If your cat is in poor health from a long term chronic illness, or is in a weakened state due to injury or recent surgery, many veterinarians are recommending supplements containing transfer factors. These are immune boosting molecules that may help your cat fight off disease.
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.
Like people, dogs, and monkeys, cats are mammals. All mammals have an immune system that protects them from disease.
The immune system mounts an immune response when the body recognizes and attacks foreign invaders, such as bacteria. The body has specialized cells that attack the invaders and destroy them. Once the threat is eliminated, the attack stops.
If your cat’s immune system becomes compromised, she’ll have trouble coping with invaders is more susceptible to becoming sick. In conditions such as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukemia virus (FeLV), a weakened immune system leaves the animal vulnerable to attack.
In other cases, the immune system doesn’t know when to shut down, or incorrectly identifies a part of the body as foreign. In autoimmune diseases, such as many forms of arthritis, an immune response is mounted against the body’s own tissues. The immune system is misdirected and doesn’t shut itself off. In effect, the body is at war with itself.
How do transfer factors work? Transfer factors act as messengers. They call the immune system to action, and then call off the attack at the appropriate time.
In this respect, transfer factors are essential to proper immune system function. Also, notice that they don’t just increase disease fighting capability, they balance or modulate the immune system. This means it can be used on cats with autoimmune diseases as well as cats with under performing immune systems.
Specific products are now available for your pet, including a version for cats, that contain transfer factors. This is a dietary supplement for your cat, combining the immune boosting power of transfer factor with nutrients that are beneficial to overall cat health.
You should check with your veterinarian before adding any supplements to your cat’s diet. If you’re interested in boosting the immune system of your cat with transfer factors, check with your veterinarian first to make sure there are no problems with it.