Enzymes For Dogs For Good Digestion

There is a difference between enzymes and probiotics. I bet you never knew there was so much going on in the intestines of your Sheltie.

Now, I feed my dogs a raw food diet. And that diet includes green tripe, glands like the pancreas, thyroid, etc all of which provide necessary enzymes for dogs digestion.

While many more people are now feeding a raw diet, they may be avoiding or ignorant of the need for “glands and guts” as I like to think of that portion of the diet.

Granted, green tripe, in a word, stinks. There is no getting around it. But in addition to good bacteria, it contains along with the glands of animals, necessary enzymes for dogs. (And they love it, don’t cha know).

It is called “green” because it has not been bleached and sanitized til it is useless. Human grade tripe is white and sterile and dead.

I don’t know any mass commercial companies that add either of these items to their raw foods. Why? ‘Cause the public is afraid of this understandably gross looking food.

I do know of canned tripe but imagine it to have been heated to a point where the enzymes have been destroyed. Interestingly, while heat destroys the enzymes, freezing does not.

So finding a local farmer, butcher or raw dog food co-op to provide these is what I did. I have a freezer with 1 lb chubs of frozen green tripe and pancreas.

I defrost, cut the chub open and dump in a dish to be inhaled by the Sheltie’s in about a second and a half. (Thank God). It really gets easier the more you do it, honest.

Why Add Enzymes?

Enzymes help with a variety of symptoms including:

  • Belching
  • Flatus (passing gas)
  • Vomiting undigested food
  • Diarrhea
  • Bad breath
  • Coprophagia (eating poop)

They compliment probiotics ability to improve digestion of nutrients and removal of toxins in addition to reducing symptoms of allergies and arthritis.

Another Way To Get Enzymes For Dogs In Their Diet

So what can you do?

Aside from following my example, you can purchase and add enzymes to your dog’s commercial meals for help with digestive difficulties.

This will give the dog the three basic enzymes:

  1. protease to break down proteins
  2. amylase to digest carbohydrates
  3. lipase for the fat digestion.

Click on photo to purchase

Or feed gross, real food to your dog. Just don’t ket him kiss you right after eating. EWWWWW!!!

As for commercial enzymes, again, I recommend Mercola’s.

I don’t add enzymes to my home made food supplement because I feel the Shelties get sufficient quantities with their raw "glands and guts" portion of their diet, but you could add the enzymes to the mix since they will survive freezing.  

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