Maintaining optimal gut health in cats is crucial for their overall well-being and comfort. Probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes are key tools that can significantly contribute to improving the digestive health of our feline friends. These components offer benefits beyond the usual immune system support, allergy alleviation, and nutrient absorption. Let's delve into the nuanced benefits of these supplements for cats and how they can address specific issues.
Urinary Tract Health: Restoring Balance with Probiotics and Prebiotics
Urinary tract health can go South when there is a build up of bad bacteria in this part of the body. Certain probiotics and prebiotics can help restore the balance of good bacteria (reducing the bad bacteria) bringing a quick resolution to an uncomfortable situation. A lot of the issue has to do with e.coli bacteria migrating into the urinary tract.
Cats are more prone to urinary tract issues than dogs, similarly how women are more prone to this uncomfortable situation than males. When there is a urinary tract health imbalance in your cat (or dog), this can show up as excess urination while only passing a small amount of urine, very potent smelling urine or dark color urine and often signs of discomfort while urinating like letting out a cry. If these symptoms are extreme - it is too late and you must go see your vet for an antibiotic.
If you only start to notice these symptoms - a prebiotic & probiotic can be very helpful. Better still is supplementing probiotics & prebiotics preventatively to help keep the bacteria in balance at all times to not end up with an imbalance in the first place. The Bacillus subtilis DE111 probiotic in Restore M3 specifically benefits cats by assisting in the crowding out e. coli and other pathogenic bacteria, proliferating in your cat’s micro biome.
Managing Gastrointestinal Parasites: The Role of Prebiotics
All animals can be victims of parasites inclusive of dogs and humans, but for cats it seems that this is a larger issue even for adult felines. Symptoms of parasites in cats can range but include everything from malnourishment (in ability to gain weight), frequent diarrhea to vomiting, or to potent smelling poop. Though probiotics are very important for cats but without prebiotics the probiotics cannot grow properly and proliferate.
Oftentimes there is limited space in the stomach and so the probiotics don’t have room to grow due to bad bacteria and parasites lining the gut lining. This is where prebiotics can benefit cats, as the prebiotics will feed the good bacteria and starve out the bad bacteria.
According to this VIN article “Diets containing highly fermentable fibers such as those containing fructooligosaccharides (also referred to as prebiotics diets) are often useful for colonic disease because fermentation products are shown to benefit mucosal function and modify enteric microbiota, promoting "good" bacteria and inhibiting certain pathogenic bacteria.”
PreforPro® in Restore M3® was added for this specific reason, in addition to pack an extra punch we have added both MOS (Mannan- Oligosaccharides) and FOS (fructooligosaccharides) which are other forms of prebiotic fibers which help create space, starving out the parasites in the gut.
Reducing Hairballs: Harnessing the Power of Digestive Enzymes
Cats more so than dogs have a sensitive digestive system. In addition, they are considered to be obligate carnivores, needing a higher protein diet, than their canine friends who are more omnivorous. However, this often leads to pet owners skipping out on near vital fiber and enzymes.
When felines in the wild kill their prey they often eat the stomach and digestive tract first absorbing the enzyme capacity and fiber content (in the stomach of the herbivorous victim) of the stomach. When they are fed high protein diets they lack these essential items.
Oftentimes cats will groom themselves and end up with hairballs which they have a hard time getting out. without the exogenous ingestion of enzymes their bodies cannot break down the high protein content of the hairballs, this is where digestive enzymes come in.
According to an by Karen Nachay, manufacturer “Deerland Enzymes, Kennesaw, offers a line of enzymes for use in pet food and supplements. Four are used to break down proteins. Acid Protease 3.0 has been shown to reduce feline hairballs, which are more than 90% protein.” Our Restore M3® by design contains not just one but two different proteases, both a regular Protease and Acid Protease. This aids with digestion of both food as well as any other items such as hairballs.
Sources:
VIN article
IFT article
