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To discuss inflammation your pets might be experiencing, we need to first understand inflammation itself.

So what is it?

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to protect itself against harm. This sounds vague because it can describe a vast amount of scenarios.

We can discuss two different categories, both acute and chronic.

Let’s say your pet is playing outside and their paw is injured. You can visibly see the inflammation because it’s an exterior wound. Their body sends signals and you notice them naturally get better over the course of a short period of time.

The signs of inflammation can be:

• Redness
• Heat
• Swelling
• Pain

Inflammation is not a bad thing! It’s helpful in the short term because it signals a healing process and even a slow-down. As we stated before, if your pet’s paw is injured, there may be signs of swelling or pain that allow for your pet to know they need to slow down the next few days. Signs can be seen such as limping or being too tired to play. This down period helps for the healing to occur.

Although inflammation is helpful in the short term, it becomes dangerous long term.

How?

The danger occurs in chronic inflammation.

Chronic inflammation is much more than a minor cut or injured paw. This is inflammation signaling chronic diseases.

Chronic diseases common in pets are:

• Skin allergies
• Arthritis
• Kidney/Liver disease
• Hypothyroidism
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease

If you think about the inflammation occurring in these diseases, it might not be inherently visible. It’s when you start noticing the symptoms on the outside that deem for immediate action.

For example, you would notice the skin allergies are worse because your pet is itching all the time. Maybe you notice a limp in your pet’s stride. You may possibly even notice a change in your pet’s bowel movements. These are the inner inflammation we are speaking about.

This becomes dangerous because if put off for too long, these diseases can ravage the body and become unbearable for your pet.

So what do you do?

Some vets will immediately try to throw NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) towards your pet.

These work exactly how they sound. Their goal is to practically shut off the inflammation.

Although this sounds perfect because the symptoms will subside, that is the extent. The symptoms simply just subside. The actual problem still exists in your pet, you just won’t notice it like before.

Medications such as this are wonderful for making your pet feel instantly better, but is that a good thing?

We live in such an instantly gratified world that we want everything instantly, especially pain/symptom relief. But instant relief from chronic disease should be a red flag.

Some medications are situational and therefore urgently needed. But if you can avoid them, it might be a good idea.

With these anti-inflammatories comes a list of side effects. The major ones include:

• Kidney Problems
• Liver Problems
• Digestive Problems
• Gastrointestinal Bleeding

If you think your pet’s situation might have room for a substitute, consider a few other options.

The biggest recommendation is to give your pet immune boosting supplements. With chronic inflammation, the issues start from within. If you protect where it begins, you can prevent the problem. We recommend Canine Immune Complete in order to boost your pets immune system! A vital, healthy immune system is the start of prevention.

Starting from within can make a world of difference for your pet. Do you notice immune boosters playing a vital role in your pet’s life? Let us know below!