Most pet supplements have a name on the label.
Few have science behind it.
Dr. James St. Clair has spent 20 years watching the supplement industry from the inside — as a veterinarian who recommends products to the families he treats, and as the person behind the formulations those families trust. He knows exactly what separates the products that work from the products that fill a bottle.
The only reason to be in the supplement business is to actually help the animal.
That is not a company value statement. It is a clinical standard. When Dr. James recommends a supplement to a pet parent at Meriden Animal Hospital, he is staking his professional reputation on every ingredient in that product. That accountability changed how he built every brand he has ever touched.
The pet supplement industry is largely unregulated compared to human pharmaceuticals. The distance between a credible, rigorously sourced product and a bottle full of underdosed commodity ingredients is invisible to most pet parents — because both can sit on the same shelf and carry the same claims.
“I do not formulate for margin. I formulate for the dog in front of me. Every ingredient has to earn its place — with a documented origin, a scientific mechanism of action, and a dose that can actually do something.”— Dr. James St. Clair, DVM · CEO, Kala Health
NASC certification — and why most supplement companies don’t have it.
The National Animal Supplement Council is the industry’s most rigorous third-party quality standard for pet supplements. Membership is not automatic and the audit is not superficial.
Facility and manufacturing standards
NASC auditors review manufacturing facilities, quality control processes, adverse event reporting systems, and labeling compliance. Companies that pass display the NASC Quality Seal.
Adverse event reporting
NASC members maintain adverse event reporting and tracking systems — problems are documented, investigated, and acted on. A level of accountability most supplement companies do not have.
Label compliance
Rigorous label review — ensuring claims are appropriate, ingredients are accurately listed, and the product meets the standard of what it says it is on the label.
Kala Health has been a NASC-Audited Member since 2010.
Over a decade before most companies in this space even knew what NASC was. Dr. James joined because it matched the standard he was already holding himself to in the exam room.
The ingredient is the most important thing. Everything else follows from it.
Safe supplement claims — and the language that should make you pause.
Pet supplements can make structure and function claims — describing how ingredients support the normal structure or function of a healthy animal’s body. They cannot make disease claims.
Safe and appropriate language
- Supports healthy joint structure and function
- Helps maintain normal cartilage
- Provides MSM for connective tissue support
- Contributes to skin and coat health
- Maintains normal mobility in healthy dogs
- Supports normal immune function
Claims that should raise questions
- Treats arthritis or joint disease
- Cures hip dysplasia
- Relieves chronic pain
- Heals damaged cartilage
- Prevents disease
- Eliminates inflammation
Fairy dusting — and why it is so common in this industry.
Fairy dusting is listing a high-value ingredient on a supplement label at a dose so small it cannot have any meaningful effect — but large enough to appear on the panel and justify marketing claims. It is legal. It is common. And it is something Dr. James built his formulation philosophy specifically to reject.
When a supplement is remarkably cheap, something had to give — and it is almost always the quality or quantity of the active compounds inside. A product that doesn’t work is not a supplement. It is an expensive placebo.
Your dog’s breed tells a story.
Let’s read it together.
A Whole Pet Profile wellness visit at Meriden Animal Hospital starts with who your dog is — not what’s wrong with them.
© 2025 Breeds Have Needs · Dr. James St. Clair, DVM · breedshaveneeds.com