Why do some of your diets contain selenium?Updated 7 months ago
Selenium is an essential trace mineral for dogs and cats. Selenium content can vary widely in naturally sourced ingredients, so most manufactures include a small supplementation since this is an essential mineral.
Concern over selenium yeast versus sodium selenite essentially boils down to toxicity concerns. This should not be a concern with our foods as we custom blend all our vitamins and minerals to include complete balance (not too much/not too little) as well as full barcode traceability. Selenium has an excellent safety record and the only cases of toxicity occurred several years ago from inadvertent dosage by inexperience pet owners and supplement manufactures. We do prefer to avoid yeast ingredients in our foods as yeast overgrowth is a common concern in pets, as well.
Because of the small supplemental inclusion level, costs or savings are not what is really driving the use of sodium selenite over other forms, as some people suggest on the internet. Rather, other options are not universally available for use in pet diets—e.g., selenomethionine is not approved for pet foods and no one manufactures it for the pet food market, and selenium yeast is not approved for use in feline diets in the US.