Our Salmon Stock Topper is an excellent and nutritious topper for all dogs and cats. 

Why Salmon Stock instead of Beef or Chicken, and why the Salmon Head is important

While the Omega 3 Content is not as great as the muscle tissue there is still a considerable amount of both EPA and DHA in the head of fish. Besides the omega 3's, the head also provides a wide range of other nutrients that come from both the eyes and brain.

While the red flesh provides the antioxidant astaxanthin, the eyes bring in both Lutein and zeaxanthin. Additionally, while the fatty acids in the muscle tissue are primarily neutral fatty acids, the head, and skin are richer in polar lipids, with both phospholipids and sphingolipids playing important roles in brain, gut, liver, kidney and skin health.

Like other broths, salmon stock is a valuable source of collagen, glucosamine, and chondroitin. While the value of both glucosamine and chondroitin in joint health have been overstated, they do also play an important role for gut health, namely in maintaining gut barrier function. 

Fish Collagen as opposed to beef collagen is primarily type I collagen. The interest in type 1 collagen has mainly centered around skin health.  

Barley

Barley is extremely undervalued as a food ingredient. Barley is a rich source of prebiotic fiber, and not just one type of fiber, barley is a rich source of both beta glucans, and arabinoxylans, and frankly many commercial dog foods across all formats are low in fiber. Barley isnt just a rich source of prebiotic fiber though. 

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is not a single compound it is actually at least 8 different compounds, While the research around Vitamin E has long centered around tocopherols, and more specifically α-tocopherol there is an increasing amount of literature centered around how the different members of the vitamin E family contribute to health in different ways. The research around the less common tocotrienols in particular has been particularly promising and has attracted more and more interest over the past 14 years with 70.89% percent of the papers on tocotrienols being published since 2010. 

Barley is a valuable source of 4 different vitamin E's, β-tocotrienol, α-tocotrienol, β-tocopherol, and α-tocopherol. In addition, to its vitamin E content, barley also provides a number of different phytochemicals.

Annatto

Annatto Seed Extract does not contain any tocopherols, but is rich in both δ-tocotrienol and γ-tocotrienol.