Do you choose supplements for your dog as carefully as you choose your own? If not, you might be unknowingly filling their bowl with useless ingredients that can do more harm than good. Let's learn how to read between the lines.
As dog owners, we want only the best for our companions. We buy quality food, and toys, and give them plenty of exercise and love. But when it comes to dietary supplements, many of us are lost. The market is saturated, and labels are often confusing. Yet, the right supplement can be the key to a shinier coat, stronger joints, and happy digestion.
We humans are used to taking vitamins and minerals to support our immunity and energy levels. It’s no different for our dogs. Their bodies, just like ours, need targeted support that even the best food often can't provide in optimal amounts.
The problem is, there's no "dog police" to regulate what's actually being sold under the "supplement" label.
Enemy #1: Fillers – You're Paying for Air (or Rather, Grains)
Imagine buying an expensive Vitamin C supplement, only to find out that 80% of the capsule is just flour. This is exactly what happens in the world of dog supplements. To keep prices low, manufacturers often resort to cheap fillers.
What are fillers?
- Grain flours (wheat, corn)
- Corn starch
- Soy
- Rice bran
These ingredients offer almost no nutritional benefit to your dog. They serve a single purpose: to increase the volume and weight of the product. This means your dog gets only a fraction of the active ingredients, plus a dose of potential allergens that can cause itching, digestive issues, or inflammation.
Nature vs. Lab: Where Does the Truth Lie?
The foundation of a healthy bowl should always be nature. Herbs, seaweeds, seeds, fruits – these are all complex sources of nutrients that a dog's body instinctively recognizes and can utilize perfectly. All the compounds within them work together (a synergistic effect), enhancing each other's benefits.
So, does that mean everything made in a lab is bad? Not exactly. And this is where it's important to distinguish.
Our philosophy is clear: maximum power from nature, intelligently supported by science where it makes sense.
There are situations where, to solve a specific problem, we need a precise, highly concentrated, and 100% absorbable substance. A great example is Biotin (Vitamin H). To achieve a visible improvement in the quality of coat, skin, and nails, a dose is needed that would be very difficult to obtain from purely natural sources alone.
In such cases, using a pure, lab-created functional ingredient is the best choice. It's not a filler, it's not a preservative. It is a pure active ingredient that guarantees maximum absorption and a defined effect.
So How Do You Spot a Quality Supplement? Your 3-Step Guide:
- Turn the package over and read the ingredients: Are the first few ingredients active substances (herbs, algae, collagen, vitamin names), or vague fillers (flour, starch)? If it's the latter, stay away.
- Look for transparency: A trustworthy manufacturer isn't afraid to explain why they use specific ingredients – whether they come from nature or a lab. Their goal is functionality, not volume.
- Beware of suspiciously low prices: Manufacturing without fillers and preservatives is expensive. If a supplement is suspiciously cheap, you are almost certainly taking home a bucket of grain with minimal active ingredients.
Bet on Certainty Without Compromise
We understand that navigating all this can be complicated. That's why we've chosen the path of absolute honesty and 100% functional formulas. You won't find a single gram of useless ballast in our products. Every ingredient, whether it's parsley from the garden or scientifically proven biotin, has a clear purpose in your dog's bowl.
Want to see what supplements built on this philosophy look like? Explore our most popular products, trusted by many satisfied customers and their dogs.
Because your best friend's health starts in a bowl filled with meaningful ingredients, not empty calories.
Author: Lenka Martens Zachová