Colostrum commonly called first milk is a liquid produced by the mammary gland. In dogs it is secreted in the two days immediately following birth.

It is a food that contains high quantities of antibodies, proteins and essential nutrients, which help puppies develop their immune system and obtain the substances necessary for survival in the first few days.

During the dog’s neonatal stage, the risk of mortality can be high. The intake of colostrum from the mother, therefore, is very important.

In particular situations, when the mother cannot provide adequately, in order to guarantee the survival of the puppies, it is possible to intervene by administering colostrum of different origins.

Active ingredients:

BOVINE COLOSTRUM FOR DOGS AND CATS

Ideally, a puppy should latch onto its mother’s breast to suckle within the first few hours of birth to receive colostrum.

As a replacement, bovine colostrum is one of the most used for dogs, due to its high concentration of immunoglobulins and other essential nutrients, which can help maintain the health of puppies and weak animals.

The benefits of bovine colostrum for dogs and cats include:

• the increase in immune resistance;
• promoting the growth and development of puppies;

What is colostrum for?

Colostrum is a source of carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, fats, minerals and antibodies.

PREBIOTICS

The prebiotic fiber triad:
– FRUIT OLIGOSACCHARIDES (FOS)
– INULIN
– MANNAN OLIGOSACCHARIDES (MOS) from brewer’s yeast

FOS, MOS and INULIN are dietary fibers, i.e. non-digestible carbohydrates, of undisputed importance in both human and animal nutrition.

From a chemical point of view, FOS and inulin are fructans (carbohydrates consisting of the repetition of fructose units) with a short chain (FOS) and slightly longer (INULINA) particularly abundant in foods such as chicory and Jerusalem artichokes.

MOS are always dietary fibers, but made up of mannose repetition and mainly deriving from the walls of the yeasts.

All three have a prebiotic action, i.e. they are able to confer a health benefit through a modulation of the intestinal microbiota (FAO), i.e. the set of millions of microorganisms characteristic of the intestinal tract of various mammals. These microorganisms exert a beneficial and vital effect on the health of the host.

In fact, there are several studies that constantly highlight a symbiosis between maintaining health and the balance of the intestinal microbiota.

How do prebiotic fibers have a beneficial effect on the microbiota?

Humans and other mammals, including dogs and cats, do not have all the enzymes necessary to degrade plant fibers (such as fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin) within their intestinal tracts,  therefore, these, once consumed and arrived in the small intestine, not being digestible, are fermented by the bacteria of the colon microbiota thus exerting a positive effect on the abundance of specific bacterial groups with a beneficial action (eg Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium); this action translates into positive effects on multiple functions, such as e.g. intestinal motility, cellular integrity and microbial biochemical networks.

Several studies have shown that integrating the diet of dogs with fructo-oligosaccharides leads to an improvement in the digestion of various minerals and an increase in Bifidobacteria, one of the beneficial microorganisms that in fact populate both the human and canine intestine which plays a key role also in the modulation of the immune system and digestive functions.

However, the prebiotic mechanism of action of MOS seems to be different, for which various studies have highlighted their ability to selectively bind to receptors present on the intestinal wall, making them unavailable to pathogenic bacteria, with a consequent stimulation of the growth of “good” bacteria.

PROBIOTICS

– LACTOBACILLUS HELVETICUS

– LACTOBACILLUS PARACASEI

What are probiotics?

They are microorganisms capable of colonizing the intestine of the host animal, giving it a beneficial effect. Adhesion of the probiotic microorganism to the host intestinal mucosa is considered a crucial step for colonization and further interaction with the host epithelium and its immune system.  In fact, both pathogenic and commensal microorganisms express various adhesin molecules on their surface, allowing them to bind to various surfaces in the host. For this reason, when selecting strains of microorganisms with probiotic action, these must be characterized by a high ability to attach to the intestine.

Probiotics can improve mucosal health by several mechanisms, including production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), antimicrobial substances, modulation of the immune response, competitive exclusion of pathogenic bacteria by interfering with their adhesion to the intestinal mucosa and improvement of epithelial barrier functions.

YANG®:

It is a mixture of inactivated yeasts specifically Saccharomyces cerevisiae (commonly known as brewer’s yeast) and Cyberlindnera jadinii.

Yeasts are unicellular eukaryotic organisms that belong to the kingdom of fungi.

Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in particular is used in the diet of animals for its nutritional power, being rich in precious macronutrients such as proteins, but also trace elements such as selenium and chromium, group B vitamins and many other health-promoting substances.

These actions are to be attributed above all to the richness in these nutrients.

Cyberlindnera jadinii is also a yeast widely used for its nutritional power, being also rich in proteins and vitamins.

PETMOD® NUCLEOTIDES FROM BREWER’S YEAST

Nucleotides are the repeating units that make up nucleic acids (DNA and RNA).

They consist of 3 components: a nitrogenous base (purine or pyrimidine), a sugar with 5 carbon atoms, which together with the nitrogenous base constitutes the nucleoside, and one or more phosphate groups.

Some studies conducted on fish have shown that the integration of nucleotides through food exerted a useful action on the intestinal level, increasing its growth and development.

For this reason, the demand for inserting nucleotides in pet food is increasingly growing, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the normal immune function and intestinal health of small pets as well.

POWDERED PSYLLIUM SEED CUTICLE

Psyllium (Plantago psyllium) is a plant of the Plantaginaceae family. It is known for its soothing and emollient properties on the digestive system, particularly at the intestinal level. Thanks to the presence of mucilage on the surface of the seeds, in contact with water, it swells and increases in volume, forming a gel capable of increasing the quantity of the fecal mass, softening its contents. Psyllium is therefore useful for normal intestinal transit. Finally, psyllium contains fibre, which acts as a prebiotic for the well-being of the intestinal microflora.

MACA TUBER POWDER

Maca (Lepidium meyeni) is a plant belonging to the Brassicaceae family. Also known as Andean ginseng, its roots contain important nutritional principles, essential for the body. Rich in essential amino acids (such as isoleucine, lysine, methionine, tryptophan, valine, threonine, phenylalanine; which represent approximately 10%), mineral salts (iron, manganese, zinc, calcium, phosphorus), vitamins, carbohydrates, fatty acids and fiber.

Thanks to the constituents of its phytocomplex, Maca has a tonic-adaptogenic action, meaning it is capable of non-specifically supporting the body’s resistance and defenses to stress factors of various physical and mental nature.

These invigorating and energizing properties are attributable to its action on glycogenesis (production of glucose starting from energy reserves) in the case of physical activity. Rich in vitamins A, C and B complex, calcium, iron and zinc, it also has a beneficial effect on the nervous system.