There is a discussion all around the world concerning whether athletes live longer or shorter than other people. Whenever a famous athlete dies at young age, the debate becomes heated. If we listen to what each side is saying about the issue, we can learn valuable lessons applicable for our canine friends.

One side of the discussion would say athletes drink a lot, use drugs and other chemicals for their performance. We can safely say that using the wrong drugs and performance enhancers are also harmful for dogs and other pets. Instead of these we can always use dog supplements, dog vitamins or nutritional supplements for dogs.

One of the reasons of athletes to die young is not supplementing the lost minerals while sweating. Human athletes, lose lots of essential minerals by sweating. The belief that dogs don’t sweat is not true. They also sweat from their footpads. However they regulate the heat of their body by panting. K9 athletes lose more minerals than less active dogs. So they need more pet supplements or pet vitamins. For an athlete dog to have a full and healthy life it must receive all the dog health supplements its body needs.

Athletes force their muscles to perform more and when muscles are forced they may start to ache. An athlete can tell you that the back of his leg is hurting but a dog can’t. A winning race hound starts lose races, or a show dog starts to perform poorly. All of these can be cured by pain killers in the short run. However, in the long run the health of the dog will start to deteriorate. It is not easy to breed a winning dog. Therefore dog nutrition supplements and K9 vitamins must be used for dogs with aching muscles. These canine nutritional supplements make dogs stronger and help them recover from fatigue faster.

For humans and their pets the secret of a long life is the balance of diet with activity. If a dog is more active, it must have more canine supplements. Just like humans.

The post Longer Active Life For Athlete Dogs first appeared on Puppy Blog.

A body builder takes more protein or a runner eats more calcium rich foods. Animals and pets must also use pet supplements or pet vitamins in order to have a long active life. Especially dogs, with their slightly different metabolisms use dog nutrition supplements from birth to old age. Dog nutrition must have appropriate support depending on the activities of the dog. Calcium is one of the most essential dog supplements for puppies especially if they will grow up to be K9 athletes. Calcium rich dog health supplements would make their bones stronger and more resilient to excessive activity when grown up.

Iron is another important component found in canine nutritional supplements. As the activity of the animal increases, the need of its body for iron also increases. Therefore iron is one of the most essential supplements for dogs. However before using iron rich canine supplements, you must have a blood test to determine the exact amount of iron your dog needs because excessive iron may cause health problems like heart disease and colon problems.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant. It can be found in vitamin complexes sold as dog vitamins or k9
vitamins. Active dogs when not supported with Vitamin-E may have oxidative damage in their muscle tissues. This causes soreness and fatigue decreasing the activity levels of the dogs. A race dog may start to slow down and its running urges may become atrophied.

There are other important minerals for the performance and health of dogs. Magnesium, potassium, zinc and selenium are some of them. Magnesium helps muscle relaxation while potassium helps stabilize muscle contractions. Selenium is known as a free radical and it supports the immune system. Zinc is also important for the immune system. Other functions of zinc are increasing endurance and decreasing fatigue. Amino acids like glutamine and protein must also be supplemented in more active dogs like racing or hunting hounds.

K9 athletes or dogs trained for competitions have more nutritional needs than their inactive fellows. If they are supplemented with adequate nutrients they can recover more quickly, have stronger immune systems, don’t get tired easily and have better performance.

The post Adequate Nutrition is Essential For High Performance in Dogs first appeared on Puppy Blog.