Enzymes for Dogs, most of you have heard us harp about getting live enzymes in your pet's diet. Let me explain a few things about why we do this.

Digestion time.

A Swedish study found that the following foods take the associated time to digest in your dog's stomach. Raw (or fresh meats) passes through a dog's stomach and into the intestinal tract in 4 1/2 hours. Semi-moist foods (like our deli fresh or canned) takes nine hours to pass through.

Dry dog food can take up to 16 hours. So remember, feeding just a dry food will stay in his stomach through morning, noon and night.

Enzymes are what make everything happen in the body including digestion. When feeding a raw diet, the enzymes needed to digest that food are in the food.

The semi-moist foods and dry foods sit in the stomach longer because there are not enough enzymes to digest them.

The stomach sends a message to the brain asking for more enzymes to digest this food. The brain responds by pulling enzymes from other organs like the heart, kidneys, liver and others. This process takes time to gather all the enzymes and send them to the stomach for digestion.

This process is called "Enzyme Robbing." Taking away enzymes from organs robs them of their needed supply to function as peak performance. After pro-long periods of this robbing, a dog gets predisposition for problems in those organs and can hasten disease and reduce the life span.

A dog, or cat for that matter has not adopted to cooked food. This is causing mass problems with our pets.

If you cannot or choose not to feed raw food, either part-time or full-time, talk to us about our digestive aids. We carry several products that have the needed enzymes that you sprinkle on their food.

If you would like to incorporate raw or fresh foods into your diet, speak to us about transitioning the diet. Even a couple of times a week will yield many benefits.