While some ingredients are purported to be beneficial to dogs based on its effects on humans, turmeric has been proven to be beneficial to dogs and also cats based on actual studies done on them.
The magical active ingredient in turmeric is actually curcumin. Curcumin is anti-inflammatory and an anti-oxidant. Because of its qualities, it can help our dogs with a variety of health conditions such as osteoarthritis, stomach irritations, skin allergy, and even cancer.
Reducing the inflammation in osteoarthritis is especially important because the inflammation makes the joints swell, causing more pain for our dogs.
Not All Turmeric Treats are Created Equal
Hang on! Don’t rush out to get just any turmeric treats yet. Do you know, there are special considerations to ensure your dog reaps all the benefits of turmeric?
Ensure Absorption of Turmeric
The active ingredient of turmeric, Curcumin, is difficult for our pets to absorb. Curcumin is insoluble in water. If simply consumed, it will just pass out from your pet’s body without any benefits at all!
There are two ways for curcumin to be better absorbed – we can either mix the turmeric with black pepper or with oils (curcumin is fat-soluble).
We chose the option of adding turmeric to slightly fattier cuts of meat to help our pets absorb the curcumin. Black pepper can cause stomach upset in our pets and is better reserved for humans in our curry.
We are also sure your pet very much prefer yummy meats than spicy black pepper!
Recommended Feeding of Turmeric
Due to the potency of turmeric, too much of it is counter-effective to the health of our pets. Turmeric is a blood thinner and can cause bleeding issues in our dogs if fed excessively. Also, it can cause constipation in our pets.
Too little of turmeric however, means that there would be insufficient curcumin in our pets’ body to be effective.
We have made it easy for pet owners to feed turmeric to their pets – just feed them the turmeric treats. We should spread the treats throughout the day, because curcumin, when absorbed, is metabolised quickly in the body.
If your pet is taking any medications, please consult your vet before feeding your pet turmeric because of possible drug metabolism inhibition.
Our Turmeric Treats are Simply Better
We put our hearts into creating healthy yummy treats that are are based on science and nutrition, because we too are pet owners. We want our pets to be healthy, happy, and strong.