By Julie Lauzon, agr, MSc, Pet Nutrition
There are more and more pet supplements on the market, and it can be hard to tell which ones your pet might need and even more complicated to find out if they’re safe to use daily. When supplementing your pet’s diet, the goal is always to improve their overall health, but some supplements could be harmful in the long term if we don’t choose them carefully.
Misleading marketing claims make it even more difficult to figure out the correct dosage or what the real health benefits and the possible side effects on your pet’s health. From a customer perspective, it is hard to tell what is true on a supplement label. Since supplements are not cheap, it is important that customers feel confident investing their money in something safe and efficient.
Fortunately, even if the pet supplement market is not rigorously regulated, there is a way for Canadian customers to get reassurance on the safety of the supplements they are using. Unlike many other countries, in 2012 Canada established the Notification Program of Veterinary Health Product (VHPs), ensuring that every VHPs have safe recommended dosages and only include substances that are accepted by Health Canada (https://health-products.canada.ca/vhp-psa/en/substance-list). VHPs must also be true and not misleading, as per the Food and Drug Administration. All claims are verified and approved by Health Canada and all VHPs must come from a company that follows Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
The important thing to remember is that the program is voluntary. A supplement does not have to be a VHP to be on the market, it is the customer’s responsibility to verify the VHPs number of the supplement. These numbers are easy to spot on the label, starting with NN (Notification Number).
Other than being human-grade, made from natural ingredients and Canadian-sourced when possible, all Thrive Supplement are part of the VHPs program and each carry their NN numbers on the container. This means that the recommended dosage, claims, ingredient list and manufacturing practices of each Thrive Supplement is safe and approved by Health Canada.
Not sure which supplement might be useful for your pet? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@bigcountryraw.ca or give us a call. We have Thrive Supplements for all pets and situations!