When choosing a joint supplement, it is important to know what is in the product. Reading a supplement label can be tricky because there are different formats and dosages often dependent on the weight of the animal. One important consideration is how much active and inactive ingredients are in a product. Most products in the joint health category contain between 50-80% inactive ingredients. These are often fillers that decrease the cost to produce the product and create the perception of value. Integricare products provide the purest form of active ingredients in formulas that work synergistically. There are no fillers in any Integricare product. This means the servings are extremely small and the products are very easy to administer. You don’t have to administer a lot, but your animal will get therapeutic levels of the active components because of the purity and concentration. Because the servings are tiny, Integricare products provide great value. Cost per serving is very competitive. Cost per active ingredient is unmatched!

To determine the inactive ingredients in any product, simply add the active ingredients and subtract this total from how much you are administering. The difference is the inactive. In other words, if the active ingredients don’t equal the serving size then you know there are inactive ingredients. Once you determine how much inactive ingredients are in the product, take that number, divide it by the serving size, and multiply by 100. This will give you the inactive ingredients as a percentage of the the product.

For example, TRI-ACTA pet has a serving size of 1 gram (1000 milligrams). When you add each active component, the sum is 1000 mg. 1000 mg minus 1000 mg is zero. This means there are no inactive ingredients. In contrast, if a product has a 2 gram serving (2000 mg), and 950 mg is active, this means there is 1050 mg of inactive ingredients. 1050 mg (inactive) / 2000 mg (total serving) x 100 = 52.5%. In this case, over half the product would be inactive.

Sometimes a few simple conversions need to be made. 1 gram is the same as 1000 mg. If the product is a liquid, 1 ml is approximately equal to 1 gram (assuming a density of water) and 1 oz is approximately 30 ml (30 g or 30,000 mg). However, liquid products do not contain pure ingredients, since a liquid solution is required to dissolve the active components.

Because Integricare products are pure and concentrated, they are free from wheat, casein, gluten, additives, preservatives, ash, dextrose, corn, soy, sugar, and other fillers that don’t add value to your animals’ health.

One other point of consideration should be whether a product is approved by Health Canada under the Veterinary Health Product program. Many supplements in the animal health market do not have this designation. You’ll typically find this designation number above the bar code.

All Integricare products have this designation. This means they are compliant with Health Canada’s guidelines for labels, ensuring consumers are protected.