There are a number of supplementation products designed to enhance your cat's health. One such product contains an immune boosting component known as transfer factors. If your cat is in ill health from an immune system disorder, a long term chronic illness, or is in a weakened state due to a recent surgery or injury, many veterinarians are saying these products may help.

In order to understand how this works, it's necessary to understand a little about how the immune system works. Transfer factors are protein molecules and are part of the immune system.

Like people, dogs, and monkeys, cats are mammals. All mammals have an immune system that protects them from disease.

In a healthy immune system, foreign invaders, such as bacteria, are recognized and the body mounts a defense against them. Certain specialized cells are called on to attack the invaders. When the invader is defeated, the attack is called off. This is a proper immune response.

Sometimes, however, things don't go quite right with the immune response. For example, in cats with certain conditions, such as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), the immune system is compromised and has trouble defending the cat's body against invaders. This is the feline version of HIV-AIDS, and causes the immune system to under perform.

In other cases, the immune system is misdirected and doesn't shut itself off when it should. In autoimmune diseases, such as many forms of arthritis, an immune response is mounted against the body's own tissues.

How do transfer factors work? Transfer factors act as messengers. They call the immune system to action, and then call off the attack at the appropriate time.

In this respect, transfer factors are essential to proper immune system function. Also, notice that they don't just increase disease fighting capability, they balance or modulate the immune system. This means it can be used on cats with autoimmune diseases as well as cats with under performing immune systems.

Dietary supplements are available for your cat, combining the immune balancing power of transfer factors with nutrients that are beneficial to the overall well-being of your cat.

There are a number of veterinarians using homeopathic techniques, and some have added products containing transfer factor to their recommendations. If you're interested in boosting the immune system of your cat with transfer factors, check first to ensure your vet is open to the idea, and that there are no negative interactions.