How to support a cat's immune system?

jeanw

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What are things I can do to support my cat's natural immune system?
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by KatGoddess

Fish oil, for one. I alternate between salmon, mackerel, and anchovy fish BODY oils, not cod liver. With fish oil, I also add vitamin E.

Here's the latest research on why:
http://www.oilofpisces.com/vitamine.html
I may have missed something since I basically just "skimmed" the article but I got the impression those recommendations were made for human consumption, not cats.

Sharky will be along soon to answer your question re supplements, but I believe they do not recommend giving cats very much fish. Nowadays it's not recommended that people eat much fish because of so much mercury in our waters. Also some cats tend to get UTI's if they eat too much fish so I would do more research and wait for a reply from Sharky re fish and fish oils.
 

zorana_dragonky

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My vet has recommended L-Lysine supplements to help support our kitties natural immune systems. I believe that you can use human lysine which you would purchase from a health food store or something, but I have a little jar of powdered Viralys that I got from my vet. It lasts a fairly long time. I have been using this for almost two months and I have used barely 1/4 of what was in the jar.

Good luck with your kitties!
 

consumerkitty

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Originally Posted by zorana_dragonky

My vet has recommended L-Lysine supplements to help support our kitties natural immune systems. I believe that you can use human lysine which you would purchase from a health food store or something, but I have a little jar of powdered Viralys that I got from my vet. It lasts a fairly long time. I have been using this for almost two months and I have used barely 1/4 of what was in the jar.

Good luck with your kitties!
L-Lysine helps protect kitties (and people) from viruses because it interferes with their replication. If you use human lysine, make sure it doesn't have propylene glycol in it.
 

katgoddess

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

I may have missed something since I basically just "skimmed" the article but I got the impression those recommendations were made for human consumption, not cats.
Yes, the article was talking about human consumption - it was the vitamin E supplementation paired with fish oil that I wanted the OP to read. Fish oil oxidizes easily and the vitamin E is supposed to help slow that process down. It's also the same for dogs. Too many people dose with fish oil, but not E.

That's why with raw diets, both fish oil (usually salmon oil) and vitamin E should be added. These are also used in commercial foods as well.

Cats actually need the omega 3's in their diets and plant oils (flaxseed, for example) are not an ideal source because they contain ALA (alpha linoleic acid), which cat bodies can't readily convert to DHA and EPA, which is what they need. Fish oil itself is already DHA/EPA, so no conversion is needed and therefore, readily available.

I use wild fish, not farmed, in an attempt to decrease any toxins.
 
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