YOGYAKARTA – Skin health of pets needs to be maintained, because the skin is the first protection of the body against harmful bacteria (pathogens) that can affect overall animal health. This was stated by Dr. Jill Cline, B.Sc., M.Sc., a senior nutritionist from Nestle Purina United States in a seminar commemorating the second anniversary of Prof. Soeparwi Animal Hospital which took place in the Auditorium of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada on Thursday (23/6).
In the seminar attended by 170 veterinarians from Central Java and Yogyakarta raised the theme of 'New development of Skin Therapy Science for Sensitive Skin, stomach and management of FLUTD'. This seminar is the result of cooperation between PT. Nestle Purina Indonesia and Prof. Soeparwi Animal Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine UGM.
Jill Cline said the skin and digestive problems are very common problem encountered in tropical countries such as Indonesia, and there are factors which are difficult to control such as the environment that affects the skin and digestive health. The only thing that can be controlled is the food given to pets. "Foods that contain the proper nutrition, complete and balanced can help pets to have a healthy skin and digestion," the doctor who graduated from University of Illinois Urbana, USA, said.
She emphasized the importance of a complete and balanced nutrition so that pets can grow and develop optimally, one of the ways is utilizing aleuron, or a type of high- active prebiotic fiber wheat which can improve the digestive system to maximize absorption of main nutrients and help the overall health and fitness.
Director of Prof. Soeparwi Animal Hospital, Prof. Dr. drh. Ida Tjahajati, MS, said that the current number of dogs and cats patients which come to the practice tables continues to increase in accordance with the increasing number of dog and cat communities. In practice, the problem of skin diseases in dogs and cats are often encountered, and sometimes the cases cannot be resolved completely. "Therefore, feed becomes a special problem when dogs and cats have allergic problems caused by food or other factors," she said.
Ida added, another important problem is the disruption in urinary system, especially feline urologic syndrome disease that requires treatment in a long time. In fact, Ida also admitted, the issue of how the management of feed on skin health and also the management of dog and cat food in order to avoid the problem of skin diseases and urinary systems up to now are still a common problem.