Your pet’s health can only be as good as its digestive system

Plagued with gastric ailments for as long as I can remember, I know how much a healthy digestive system can affect a person’s health and your pet’s.

Allow me to auntie complain for awhile.

Basically, I’m experiencing bloating that never goes away, and it seems like my meals are taking a long time to digest. Gastroscopy shows that I have an inflamed stomach lining with no H. Pylori bacteria. So doctors put me on a double dosage of Omeprazole (a drug to suppress gastric acid) for months, which did as much help as asking Alan Garner (Played by Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover) to plan my wedding.

Getting self-aid help online

Even after consulting different specialists and TCM practitioners, going through months of medications, strict diets, and spending how much money, I don’t know, nothing seemed to work seemed and totally solved my problem once and for all. I then started to self-medicate and tested different theories and methods – Manuka honey, alkaline diets, apple cider vinegar, ginger tea, green papaya, probiotics, etc. but yet, nothing worked.

Also, information found online is often contradicting, like how two different diseases can produce the same symptoms. That’s why even doctors take a trial-and-error approach, don’t they? Hence recently, I went for something more straightforward and tried tackling my problem one symptom at a time.

Finally, something after years of struggle

Since I reckon that my bloating is caused by indigestion and having too much or too little gastric juices can cause indigestion, I tried using digestive enzymes to speed up digestion. And guess what? Although not fully cured, it was the first time I truly felt better.

It was then I remembered that many animals also suffer from digestive problems, and even with supplements and probiotics, they can’t seem to gain weight; they overeat, have a large stool, or vomit and have diarrhea frequently. Although I don’t have concrete research, I believe that if the body can’t absorb, it can’t benefit.

One for you and one for me

Even though there are digestive enzymes for pets, as with most pet supplements, to make measuring simple (imagine scooping 500mg of flour) and to create the impression of ‘Value for money, manufacturers bulk it with fillers. That’s why I’m using NOW® Super Enzymes, which has worked great for me, and it’s the same formulation from Mercola. I’ll break a capsule into 10 servings of Secure and a probiotic capsule on top of that. But because the digestive enzymes are quite sensitive to heat and moisture, you can stir in 1/8 tsp of calcium carbonate to act as a desiccant or simply put it in the fridge.

Even if you or your pet has no digestive issues, I believe it’s a great supplement to boost your pet’s overall health. Here’s a good article on the need for enzymes. I’m not promoting any products in the link, and nor am I carrying their products, but I just find it informative. For more info, you can also read this article from www.goodpet.com or The Whole Dog Journal.