The Question That Started Everything
Asher Tyberg was giving his dog the same omega-3 supplement he was taking himself — just a different dosage. A veterinarian told him the quality standard for the human supplement was meaningfully higher than most pet products on the market.
That conversation became a company.
SmartyCeuticals is built on a single principle: the quality standards that humans apply to their own supplements should be the same quality standards applied to their pets’ supplements. The biological mechanisms are often the same. The ingredients are often the same. There is no logical reason for the quality gap — only an economic and regulatory one.
In this conversation with Nour Abochama, Asher explains the science of cross-species supplementation, what “human grade” actually means in practice, and why the pet supplement market is one of the largest quality gaps in consumer health products.
The Biology of Why Many Supplements Work the Same Way in Pets and Humans
The “One Health” concept — the recognition that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected — has been driving veterinary and medical research convergence for decades.
At the cellular and molecular level, many biological processes are highly conserved across mammals. The biochemical pathways through which omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation, CoQ10 supports mitochondrial energy production, and probiotics support gut barrier function work through mechanisms that are remarkably similar across dogs, cats, and humans.
Specific examples:
Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA): EPA is converted to anti-inflammatory eicosanoids (prostaglandins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes) through the same COX and LOX enzymatic pathways in dogs as in humans. Canine inflammatory conditions — arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, allergic skin disease — respond to EPA and DHA supplementation with the same mechanisms documented in human clinical trials.
Probiotics: The gut microbiome of dogs shares functional similarities with the human gut microbiome — same key phyla (Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria), same importance of diversity, same gut-brain and gut-immune axis connections. Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains used in human probiotics have been studied in dogs with broadly similar findings.
CoQ10 (ubiquinone/ubiquinol): Required by every cell for mitochondrial ATP production. Cardiac muscle cells, which have the highest energy demands in the body, are particularly dependent on CoQ10. Canine dilated cardiomyopathy (a common heart disease in large breeds) has been associated with CoQ10 deficiency, and supplementation is studied as a support therapy — the same rationale as human cardiac CoQ10 supplementation.
Curcumin: Anti-inflammatory via NF-κB inhibition in dogs as in humans. Bioavailability in dogs is similarly poor from standard curcumin powder, and the same bioavailability solutions (phospholipid complexation, piperine) that work in humans appear to work in dogs.
The Regulatory Reality: Why Pet Supplements Have Lower Quality Standards
In the United States, dietary supplements for humans are regulated under DSHEA (1994) and 21 CFR Part 111, which requires GMP compliance, batch testing, and adverse event reporting.
Pet supplements are regulated as animal feed ingredients under state feed regulations (enforced by each state’s department of agriculture) and AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) model regulations. Federal oversight of pet supplements is limited. The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has authority but focuses primarily on veterinary drugs (which require pre-market approval) and pet food safety.
The practical gap:
Human supplement manufacturers are required to verify ingredient identity, potency, and purity; test finished products; maintain batch records; and report serious adverse events. The specificity and enforceability of these requirements for pet supplements is significantly lower.
“If you look at third-party testing data on pet supplements, the failure rates are higher than human supplements,” Asher notes. “Not because pet owners care less about their animals — but because the regulatory floor is lower and less enforced.”
The market knows this. Major pet retailers have increasingly required suppliers to meet human-equivalent quality standards as a condition of shelf placement, because the reputational risk of a contaminated pet product is as severe as a contaminated human product.
What SmartyCeuticals Does Differently
Asher built SmartyCeuticals on the principle that human-grade manufacturing standards should apply to every product, regardless of species:
GMP manufacturing — all products manufactured in human dietary supplement GMP facilities (21 CFR Part 111 compliant), not animal feed facilities. The cleanliness, contamination control, batch record, and testing requirements are human supplement standards.
Third-party testing — every batch tested by an accredited third-party laboratory for identity, potency, heavy metals, and microbial contamination before release.
Certificate of Analysis availability — published batch-by-batch on the website. This is standard practice for premium human supplement brands; it is still rare in pet supplements.
Transparent dosing — no proprietary blends. Each ingredient listed with its individual dose, allowing veterinarians and pet owners to evaluate dosing against clinical evidence.
Formulation Considerations Unique to Pet Products
While many biological mechanisms are shared, there are important species-specific differences in supplement formulation for animals:
Cats cannot convert ALA to EPA/DHA. Unlike dogs and humans (who can make some EPA/DHA from ALA, the omega-3 in flaxseed), cats lack the delta-6 desaturase enzyme for this conversion. Cats require preformed EPA and DHA (from fish oil or algae) — ALA-based omega-3 supplements are ineffective for cats.
Xylitol is toxic to dogs. This sugar alcohol — beneficial for human oral health and used in many human supplements and gummies — causes severe, rapid hypoglycemia in dogs by triggering pancreatic insulin release. Any supplement formula that contains xylitol is unsafe for dogs regardless of its human safety profile.
Vitamin D toxicity thresholds differ by species. Dogs and cats are more sensitive to vitamin D toxicity than humans. Doses that are safely supplemented in humans can cause hypercalcemia in pets. Vitamin D supplementation for pets requires species-specific dosing careful consideration.
Dosing by body weight. Human supplements are formulated for a 60–80kg adult human. For a 5kg cat or 10kg small dog, the dose calculation is not simply “give less of the human product” — the metabolic rate, absorption, and distribution of compounds differ in ways that require formulation specifically designed for the target species and weight range.
What Pet Owners Should Ask About Any Pet Supplement
Based on Asher’s framework and Nour’s laboratory perspective:
1. Where is it manufactured? GMP (21 CFR Part 111) facility, or animal feed facility? The standards are materially different.
2. Is there a Certificate of Analysis available for this batch? If yes, what did it test? (Identity, potency, heavy metals, microbials — all four should be present for a premium product.)
3. Are doses disclosed individually? Or is it a “proprietary blend” with a combined weight?
4. Has the formulation been reviewed by a veterinary nutritionist? Species-specific differences in metabolism mean that extrapolating human supplement formulas to pets without expert review is a real risk.
5. Is the brand transparent about adverse event reports? Any supplement brand that’s genuinely monitoring their products should be able to speak to their adverse event history.
Key Takeaways
- Many biological mechanisms underlying supplement benefit (omega-3 anti-inflammatory pathways, CoQ10 mitochondrial support, probiotic gut barrier effects) are highly conserved across mammals
- Pet supplements are regulated as animal feed, with significantly lower and less enforced quality requirements than human dietary supplements
- Key species-specific formulation differences: cats cannot synthesize EPA/DHA from ALA; xylitol is toxic to dogs; vitamin D toxicity thresholds differ by species
- Premium pet supplement quality is defined by: GMP manufacture (21 CFR Part 111), third-party batch testing, individual dose disclosure, and CoA availability
- The same questions you ask about your own supplements — manufacturing standards, testing, dosing transparency — should be asked about your pet’s supplements
This article is based on Episode 40 of Nourify & Beautify with Asher Tyberg of SmartyCeuticals. Watch the full conversation on YouTube or listen on Podbean.
