Your Cat’s Health — About Transfer Factors
In the last few years, a number of supplementation products designed to boost your cat’s health have been created. Many veterinarians are recommending those that contain a little known immune boosting component called transfer factors. If your cat is in poor health from a long term chronic illness, or is in a weakened condition due to an immune system disorder, injury, or other ailment, many veterinarians are recommending these products.
What are transfer factors? Transfer factors are small protein molecules that are part of the immune system. In order to get a handle on the concept, it’s necessary to understand a bit about the immune system.
Cats, like all mammals, have an immune system that protects them from disease.
In a healthy immune system, foreign invaders, such as bacteria, are recognized and the body mounts a defense against them. Certain specialized cells are called on to attack the invaders. When the invader is defeated, the attack is called off. This is a proper immune response.
Sometimes, however, things don’t go quite right with the immune response. For example, in cats with certain conditions, such as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), the immune system is compromised and has trouble defending the cat’s body against invaders. This is the feline version of HIV-AIDS, and causes the immune system to under perform.
If the immune system gets confused, it may not know when to shut down, or it may identify healthy tissue in the body as foreign and attack it. This is what happens in an autoimmune disease, such as forms of arthritis. Essentially, the body attacks itself.
Transfer factors act as messengers, alerting your cat’s body to the presence of foreign invaders. These proteins also have a modulating effect and tell the body when not to attack.
Since transfer factors have a balancing effect on the body, they can be used on cats with weakened immune systems, as well as those with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Dietary supplements are available for your cat, combining the immune balancing power of transfer factors with nutrients that are beneficial to the overall well-being of your cat.
There are a number of veterinarians using homeopathic techniques, and some have added products containing transfer factor to their recommendations. If you’re interested in boosting the immune system of your cat with transfer factors, check first to ensure your vet is open to the idea, and that there are no negative interactions.
