Modern mothers the world over have routinely added folate to their diets in the months of pregnancy as part of their preparation for birth. As the benefits of folate to the healthy development of their babies becomes accepted, supplementing their diets has also become a standard part of pregnancy.

Not everyone knows though, that cats and dogs can also benefit substantially from the supplementation of essential elements into their diets. Extensive research supports the view that augmentation of their diets, either through their mother's diet during gestation or directly in their early years provides significant benefit to their cognitive and developmental growth.

The supplement in question is docosahexaenoic acid (or DHA in simple terms) and there is increasing evidence to suggest that its consumption will positively impact cognitive function in puppies and kittens.

Without over using scientific jargon, when we speak of cognitive function in people we're referring to functions conducted in the brain such as processing information, applying knowledge and exercising judgement.

Cognitive function for animals relates more to activities such as speed, accuracy, trainability and spatial memory recall.

There is a growing weight of evidence to suggest that DHA supplementation can lead to improved learning and memory functioning in animals.
Much of the interest in this subject came when standard infant formulas were compared to human breast milk and it was found that the latter was a superior source of DHA.

The DHA that is naturally found in a puppy or kitten's' mother's breast milk is a key nutrient and is central to a baby's cognitive development. DHA is a natural omega-3 fatty acid, and is a super food for the development of your puppy or kitten's optimal brain function.

Based on performance in trainability tests, research shows that a diet enhanced with DHA is likely to increase early brain and retinal development of cats and dogs.

Research suggests that DHA supplementation is most effective at a young age as a supplement or via the mother's milk. DHA incorporated into dry puppy and kitten food recipes is one of the building blocks of superior brain and cognitive development in your pet.

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