Did you know that the digestive system plays a major role in your overall health? The immune system is directly affected by the health of our digestive system.  You can help strengthen your pet’s overall health by making sure they have a healthy gut by getting the appropriate levels of prebiotis, probiotics and digestive enzyme in their system. 

Prebiotics are any ingredient that supports or helps a probiotic or other friendly bacteria already in the gut resulting in less pathogens, improved mineral absorption and improved fecal odor (e.g. better smelling poop!). 

Probiotics are any kind of microbe, live or dead, whole or in part, that when fed has beneficial effects on the animal.  There are thousands of varieties of probiotics. 

Digestive Enzymes are specific proteins that break down carbohydrates, fats, proteins in the body. 

They all help to regulate the digestive system and help with both diarrhea and constipation, plus they help work on fresher breath, and can help to reduce the overabundance of yeast In the body often resulting in yeast infections, ear infections, and smelly ears.  This is often the case for a pet on a diet that has a lot of fractionated grains like corn-gluten, wheat-gluten, rice-gluten, etc. 

Because they strengthen the immune system they can also be helpful for pets with a food allergy, environmental allergy, gastroenteritis, arthritis, poor coat condition, inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) and coprophagia (for pet’s that eat their own or another animal’s feces). 

They are also given before, during and after a round of antibiotics to ensure proper gut health.  Unfortunately antibiotics kill the good and the bad bacteria in the gut. 

In addition they have been shown to reduce pain after exercise or soft tissue trauma and even help with dry flaky skin conditions and improved energy levels. 

These are all naturally occurring organisms in a fresh diet but are missing or not at adequate levels in a more processed diet like a dry kibble.  They can be added at the end of the food processing but since they are not heat stable as they breakdown too soon in the bag and are not available for your pet to use. 

They can be dosed individually but are usually available in a combination of all three.  The higher quality digestive supplements will have a higher level of heat-stable probiotics in the billions of colony forming units (CFU’s).  Pets typically have no issue with the taste, as the palatability is quite high.  They’re just added to your pet’s food on a daily or every few days’ basis depending on your pet’s individual needs.