What Is Pyridoxine Hydrochloride?
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride is a chemical compound that is a salt form of Pyridoxine, which is a water-soluble Vitamin B.
Like many other similar salt-based chemical compounds, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride comes in a fine white powder; however, it is very unlikely that you would ever see it in this form.
Pyridoxine is regularly prescribed or advised to be taken for humans who are deficient in Vitamin B and do not get a large enough intake from their diet.
Doctors often prescribe it to patients in the form of a tablet or even a liquid form. It is also often included in multi-vitamins that many take on a daily basis.
However, sharp-eyed pet owners will have noticed that Pyridoxine Hydrochloride is often present in the ingredient list of their pet’s food.
While most pet owners do not look further enough down the ingredient list to notice minor ingredients like this, others do and wonder whether its appropriate for their pet’s diet.
Why Is Pyridoxine Hydrochloride In Pet Food?
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride is present in pet food recipes for the very same reason that it is given to humans as a source of the B-vitamin Pyridoxine, also known as Vitamin B6.
Pyridoxine is critical for pets to consume to ensure they can properly metabolize protein, or more specifically, the amino acids that protein is made up of.
Both dogs and cats should ideally be consuming high levels of animal-based protein in their diet, so having the corresponding levels of Pyridoxine to support this is critical.
This is especially true for cats, over dogs, as they are obligate carnivores and should be eating a diet with very little plant-based foods or carbohydrates.
However, that isn’t the only reason Pyridoxine is important, and it also plays a role in the maintenance of a pet’s skin, nerves, and red blood cells.
While it is true that other ingredients found in pet food recipes should contain Vitamin B6, oftentimes, these levels aren’t sufficient to meet minimum requirements.
As a consequence, pet food manufacturers have to supplement their food with ingredients like Pyridoxine Hydrochloride to ensure that the animals that eat their food do not suffer from deficiencies.
Pet Food Brands That Use Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
While certain added vitamins or minerals are used sparingly throughout the industry, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride is one of the most popular and used by countless pet food brands.
Some well-known examples that you may have heard of include Purina Pro Plan, Hill’s Science Diet, Taste of the Wild, Diamond, Blue Buffalo, Rachael Ray Nutrish, Victor, and Iams.
You can see a prime example of its use in the ingredient list of Taste of the Wild’s Pacific Stream dry dog food recipe, which is shown below.
As you can see, the quantity of Pyridoxine Hydrochloride present is tiny and it is one of the least abundant ingredients used in the recipe, along with others like Sodium Selenite and Copper Sulfate.
While some pet owners may prefer not to feed their pets with minerals and vitamin additives like Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, they are a reality of the industry and widely used by almost all brands.
However, there are some brands that do not use synthetic ingredients like these, such as Nature’s Logic and Carna4.
