When it comes to enhancing their health, our feline pals don’t have as much choice as we have. As pet parents, it is our responsibility to feed them foods that will boost their immune systems and keep them healthy for the duration of their lives. Fortunately, strengthening your cat’s immunity isn’t too challenging. A financial investment in your cat’s immunity is a financial investment in their long-term well-being. Strong immune systems enable cats to catch fewer diseases or infections, recover from illness more quickly, be more fun and active, and have a lower risk of serious health issues in old age. All of these actions protect your cat’s comfort and provide them with the happiest life possible while also saving you money on medical expenses and prescriptions. (Also read: 5 tips to keep your cat mentally stimulated )
Dr. Amaya Espindola, Veterinarian and pet wellness coach, shared insights regarding the cat’s immune system, in her recent Instagram post.
Immunity is categorized into humoral and cellular, innate or acquired, resulting in a complex system that allows us to adapt to our environment. It has its regulatory mechanisms and, like everything else in our bodies, is affected by our response to stress and anxiety.
The first barrier is the skin and the second, both very important, is the gut. Without going into the complexities of this wonderful system we can deduce the importance of diet in maintaining these barriers. There is no point in using immune system enhancers if your cat is going to eat low-quality food or is not species-appropriate (the same in humans and other species). Water quality also counts, don’t forget!
Another important barrier is the respiratory system. Clean air is now almost a luxury but we must do our best to keep it in the cat’s environment. There are air purifiers on the market but good ventilation with not smoking inside the house and not using artificial fresheners can be good enough. Once the barriers are protected we can think about the cat’s emotional status, territory, routine and else.
If we have already worked on all mentioned above we can consider using a supplement that helps our cat to overcome an inevitable period of stress, a treatment or an immunosuppressive disease. We can help barriers to cope with all of our inevitable deficiencies. In other words, if I’m doing the best within my reach, what else can I do?
You can rely on self-selection, kinesiology and other holistic alternatives to determine what your cat needs but, providing a superfood may not work for your cat and sometimes, can be counterproductive. The key is to modulate not to boost the immune system and it is best to receive proper guidance with a detailed patient assessment.