Garlic for Dogs & Cats ? Is It Safe? ? Whole Life Pets Blog

Garlic has come under great scrutiny in recent years as an ingredient in pet food and supplements.? Consequently, there is much information and MIS-information available on the internet about the use of garlic in food and supplements for dogs and cats.? Garlic has many health enhancing effects such as aiding digestion, eliminating internal and external parasites, stimulating immune functions and increasing killer cell activity, lowering blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and garlic is a tonic for the cardiovascular system. ?Fresh garlic has powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties. ?It has been used for thousands of years in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.? Holistic veterinarians have been recommending garlic for many years and continue to prescribe it for it?s multiple health benefits.

Garlic has come under suspicion due to it?s inclusion in lily family along with onions and shallots.? A compound found in onions, n-propyldisulfide, can ? in large doses ? cause oxidative damage to red blood cells creating Heinz bodies and triggering the body to reject these cells from the bloodstream .? If large doses of this compound are ingested frequently enough, the process can lead to hemolytic anemia and even death.? The dosage of the offending compound is the key here.? Typically an animal would need to ingest over 0.5 % of it?s body weight in onions (a 5 ounce onion for a 60 lb dog) to even begin the oxidative process.? Since red blood cells are constantly regenerated from the bone marrow, a dog would likely need to ingest this much onion on a repeated basis to cause permanent harm.? Garlic contains less of this compound, (n-propyldisulfide), than onions.

In ?The Nature of Animal Healing?, Dr. Martin Goldstein recommends adding garlic to home-made pet food and, in fact, feeds garlic to his own cats and dogs on a regular basis.? According to Gregory Tilford in ?All You Ever Wanted to Know About Herbs for Pets?, dogs can quite safely consume 1/8 tsp garlic powder per pound of food three to four times per week.? Cats probably should be given a bit less as they are more sensitive to the compounds in garlic.? Tilford cautions cat guardians to watch for behavioral changes or digestive upset, and to listen to the cat if she rejects food or supplements containing garlic.? Fresh garlic is less concentrated than dried garlic.? In ?The Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats?, Dr. Richard Pitcairn recommends up to ? clove of garlic per day for cats and ? to 3 cloves for dogs.? As with most herbs, at least one day off per week or a periodic week off from garlic is a good idea.

The key in feeding or supplementing with Garlic is moderation and common sense.? ?Using garlic and brewer?s yeast tablets during flea season has long been a common practice among savvy pet owners and is not likely to cause problems for healthy dogs and cats, nor is using garlic in the food or as a supplement for any of it?s other health benefits.? Obviously, any animal that has a preexisting anemic condition should not receive garlic.? Puppies under 8 weeks of age should also not be given garlic as they do not begin reproducing new blood cells until after 6-8 weeks of age.

So don?t be afraid of garlic? unless you happen to be a vampire.

Source: http://www.wholelifepetsblog.com/2012/08/14/garlic-for-dogs-cats-is-it-safe/

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