It’s entirely possible to boost our dogs’ immune systems with natural antioxidants. They’re molecules that can prevent or slow down cell damage (aka free radicals) in a living organism, and are found in vitamins C & E, Flavonoids, Lycopene, Beta-Carotene. This translates to herbs & spices, fruits & vegetables, as well as plants.
Since free radicals (i.e. the damaged cells) are caused by environmental factors such as chemical pest preventatives, pesticides, over-vaccinations and highly processed dry & wet dog food, eliminating them as much as possible is one important factor in keeping our dogs as healthy as possible.
Now – I HAVE drastically minimized the pups’ exposure to free radicals by eliminating unnecessary vaccinations, switching their diet from a kibble/wet food to a balanced raw one, and using natural pest preventatives instead of chemical ones:
Myth Buster: Garlic IS Good For Dogs, After All!
Anicura Natural Pet Solutions: Healthy Skin For Your Dog (& Cat!)
Of course there’s not much I can do about air and land pollution, so I figured that adding natural supplements with antioxidant benefits to Missy & Buzz’s raw diet would offer additional protection from a variety of toxins.
1. Bonnie and Clyde Wild Omega-3 Fish Oil
Here’s what I love about the Bonnie and Clyde Wild Omega-3 Fish Oil – it sets itself apart from the competition by using only 2 human-quality ingredients to make the oil (as opposed to pet-grade), which have not been treated with growth hormones/antibiotics/chemicals (it’s for both dogs AND cats, by the way).
Those ingredients are fish-oil extracted from wild-caught sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, AND natural Vitamin E from non-GMO Argentinian sunflowers (that’s the antioxidant).
By the way: Soy is one of the main sources of Vitamin E; however, Bonnie & Clyde Premium Pet Goods chose not to source their Vitamin E from soy because many dogs are allergic to it. #LoveIt
Missy & Buzz get their respective daily dosage of fish oil with their breakfast – Buzz (74 lb) gets 3.5 pumps, and Missy (54 lb) gets 2.5 pumps (1 pump per 20 lb of body weight).
You can find out a lot more about this wonderful fish oil in my article Invest In Your Dog’s Health With Bonnie and Clyde’s Premium Wild Omega-3 Fish Oil.
Sidenote: Vitamin E can have an effect on blood clotting. If your dog (or cat) takes blood-thinning medication or has a bleeding disorder, you should consult with your veterinarian before adding the fish oil to your pet’s diet.
2. Homemade Turmeric Paste
Turmeric is an orange spice from Southeast Asia & the Middle East with a plethora of antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-septic, and liver-detoxifying benefits.
I used to just sprinkle it over the pups’ meals until I learned that turmeric PASTE actually increases the health benefits – this is mainly due to the fact that it contains freshly ground black pepper (the ground pepper increases the absorption of the turmeric 20 times!).
Missy & Buzz each get their daily serving of turmeric paste with dinner (the paste consists of organic turmeric powder, organic coconut oil, freshly ground black pepper, & filtered water).
They can have 1/4 teaspoon of the paste per 10 lb of body weight, meaning Buzz (74 lb) gets about 1 3/4 tsp, and Missy (54) gets 1 1/4 tsp.
You can read more about the paste and how to make it in my article The 5 Key Benefits Of Organic Turmeric Paste You Don’t Want Your Dog To Miss Out On…And How To DIY!
3. Bone Broth
Bone broth is a wonderful overall immune system booster because of all the minerals that are released from the bones into the broth. I pour it over the pups’ raw dog food, but it can also be used as a dry dog food topper to entice picky eaters to eat.
I invite you to read more about bone broth in my post Bone Broth Recipe for You & Your Dog.
Final Thoughts on Natural Antioxidants for Dogs
Boosting our dogs’ immune systems doesn’t have to be complicated and can be achieved by using the 3 natural supplements I just talked about. All are easy to digest, rich in flavor, and have healing properties.
Leave your comments or questions below in the comment section!
8 comments
Those sound like fantastic supplements.
I think so, too, and most importantly – they’re affordable!! The bottle of fish oil runs at $24 and lasts us about 2 months, it’s probably around 3 bucks to make a batch of the Turmeric Paste that lasts us 2 weeks, and $43 for the Simply Complete Supplement (that one lasted us about a month).
Your recipe for homemade turmeric paste is just in time. I started giving my senior dog turmeric powder last week for inflammation, but I think a homemade version would be better. Thank you.
Excellent, I’m so glad to hear that! Enjoy making your turmeric paste 🙂
We just started getting the Bonnie & Clyde’s fish oil – I love how much better quality it is than others. Soy almost always comes from GMO’s too, so another great reason it’s left out of there. We get pure curcumin from Mercola, but your paste sounds like a less expensive option that I will keep in mind.
I just something about the benefits of kelp too, but I can’t remember where. I’ll have to check out Treats Happen.
I remember how excited I was when I found out about Bonnie & Clyde’s fish oil (first time I read about them was on Kimberly’s KeepTheTailWagging.com), so I know how you feel 😉 I’ll gladly pay a few more $$$ for superior quality – although I honestly have to say that $24 for a bottle is affordable (given how long it lasts).
I’ve been hearing more good things about kelp & apple cider vinegar lately as well. Have fun checking out Treats Happen – they’re my new favorite single-ingredient treat place.
I learned about Bonnie & Clyde’s from Kimberly as well! We had a huge bottle of another brand though so it took a while before we could finally try it.
I used apple cider vinegar one year when we had a problem with fleas. It really helped!
Yay, she works with some pretty awesome brands 😉 We’re currently on our second bottle of fish oil and I’m glad I got it in time before they ran out of their stock! They expect their oil to be in stock again as of Feb 21. Not the worst problem to have, right?!
Very interesting to hear that apple cider vinegar helped you with fleas. It seems to be an all-star of home remedies.