Nutritionists and scientists have known for a long time that poor quality diets can lead to dull fur coats, brittle hair, and dry and flaky skin. But how does good quality nutrition help maintain a healthy skin and fur coat on your pet? The diet you choose is incredibly important and vital for the wellbeing of your pet as it provides the building blocks for keeping the body’s organs in optimal condition.

Being the largest organ of the body and with numerous functions like body temperature control and protecting the internal organs, the skin needs a lot of support and resources from the rest of the body. The provision of high quality nutrition will be key to keeping the skin in prime condition as the body works continuously to maintain this critical organ.

For normal function the skin routinely requires significant quantities of certain nutrients, such as oils, amino acids and protein and these needs massively increase if the skin becomes damaged or diseased. These requirements can put huge pressure on the rest of the body to try and meet the increased demands so diets for skin disease have developed specifically to manage pets with poor skin.

In terms of composition, the skin is mostly made up of protein and makes up 15% of the body’s total protein content, second only to the muscles. If the skin needs to repair itself then the diet will need to provide higher than average levels of amino acids to allow the body to heal and repair.

In addition the inclusion of high quality essential fatty acids and oils has benefited the skin further by improving the surface environment of the skin which can help control irritated and itchy skin along with unwanted bacterial and yeast overgrowths. 

What about VETERINARY HPM®?

All VETERINARY HPM® lifestage and clinical diets are based on a high-protein low-carbohydrate formulation that helps dogs and cats to achieve and maintain their optimal healthy weight and ideal body composition through a variety of physiological methods. This can be particularly important for those pets more predisposed to weight gain, such as those that have been neutered, with a sedentary lifestyle or breeds prone to increased body fat.

For clinically overweight pets, the VETERINARY HPM® weight loss diets will get your pet back in shape for a better quality of life – speak to your vet or vet nurse for an adapted weight loss programme.