Dubbed the "King of Carotenoids" - Astaxanthin Rules

Regardless of the diet you feed, your pet has a need for antioxidants. Of all the antioxidants I recommend for my furry patients, there's one that I consider especially valuable.

It’s a member of the carotenoid family, the same as beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein. It’s known as astaxanthin, and it has earned a reputation as a “super” antioxidant.

Astaxanthin is considered by many to be the “king of carotenoids” – a potent class of fat-soluble antioxidants. So potent, in fact, that astaxanthin's antioxidant capacity is up to…

• 550 times more powerful than vitamin E

• 65 times more powerful than vitamin C

• 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene

• 5 times more powerful than lutein

Astaxanthin shows remarkably strong free radical scavenging ability and helps protect your pet’s cells, tissues and organs from oxidative damage. It’s also far more effective than other carotenoids at handling reactive oxygen species (ROS), a special type of free radical.

Another thing that makes astaxanthin especially impressive – and important for your pet in particular – is its ability to cross the blood-brain and blood-retina barriers to support brain and eye health. Very few antioxidants fit in this special category.

One of the best sources of astaxanthin is a microalga called Haematococcus pluvialis. This alga is typically found in shallow bodies of water that dry up from time to time, such as rock pools along the seacoast.

In just a minute, we’ll take a closer look at how scientists extract astaxanthin from the algae, and how it can potentially help your pet. But first, I want to introduce you to another antioxidant powerhouse…

This blue-green algae offers your pet a broad range of antioxidant nutrients.

When I recommend a supplement, I advocate using one derived from natural sources. This helps ensure that the variety of cofactors and components naturally found in the plant are included.

With naturally sourced supplements, you don’t get isolated, lab-manufactured vitamins and minerals like those commonly found in commercial diets and supplements. Rather, you receive them as nature intended… as part of the entire plant substance.

One of the finest whole-food supplements I like to reach for when caring for my furry patients is Arthrospira platensis, commonly known as spirulina.

Here is what I love about spirulina:

• Contains one of the highest concentrations of nutrients in any plant, including vitamins C, A and K, several B vitamins, calcium, potassium and magnesium.

• Composed of over 60% complete and easy-to-digest vegetable protein

• An abundant source of the hard-to-find essential fatty acid GLA

• Contains up to 16% of its weight in phycocyanin, a bilirubin precursor that gives powerful support to normal immune function

Deep within spirulina’s deep green colour lies a rainbow of natural pigments…

Green from chlorophyll, blue from phycocyanin and orange from carotenoids… all collecting the sun's energy to support your pet’s healthy, normal growth.

Spirulina has an exceptionally rich beta-carotene content, with ten mixed carotenoids including orange carotenes and alpha, beta, gamma and yellow xanthophylls.

These potent antioxidants provide a powerful boost for supporting health throughout your pet’s body.

Spirulina’s impressive list of molecular components shows it contains one of the most powerful combinations of nutrients ever identified in any grain, herb or plant – a true powerhouse of antioxidant support for your pet.

Because both astaxanthin and spirulina offer such remarkable benefits, the two provide a broad-based antioxidant boost for your pet’s health.

Together, these two powerhouse foods offer you a quick, easy way to make sure your pet gets a full range of antioxidants to help his body fight free radicals and stay healthy.

With SpiruGreen, your pet receives two of nature's most nutrient-dense dietary supplements to support healthy, normal:

• Brain and cognitive function

• Eye and retinal health

• Heart and vascular health

• Immune function

• Cell division and growth

• Skin health

• Movement and flexibility

• Central nervous system function

While there is a wide variety of individual astaxanthin and spirulina products on the market, many of them are of questionable quality. In making SpiruGreen, it was essential to find a high-quality manufacturer to fully trust.

Our manufacturer combines their proprietary, patented Zanthin^® brand Astaxanthin technology with organic Spirulina from India, producing a high-quality product that delivers excellent antioxidant support for your pet.

It is produced in an allergy-free facility, with science and world-class manufacturing practices behind it.

The Astaxanthin in SpiruGreen Is Not Your Everyday Astaxanthin… Not Even Close

Astaxanthin is truly one of the most powerful antioxidants ever discovered.

As I shared with you earlier, it packs an exceptional antioxidant punch. What this means for your pet is more power to fight oxidative stress.

Unlike synthetic astaxanthin, which is commonly found in feed formulas and many supplements, the Zanthin^® brand of astaxanthin found in our SpiruGreen delivers a high-quality natural extract with scientifically verified activity.

Let’s look at what's different about this form of astaxanthin…

Like most natural astaxanthin supplements, Zanthin^® is manufactured from the microalgae we talked about earlier, Haematococcus pluvialis. With this microalga, once the tough cell wall is cracked open, it is highly unstable and the nutrients must be extracted immediately.

The difference in our manufacturing process is the use of a proprietary extraction method that yields a stabilized and standardized 7% oleoresin containing:

• 85-90% natural astaxanthin

• 2% lutein

• 2% carotene

• 6% other carotenoids

Our manufacturer uses a proprietary DeepExtract™ supercritical CO₂ process to extract the astaxanthin rather than toxic chemicals (like many others do). It's far more natural and much safer for your pet – and the environment.

They use a special stabilization technology called O2B™ Peroxidation Blocker to help ensure the long-term stability and antioxidant activity of the extract.

When I recommend an astaxanthin product for my patients, I want to know that it's not only a natural product, but that it actually delivers the benefits promised.

I’m happy to recommend this exceptional product with 100% confidence.

This great product is provided via our exclusive partner, Bark & Whiskers

Just like Furchild, they believe that the food and lifestyle choices you make for your pets form the foundation of their health and longevity.

Bark & Whiskers' goal is to help you make the best decisions for your animal companions by giving you the most up-to-date information on species-appropriate nutrition and care from Dr Karen Becker, one of the most followed wellness and integrative veterinarians in the world.

Dr. Karen Becker empowers pet parents to become knowledgeable advocates for their animals’ well-being. She promotes the use of functional medicine, which involves making dietary and lifestyle choices to help pets thrive and prevent illness from occurring, instead of simply addressing symptoms after the onset of disease.

A federally licensed wildlife rehabilitator for more than 30 years, Dr. Becker established the first proactive animal hospital in the U.S. after graduating from veterinary school in 1997. She later opened an exotic animal clinic in 2001 and a rehabilitation and pain management clinic in 2011. Dr. Becker is also the first veterinarian to give a TEDx Talk on species-appropriate nutrition.

Today, she continues to share her knowledge with proactive pet guardians (aka “Longevity Junkies”) and other veterinary professionals through her extensive lectures and written works. In 2021, Dr. Becker co-wrote “The Forever Dog,” with Planet Paws founder Rodney Habib. It became the first-ever No.1 New York Times best-selling book about intentionally creating canine well-being.

At Furchild we work daily to find, source, and develop relationships with the best pet food, care, and welfare specialist around the world. We are thrilled to be a quality partner with Bark & Whiskers and we hope that you enjoy this product as we do!