The Dog Longevity Framework, Step 3 — The RIGHT Supplements For Your Dog

Hey you guys, I hope you're having a fabulous day. Welcome back to The Longevity Vet. I'm Dr. Kevin Toman, and today we're going to talk about natural supplements for your pet. So let's get cracking. The first supplement we'll talk about is the old guy on the block, curcumin, and it's the one natural supplement that pretty much every dog, and for that matter, every pet owner ought to be taking. Why? Because it's been proven in over 4,000 studies to A, reduce pain, B, reduce inflammation, and C, reduce cancer risk. Not a bad combination. Now there's a couple things you should understand about curcumin though. First is that turmeric ain't curcumin. Those of you who've been taking turmeric need to up your game and switch over onto a more purified version of curcumin because turmeric is the whole plant, but it only contains 3 to 4% curcumin by volume. And curcumin is the only active ingredient in turmeric. The other thing you should understand is that curcumin by and large is very poorly absorbed from our GI tracts. And so you can increase that bioavailability by warming it up, by feeding it with oil, by feeding it with pepper or bio perine. But the other approach is to use a product like our Longevity Plus. Which contains a patented form of curcumin that's been proven over 100 times more bioavailable than average curcumin. All right, natural supplement number 2 for dogs is Undenatured Type II Collagen or UC-II, and this is particularly important for large breed dogs who are much more prone to arthritic pain than their smaller partners in crime. UC-II has been proven in both human and veterinary studies to be the single most effective natural supplement in reducing joint pain and inflammation associated with arthritis. In one study, it was proven in human knee patients to be as effective in reducing pain as nonsteroidal painkillers. So that's saying something. As an aside, the glucosamine chondroitin products that you and I were using 10 or 15 or 20 years ago have been proven pretty much ineffective in both dogs and humans. They'll do no harm, but they may not get you to where you need to be with the pain, with pain management of an arthritic pet. Supplement number 3 for our pets is a product called Fisetin, which belongs to a class of supplements or drugs called senolytics. And before I lose you on this, senescent cells accumulate when you're an old fart like me. These are cells that are still sucking up energy but are nonfunctional. They're not doing any work. And more importantly, they have a tendency to release secretory substances that poison their neighbor cells, resulting in those cells, uh, getting inflamed, dying, and eventually becoming at higher risk of cancer. And so our goal is to eliminate these senescent cells from our bodies. And there are drugs that do a great job of it, but they carry side effects. And Fisetin is, is probably the single most effective synolytic natural supplement, along with another one called Quercetin. And either one would be a great choice for you and your dog. Moving right along, supplement number 4 for our pets is a product called taurine. And if you've been feeding your dog a grain-free diet or a vegetarian diet, listen up here, because taurine deficient diets can create fatal heart disease in dogs. In particular, they cause dilative cardiomyopathy, or DCM. And here's the deal: DCM is very definitely linked to low-taurine diets like grain-free or vegetarian meals. And so, if you want to help your older dog who's been on a grain-free or vegetarian diet stay as healthy as possible, please consider the use of taurine. It's cheap, it's safe, and it'll get you where you, where you need to be. Next on the list is alpha-lipoic acid, and it's been studied extensively in human medicine, uh, at, for its benefits in reducing blood pressure and, uh, and blood sugar. But one of the known benefits of alpha-lipoic acid is that it is neuroprotective. It helps nerve cells retain their function even when being inflamed or damaged. And so, if you have a long wheelbase model, like a Dachshund, a Corgi, a Basset, or if you're going through the heartbreak of, of disc disease in your dog, or degenerative myelopathy, alpha lipoic acid is your player. It's a natural way to help support normal nerve function in these dogs. Next on the list is NMN, which is the precursor for our cellular energy, uh, store NAD+. And so let me try that again. Um, uh, and NAD+ is the primary energy source for our cells. It's used within our mitochondria. But here's the deal. As you age, like me, your cellular levels of NAD+ drop off, and therefore your cells don't have as much energy. And that's one of the hypotheses, uh, around aging is that the process of aging is due to the gradual loss of cellular energy mediated by the loss of NAD+. So the moral to the story, why don't we supplement, uh, NAD+ by, uh, giving the oral precursor NMN? Uh, NMN has been proven very safe and it's been proven the single most effective way to orally increase NAD levels in our cells. All right, last on the list is mushrooms. And what you need to know about mushrooms is, A, that we carry both very potent combinations of mushrooms, but also individual mushroom concentrates. And mushrooms have been known for years to help mellow the immune system out. When is this important to us? Well, when you're dealing with chronic allergies, for instance. An allergic dog will benefit from mushrooms. What's another example of mushrooms helping to mellow immune system out with a benefit? Certain types of cancer like mast cell tumors are a result of immune hyperstimulation. And so, and as one example, turkey tail mushrooms in particular, the concentrated extract from turkey tail mushrooms has been proven to extend survival in dogs affected with fatal form of cancer known as hemangiosarcoma. So if you have a pet on their journey through cancer, if you have a pet dealing with chronic allergies, mushrooms are a great player for you when it comes to a natural supplement. And I guess the last thing I should mention is fish oil, which I don't carry because about a million other people do. But if you have an older pet who's dealing with cardiac issues, who's dealing with joint pain, Fish oil has been proven very effective in, in helping to alleviate both of those. And one thing you should understand about fish oil though is that lower-grade fish oils are prone to heavy metal contamination by virtue of the smaller fish get eaten by the bigger fish, bigger fish get eaten by the biggest fish, and then you and me grab an oil of those fish. And so if you're using a fish oil product for either yourself or your pet, please buy one that has been either molecularly distilled or buy a, a fish oil product whose base is fish from the Northern Atlantic or Northern Pacific Oceans. Those are the ones that are most free of heavy metal contamination. All right, you guys, I'm bringing this to a close. And so the moral to the story is this: supplements are kind of a confusing topic. You get lots of information on the web, but if you have any questions about the use of supplements in your pet, I'm here. You can email me at Dr. Kevin, no period, so it's just D-R-K-E-V-I-N, at helpingpetslivelonger.com, and I will answer. We're all in this together. Have a great night, you guys, and I'll talk to you soon.