, The combination is used all over the world in cooking, such as Indian cuisines.

Here's a list of other dog safe anti-coagulant herbs/spices:

• Ginger
• Cayenne Pepper
• Vitamin E - Natural Sources/Synthetic
• Ceylon Cinnamon (Avoid Cassia)
• Grape Seed Extract
• Dong Quai
• Feverfew
• Bromelain

This list are commonly used by pet parents/supplement companies, but supplement companies do caveat and have inserts with their supplements which is great , but because they are foods, many are buying whole food items which aren't caveated nor do they carry inserts with potential side effects.

We believe we have a duty to caveat where possible when it comes to whole foods with medicinal effects.

If you'd like us to blog on specific herbs/spices and caveat them then please comment below and we will do that, if we covered them all here, there wouldn't be enough room, so we chose the most popular.