Similar to summer, winter also poses some risks that can affect your pet’s health. Due to low temperatures, snow, and other weather conditions your pet’s immune system can be threatened. In this season, supporting your little one’s immune system is crucial to avoid any health complications.

Winter Health Risks for Pets

Common winter concerns that every pet parent should be aware of are:

• Colds: Same as humans, our furry friends are more susceptible to getting a cold once the temperatures start going down, especially younger and older pets. If you suspect your pet is having a cold, it’s important to visit your trusted vet to prevent it from progressing into a more serious respiratory condition.

• Hypothermia: Pets exposed to low temperatures for a long period are at risk of experiencing hypothermia. Symptoms of hypothermia are shivering, lethargy, muscle stiffness, weakness, and depression. If you suspect your little one could be hypothermic, take them to the closest veterinary hospital as soon as possible to avoid further complications.

• Dry skin and frostbite: The cold temperatures, ice, and snow, can affect our pets’ skin profoundly. As a natural response to maintain a warm temperature in the core of the body, the blood from limbs and other peripherical areas is drawn and directed towards the vital organs. This together with long exposure to low temperatures can lead to dry skin and frostbite, causing serious lesions in some cases.
  
  
• Joint discomfort: Pets with arthritis or other muscle/joint conditions can experience increased discomfort in winter due to changes in atmospheric pressure, decreased blood circulation in peripheric areas like limbs, decreased physical activity, and muscle and other tissues’ tendency to get cold and stiff.

Nutritional Support for Immune Health

Feeding your pet a nutritive, complete, as natural as possible diet, and supporting their gut health with probiotics is the key to keeping their immune system resilient.

Although the nutritional needs of every pet are different, as a rule of thumb, every furry friend should be fed a balanced diet that meets the daily nutritional requirements. If possible, prefer diets free from unnecessary additives and artificial colors and ask your vet for the best food options, considering their individual needs. Feeding your loved ones a complete and appropriate diet, tailored to their specific necessities will promote a healthy, robust immune system, ready to cope with winter challenges.

Although the nutritional needs of every pet are different, as a rule of thumb, every furry friend should be fed a balanced diet that meets the daily nutritional requirements. If possible, prefer diets free from unnecessary additives and artificial colors and ask your vet for the best food options, considering their individual needs.

Feeding your loved ones a complete and appropriate diet, tailored to their specific necessities will promote a healthy, robust immune system, ready to cope with winter challenges.

Tips for Supporting Your Pet’s Immunity in Winter

Besides nutrition and veterinary care, there are many ways to promote healthy immunity for your little one during winter. Here we share some practical tips:

Exercise

Physical activity is essential to promote healthy immunity. Daily exercise helps warm up the body and improve blood and lymph fluids circulation along the body. Through improved circulation of these fluids, the body and immune system functions like detoxification and defense against pathogens are enhanced. Additionally, physical activity has good effects on our pets’ mental and emotional well-being, which can also help keep a healthy immune system.

Keeping Pets Warm

Avoid low temperatures for prolonged times and protect them against the cold if necessary. There are many options in the market to protect our pets, like shoes, suspender boots, clothes, and even beanies! If your little one seems to feel uncomfortable in cold environments, then it would be a good idea to protect them and keep them warm with these options.

When they’re exposed to snow and ice, it’s important to protect their paws to prevent frostbite. This not only applies to the outdoors, if you feel your little one is sensitive to cold temperatures even inside the house you can always keep them warm using your heating system, placing their bed in a warm place, or putting them on a cute and cozy sweater.

Proper Grooming

Did you know that skin is the biggest organ of your pet’s body? Grooming helps maintain healthy skin and coat which is essential since it acts as an important barrier to pathogens and other harmful factors and helps maintain an adequate body temperature. Grooming stimulates skin blood circulation, prevents dirt, external parasites, matting, and tangles, and controls shedding. Doggies can benefit from bathing, brushing, and maintaining their natural coat length, and for kitties brushing is enough, bathing is not a must unless your veterinarian suggests it.

Hydration

Due to low temperatures our furry friends can experience less thirst, however, to keep them properly hydrated it may be necessary to stimulate water consumption. Some options are providing always abundant fresh water at room temperature and avoiding cold water, and always ensure that water is fresh and bowls are clean.

You can also make them bone broth to provide not only water but also nutrients in a delicious way as long as they don’t have any digestive issues that may require avoiding certain foods. If this is the case, you can ask your veterinarian which kind of food you can use to make a suitable, delicious soup for your little one. Alternatively, you can reach out to our expert pet nutritionist for veterinarian-made meal plans.

Don’t Overfeed

As mentioned above, a balanced diet with the right amount of nutrients, tailored to your little one’s needs together with probiotic supplementation is substantial for their health. There is a common belief that we should give more food to our pets during cold seasons, but this is not true. Giving them more food than they need leads to being overweight with the consequent negative impact on their health. The best way to keep them healthy and well-nourished is to feed them with the right amount of food your veterinarian recommends.

NHV Supplements to Support Your Pet’s Immune Health

At NHV we know the importance of supporting the immune system, especially during winter. Certain NHV formulations can support the immune system and overall health are the following:

• Natures Immuno: this mushroom blend contains 5 well-studied mushrooms known for their extensive benefits. Thanks to the properties of Turkey tails, Cordyceps, Reishi, Shiitake, and Agaricus mushrooms, this formulation provides support for the immune system and many other vital organs.

• Stimmune: this formulation supports the immune system being especially helpful for autoimmune conditions, food allergies, dermatitis, and infections.

• BK-Detox: herbs like red clover, cleavers, and neem, give this formulation valuable detoxifying and immune system support properties. This supplement can balance the immune system, help detoxify blood and vital organs and is especially useful for pets fighting against cancer.

• ES Clear: like BK-Detox, this supplement helps to purify blood and vital organs and balance the immune system. It’s specially formulated to support pets fighting against cancer and together with BK-Detox they can provide valuable immune and overall support for this condition.

If you decide to use the dropper instead of mixing the supplements with food, we recommend giving a delicious treat after the supplement as a reward, to help them adapt to this new addition to their routine and create a positive association with it.

How NHV Helps Pets Thrive During Winter 

We create natural, safe, and effective formulations. If you’re looking for holistic supplements to support your little one’s immune system, then you can rely on us. All our supplements are human-grade quality products manufactured in a GMP-certified and FDA-approved facility. They’re 100% natural, free of any added preservatives, additives, flavorings, or artificial color, and safe to be given lifelong.

NHV stands by you throughout all seasons of the year. Reach out to our pet experts through any of our contact channels and we will happily guide you on the best supplements to keep your furry friend’s immune system healthy and strong during this winter.