Digestive Enzymes for Dogs in case of Food Intolerance

Me and My Digestive Enzyme Tablets

To educate you about digestive enzymes and their use in a dog's diet I'm going to use myself as an example. Though this may seem a bit weird, dogs and humans are not that different when you look at a cellular level.

Like many others I too drank milk when I was little. Over the years I developed abdominal cramps, bloating and increased gas within 2 hours of eating or drinking dairy products. The doctor ran some tests and confirmed that my lactase levels were dropping. Lactase is a digestive enzyme that is required to break down milk sugar (lactose) and I did not have enough of it (anymore)! During childhood, lactase gradually starts to disappear. In the animal world this is ok as puppies and other young animals drink milk from their mother only up to a certain age. However, we humans tend to continue drinking milk regardless of our age. Have you ever thought about that? Isn't it rather strange actually? Anyway.. lactose intolerance is common in several ethnic groups amongst which Asians (and I'm 25% Asian).

Most of the time I try to avoid the food I cannot digest properly. However, lactose is used in many prepared products as a sugar and completely avoiding lactose is not always easy. Thanks to aspecific enzyme supplement (lactase capsules) this doesn't have to be a problem.

This is a very specific example: taking lactase supplements to be able to digest lactose.

Digestive enzymes are substances that either begin or enhance the speed of biochemical reactions. In this case slicing and dicing food ingredients to smaller and smaller blocks so your dog's cells can absorb the nutrients.

It's a Dog's World

Now back to the dog world which is why you're here, right? Dogs can suffer from depletion of digestive enzymes as well. Either because of a genetic disorder (such as in my case) or due to prolonged periods of stress.

I found a movie by Dr Tammy Ruefli that explains more about food allergies and the beneficial effect of enzymes. It's not dog specific but the information is valid for dogs as well. And after this link I promise... we are going to talk about POOCHES! Click here to watch the short movie about food allergies and enzymes.

Enzyme supplements for dogs usually contain a number of different enzymes that help augment your dog's own pancreatic enzymes. Enzymes are highly specific so the lactase supplement I used for myself will only aid the digestion of lactose (milk sugar).

Ultra Pet Products has a product that has a whole range of natural digestive enzymes for dogs. It aids complete digestion and enables all nutrients in the dog food to reach their goal... as building blocks for your dog's cells.

When your dog is suffering from excess gas or bloating after meals there is a good chance these supplements can help him. Other symptoms include noises after diner and cramps. You have to make sure though that you're feeding the right dog food for him. Change to another dog food brand or switch to raw food and check whether the symptoms disappear.

If you want to try a therapeutic products like this, then Total-Zymes is the most complete product on the market I've seen so far. It contains the enzymes proteases (digests proteins), lipase (digests lipids or fats), amylase (digests carbohydrates), peptidase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-glucanase, malt diastase, cellulase, pectinase, phytase, hemicellulase, bromelain and also has minerals. If you cannot determine exactly what food component causes the symptoms then a wide range of enzymes can easy life.

To enable the enzymatic actions you need to provide the supplement together with your dog's food.

Benefits of enzyme supplements will vary, depending upon your dogs diet and general health. You can expect your dog to have increased energy, decreased gas and more regulated bowel habits. Results vary from miraculous to seeing some improvements to noticing no difference at all.