Why you do not need to stop your dog's essential supplements during a liver cleanse
This is one of the most common questions that people ask.
Most people understand that a gentle detox can go a long way when it comes to your dog's health and longevity. The canine body has evolved during thousands of years of a much cleaner environment, and high levels of chemical and industrial pollution have been present only for some 150 years.
Why a cleanse makes sense for dogs
Everything in nature goes through a cyclic cleansing process — streams oxygenate and cleanse fresh water, waves help to clean the oceans, and trees shed their leaves to regenerate and renew.
Without environmental pollution and human interference with nature, it is unlikely that I would need to write this article. The canine body would clean naturally. No, I am not going to get into a rant on how much damage people have caused to the planet because most of us know.
Instead, I would like to give you a slightly different and easy-to-understand perspective on the detox process.
3 essential principles of detox that you need to know
There are three main ways of increasing your dog's ability to stay clean and free of toxins:
- Nourish the body's every cell and organ
- Improving your dog's liver-cleansing capacity
- Replace toxins and heavy metals with competing healthy nutrients
1. Nourishing the body
No body, no organ, and no single cell can perform at its optimal level without essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, and your dog is no exception.
The following analogy may seem to be trivial but true. If you want to clean your apartment or house, you need to eat to have the energy to complete the task. When it comes to detoxing, the body needs to have the resources for the never-ending process of cleansing and rebuilding.
That is why it is so important to give your dog the essentials.
2. Improve the liver-cleansing capacity
The liver is one of the most impressive organs because of the hundreds of metabolic processes that it is responsible for. It produces proteins, some amino acids, and vitamins; it also helps with fat processing and carbohydrate storage, and the list goes on.
The liver is also the main organ when it comes to detoxification. However, because it evolved in the "pre-industrial" area, its capacity may not be exactly suited to the current level of toxins in food and the environment. That is why I suggest to help the liver in the cleansing process by detoxing with an initial 4 week cleanse and then ongoing for one week per month as part of preventive care.
3. Replace the "bad guys" with the "good guys"
Another part of the cleansing process is replacing toxic elements with the healthy ones. The body is an interesting system. When it lacks certain minerals, it is more likely to absorb the toxic ones that have a similar electric charge, which can be damaging.
For example, if the body lacks calcium, it is more likely to absorb toxic lead or radioactive strontium. It also means that supplementing calcium will increase the body's ability to push these harmful elements out of the body.
Here are some other examples
Iron is capable of pushing out mercury and lead. Selenium competes with mercury. Zinc protects the body from the intake of cadmium and mercury. Sulphur helps to detox mercury, cadmium and lead.
That is why adding all natural plant-based minerals is really important in keeping your dog's body clean and healthy.
Summary
It is my experience that if a dog is fed natural raw or cooked food and given non-synthetic, all-natural minerals, vitamins, and semi-annual liver cleanse, you will increase the chances of a healthy, happy, and longer life for your best friend.
In the light of the above information, there is no need to stop your dog's essentials when you start your dog's liver cleanse. In the rare case of your dog reacting to a cleanse by exhibiting detoxification symptoms of diarrhea or vomiting, all you need to do is to start LiverTune at 1/4 to 1/2 of the recommended dose and increase to the full dose in 1-2 weeks. This happens especially in dogs that have high toxin levels and are very much in need of detox.
LiverTune H+ for people is now available, and has been formulated to support your liver and eliminate heavy metals and toxins for optimal health and longevity. Click here to learn more.
To read more about the liver cleanse for dogs, click here.
To read more about how to address diarrhea in dogs, click here.
© Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM