Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics for Dogs and Cats

Our Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics is a high-potency formula created specifically for dogs and cats. Formulated with higher amounts of plant enzymes and probiotics needed to help your animals properly digest raw food, kibble, canned and home-prepared diets. Most other enzyme and probiotic formulations on the market do not have adequate amounts of the important enzymes that help your animal quickly and efficiently digest their meals.

This is a superior enzyme formula with 13 specialized enzyme strains and the addition of 5 billion CFU per gram of 13 species of beneficial bacteria and will help in situations where there are nutritional deficiencies, food allergies, inflammatory bowel issues, autoimmune issues and arthritis - all of which can result from the poor digestion of the food your dog or cat is eating.

What to Look for in a Superior Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics Supplement...

✓ High Amount of Proteases for Proper Protein Digestion

Our enzyme supplement has the highest amount of proteases compared with other formulas for pets found on the market. Proteins, including glutens which are a type of protein, are the particles largely responsible for inflammatory conditions in the body and food allergies when not fully digested.

✓ Plant Sourced Enzymes

Our enzyme formula uses a variety of plant-based enzymes that will work the most efficiently with your dog or cat's physiology. Enzymes from plant sources, many of which are grown in specialized laboratory settings, remain active in environments ranging from the upper stomach to the small intestine where the majority of your dog and cat's digestion occurs. Pancreatin and other animal based enzymes are secreted by the pancreas in the upper part of the small intestine. The pH in this area is generally around 7.0-9.0 and is the only environment in which these enzymes will be active. However, the acidity found in your dog or cat's stomach varies between a pH of 4-5 (in the upper stomach) down to 1-2 (in the lower stomach). The result is that the majority of animal based enzymes, like pancreatin, trypsin and chymotrypsin, will not survive the acidity of the stomach to aid your pet's digestion.

✓ An Enzyme Called Peptidase

Our enzyme formula contains Peptidase. This is a specialized protease enzyme that helps to quickly hydrolize proteins from gluten in the stomach. This is preferred because if these proteins are not broken down enough in the stomach, exorphin peptides can be created in the small intestine. Studies show these peptides can be responsible for many of the digestive sensitivities animals and people experience and even behavioral problems in children (maybe some pets also?). This enzyme is especially important for pet foods and treats containing sources of gluten, but helps to digest other proteins as well by further breaking down protein peptides into amino acids - a step not provided by other pet digestive enzyme supplements.

✓ No Unhealthy Additives

Our formula is made with all-natural, whole food ingredients. Absent are the fillers that increase packaging bulk and "flow agents" that make manufacturing faster and easier. Ingredients we avoid, but many of our competitors do not, include lactose, magnesium stearate, maltodextrin, stearic acid, calcium stearate, scorbyl palmitate, silicon dioxide, and microcrystalline cellulose among others.

✓ Manufactured in a USA GMP Certified Facility

Our Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics formula is manufactured right here in the USA in a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards certified facility. Not all of our competitors products can state that especially those manufactured in China where these standards are not followed.

✓ Use only Human Grade Ingredients

Our products are manufactured using human grade ingredients. In the pet industry this is far from the rule as many companies use pet quality ingredients, those considered "not fit for human consumption".

Compare Our Formula

Desirable attributes are highlighted in GREEN

(Amounts adjusted for one gram per serving and uniform measurements)

Scroll to right to view entire table.

*Excessive amounts of probiotics as seen in certain formulas, especially with a limited number of species, can cause digestive tract imbalances and GI disturbances.

Why we are Proud to be FOS Free:

Fructooligosaccharides, more commonly known as FOS, is a class of simple carbohydrates found naturally in certain plants, such as Jerusalem artichokes, onions, and bananas. Virtually, all of the FOS added to probiotic products in the United States is chemically manufactured. A Japanese process is utilized in turning white, bleached cane sugar, by the action of a fungal enzyme, into FOS - a sugar polymer that our bodies cannot digest.

In 1990, Coors Biotech, in an effort to introduce FOS into the food chain of the United States, prepared a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) petition to include FOS as a human food ingredient. As several years of FOS-safe food sales are needed before this approval, the probiotic market was chosen as an easy, nonthreatening way to get the product 'out there.' The health food industry became an ideal test market.

The addition of FOS in probiotic products is becoming a common practice. Many probiotic manufacturers claim FOS is beneficial in that it feeds friendly bacteria. Those who manufacture high-quality probiotics, however, do not believe in using FOS. Instead, their products require one important component - the valuable supernatant, which naturally and specifically provides food for the bacteria.

Prudent probiotic manufacturers are concerned with the safety issue of FOS. According to a study conducted by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization (FAO/WHO), the consumption of FOS may cause intestinal problems, such as bloating, abdominal pain, and copious amounts of gas.

There are a number of additional reasons why some manufacturers of high-quality probiotics do not add FOS to their products. They are:

• FOS is manufactured by chemical synthesis. The ingredient is, therefore, not natural, but a chemical additive and may pose toxicological dangers.
• FOS is a sugar derivative, therefore, those with a yeast infection should avoid it.
• The stability of FOS is poor. The industrial production of purified FOS is a problem and still in the developmental stage.
• FOS is inert in the mouth and small intestine because it is not digestible (similar to olestra). It is digested in the colon by the bacteria and may, therefore, change the metabolic activity of the colon, resulting in abnormal functions.
• FOS stimulates the growth of Klebsiella and possibly other pathogenic organisms. In one study, Klebsiella has been associated with the autoimmune disease ankylosing spondylitis.
• FOS is known to be species as well as strain specific. In other words, not all beneficial bacteria like the FOS diet.

As always we try to stay informed and do better than our competitors. Not just to say we do but for the health of our pets and yours. That is why we use a whole food blend of prebiotics in our Digestive Enzyme and Probioitc formula and not FOS.

References

Deanna posted the following excerpt from Probiotics: Nature's Internal Healers by Natasha Trenev: FOS -Fructooligosaccharides. Retrieved from http://www.scdiet.org/6research/fos.html