Do you recall the other week we were chatting about the importance of your pet’s gut health through feeding them a healthy diet and the use of both prebiotics and probiotics? Well, an extension to this is establishing the importance of digestive enzymes and the role they play in your pet’s health (and yours!).
By allowing your pet’s gut health to flourish into a luscious thriving garden where bees and butterflies want to visit, you can avoid many of the medicines and surgeries (and side effects) dangerous to their long-term health.
Promoting this inner garden inside your pet, helps them cope with common health problems like obesity, auto-immune disease, heart disease and even cancer.
What are digestive enzymes and why should I care?
Well, firstly enzymes are unique proteins found in the body’s cells. They are responsible for getting things done, catalysing all the millions of chemical reactions that take place every second of your life.
Digestive enzymes are released by cells, into the gut to help digest food. They are, therefore, abundant in the stomach, small intestine and the pancreas. They break down food your pet eats into smaller nutrients. In these building block forms, the body can then absorb them, transport them to where they are needed to make organs and tissues function correctly.
Insufficient digestive enzymes means the body has problems absorbing nutrients, goodness, from the food. This applies even if your pet is eating a super-healthy diet. If the digestive enzymes don’t function at their optimum levels then nutritional deficiencies are inevitable.
Deficiencies can develop into a more pressing issue such as nutrients leaking from the small intestine into the bloodstream, damaging the body because the immune system attacks the foreign nutrients in the blood thinking it is being invaded.
Consider this: low digestive enzymes = poor digestion = gut toxin build up = irritable gut = liver insult = bile problems = increased pancreatic enzyme demand = inflammation = disease = chronic illness.
What determines the quantity of digestive enzymes?
Disease and illnesses impact enzyme levels and functionality, but gut inflammation, poor diet, reduced stomach acid levels due to stress (fight or flight mode) can have a significant immediate impact on reducing their efficacy.
One of the most natural and effective ways to rebuild and maintain optimum digestive enzymes and gut health is by feeding your pet (and yourself!) a raw diet. The mantra is no longer OM, but Raw Grows More!
How would I know if my pet needs digestive enzyme first aid?
One of the quickest and simplest ways to determine the internal health of your pet is by examining their poo. Yes, poo. It is it’s very own crucial international language that gives us clues to what’s going on on the inside, if only we’d listen!
Check out our guide.
Rank your pet’s poo on the Stool Score Scale. For example, if the poos you see are regularly oily, it could mean your pet is digesting fats poorly. Alternatively, food may come out in the poop undigested, suggesting overall poor digestion due to low digestive enzymes.
When taken into account over a number of weeks, these indications are the first ‘red flags’ to indicate there are issues with the digestion. You need to take action.
External markers showing your pet might be suffering from more advanced stages of poor digestion or lousy gut health are: lacklustre fur or coat loss, smelly breath, weight loss, gas and low energy.
What do I need to do to resuscitate my pet’s digestive enzymes?
Start by introducing more raw food into your pet’s diet. The more processed and heated a food is, the more likely natural enzymes have been destroyed.
Imagine the body is like a bank account: without proper raw nutrition, it’s always in the red, fighting to get out of debt. Continually feeding a poor diet is the equivalent of your spending and spending and never earning and saving. At some point, something has to give, and the breaking point comes typically when issues such as occasional allergies turn into chronic illnesses and disease.
Raw foods that can be introduced to help are raw meats, bone broths, lots of leafy greens, turmeric, raw eggs, papaya, melon and olive oil. Feed organic as much as possible to reduce exposure to environmental toxins and respect the fact that your cat will have different needs and optimum levels to that of your dog.
However, remember – raw grows more.
Make sure your pet is properly hydrated. Water is super important for digestion. Without it, not only will your pet have hydration issues but their body’s overall health and performance will suffer. The more raw food in the diet, the more hydrated your pet will be due to natural moisture content of the food.
Another way to help resurrect your pet’s digestive enzymes in the short term is to introduce a digestive enzyme supplement. However, supplements are never a long-term answer to health; they are just the band-aid needed to slow down the rate of digestive decline so you can focus on treating the underlying issues. If you need to use a supplement make sure it is from a trusted source and the quality of the ingredients are something you could consume,- human grade, not animal grade.
However, the most crucial step you can take to restoring your pet’s digestive system is to reset it to what nature intended. This means providing them with a diet that is appropriate for their species, as though they were living in their wild habitats.
If you’re feeding your pet a quality organic raw diet like our Authentica range, this will give your pet the necessary nutrients needed to help reset their systems and function at optimum levels in the long term.
NOW, we’d love to hear your from you. LEAVE A COMMENT and let us know how your pet’s poo appears and the one small change you’ll make today to help improve their health. Feel free to share this with people you think will love it.
Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website and articles are based on the opinions of the people at Authentica. The information contained within is not intended to replace that of your qualified vets or intended as medical advice. We are sharing knowledge and information but in no way should this pertain you from seeking proper professional medical/veterinary advice. We encourage you to do your own research and make your own decisions on your pet’s health in conjunction with your vet. Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy of information. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors. Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements and those of your pet. If you become aware of any material on the website that you believe infringes your or any other person’s copyright, please report this by email to info@authenticapets.com so we can immediately rectify the issue.
