Mary Allen
Cats and dogs recovering from a serious illness or surgery need special nutrition to help them through the process.
Why is Nutrition so Important to Recovery?
An acute serious illness, an accident, or an operation always means stress for the organism and the released stress hormones change the energy and nutrient requirements of your animal very strongly. Proper nutrition can help:
- to support the metabolism of your animal and not burden it additionally
- to better overcome the consequences of the disease
- to support the healing process
What Role Does the Energy Supply Play in Regeneration?
Stress hormones such as adrenaline quickly bring the energy metabolism into high gear. The energy requirement initially increases extremely, possibly doubling. The required energy is partly mobilized from the body’s own reserves, i.e. storage substances from the liver, fat, and muscle tissue are broken down (catabolic metabolism). Therefore, intensive care patients lose weight and muscle mass if they cannot be provided with sufficient energy quickly. They become less and less and have trouble switching from the catabolic metabolism to the build-up phase of regeneration, the “anabolic phase”, which should normally happen after about five days.
With severe chronic diseases, many dogs and cats eat poorly. The body then often succeeds in shutting down its metabolism and coming to terms with the lower energy supply, but any additional stress can upset this unstable balance.
Pro cell helps to find the necessary energy for regeneration
Your animal’s energy metabolism must function as optimally as possible in order to survive the first, catabolic phase of metabolism without major weight loss and to move quickly into the second, anabolic phase of regeneration, in which the actual healing takes place. This is exactly where Dr. Hölter’s supplementary feed Pro Zellan: It provides the mitochondria, in which the cells produce energy, much of what they need to convert nutrients into energy. Plus, with valuable natural antioxidants, it helps protect the mitochondria from the increased oxidative stress associated with catabolic metabolism.
For the energy metabolism of dogs and cats during convalescence, Dr. Hölter Pro Zell is the perfect addition to a high-energy, easily digestible feed.
What Role do Vitamins, Minerals, and Trace Elements Play in Regeneration?
If the body has to regenerate, the need for some vitamins also increases. For example, vitamins A, C, and E have an antioxidant effect and help to absorb increased oxidative stress (e.g. also from fever) during convalescence.
The B vitamins are also particularly important during regeneration. For example, they are required for blood formation, wound healing (primarily epithelization) and the formation of new tissue (primarily pantothenic = vitamin B5 and folic acid vitamin B9). They are indispensable for the energy metabolism of the cells, for example:
- Vitamin B1 (thiamine) for the citric acid cycle in the mitochondria,
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) for the respiratory chain and
- Vitamin B3 (niacin) for the formation of the energy carrier NADH …
Dogs and cats with anemia (anemia), wounds, or energy-sapping diseases are therefore dependent on B vitamins, including vitamin B12, for healing. If your animal is only poorly supplied with B vitamins, this also affects its immune system.
At the same time, the supply of these vitamins is impaired because the animals eat less, and absorption through the intestines is often disrupted. An additional dose of vitamins is therefore very useful during convalescence. For cancer patients, experts even recommend doubling the intake of these vitamins (vitamin B complex, vitamins A, D, and E, and possibly vitamin C) compared to the maintenance requirement.