New look, same great formulations! Dr Mercola's supplements for cats and dogs have been rebranded to Bark & Whiskers™
Net weight: 120 g (150 scoops)
Terms & Conditions
Enjoy exclusive discounts on Bark & Whisker / Dr Mercola products - automatically get 10% off when you buy 3 or 5% off when you buy 2, applied during checkout.
Offers subject to product availability and valid for a limited time.
Does your pet eat mostly commercially processed food such as kibble/biscuits or canned pet foods?
If so, there’s a good chance they aren’t receiving all the enzymes they may need. Even though your pet’s body can make some of the enzymes needed to digest food, it relies on the naturally occurring enzymes in food to aid in optimal digestion.
When it comes to digestive enzyme supplements, it’s a mistake to think that “one size fits all” or that one digestive enzyme product works for every type of pet food. The amount of carbohydrates, or sugar, in your pets’ food, determines what type of enzymes they need. In other words, enzymes should match the diet.
Bark & Whiskers’ Digestive Enzymes for Cats and Dogs contains 9 human-grade enzymes from the porcine pancreas as well as select fungal sources, plus Papain from papaya, Bromelain from pineapple and Betaine Hydrochloride for optimal digestion of high-carbohydrate diets, kibble/biscuits and canned pet foods.
It is also suitable for pets with sensitive stomachs. Why?
Pancreatin, a pancreatic enzyme typically found in formulae designed for meat-based diets, can boost stomach acid and potentially irritate sensitive stomachs when the diet contains lower levels of protein. Digestive Enzymes was also formulated for cats and dogs with sensitive stomachs that contain lower levels of pancreatic enzymes.
New look, same great formulations! Dr Mercola's supplements for cats and dogs have been rebranded to Bark & Whiskers™
Net weight: 120 g (150 scoops)
Does your pet eat mostly commercially processed food such as kibble/biscuits or canned pet foods?
If so, there’s a good chance they aren’t receiving all the enzymes they may need. Even though your pet’s body can make some of the enzymes needed to digest food, it relies on the naturally occurring enzymes in food to aid in optimal digestion.
When it comes to digestive enzyme supplements, it’s a mistake to think that “one size fits all” or that one digestive enzyme product works for every type of pet food. The amount of carbohydrates, or sugar, in your pets’ food, determines what type of enzymes they need. In other words, enzymes should match the diet.
Bark & Whiskers’ Digestive Enzymes for Cats and Dogs contains 9 human-grade enzymes from the porcine pancreas as well as select fungal sources, plus Papain from papaya, Bromelain from pineapple and Betaine Hydrochloride for optimal digestion of high-carbohydrate diets, kibble/biscuits and canned pet foods.
It is also suitable for pets with sensitive stomachs. Why?
Pancreatin, a pancreatic enzyme typically found in formulae designed for meat-based diets, can boost stomach acid and potentially irritate sensitive stomachs when the diet contains lower levels of protein. Digestive Enzymes was also formulated for cats and dogs with sensitive stomachs that contain lower levels of pancreatic enzymes.
Bark & Whiskers™ Digestive Enzymes contains the following enzymes:
For best results, divide your pet's daily serving amounts of Digestive Enzymes equally between meals. Mix each portion with food.
Cats (2+ lbs) = 400 mg (½ scoop)
Toy Breed Dogs (up to 14 lbs) = 800 mg (1 scoop)
Small Breed Dogs (15 to 29 lbs) = 1.2 g (1½ scoops)
Medium Breed Dogs (30 to 49 lbs) = 2 g (2½ scoops)
Large Breed Dogs (50 to 79 lbs) = 2.4 g (3 scoops)
Giant Breed Dogs (80+ lbs) = 3.2 g (4 scoops)
Easy to store, Digestive Enzymes does not require refrigeration or other special storage.
Ideal for any pet food diet
containing rice, grains,
potatoes or legumes.
Just sprinkle healthy
human-grade enzymes
over your pet's food.
No matter what type of food you feed, your pets can only be as healthy as what they can digest.
Without enzymes, digestion simply can’t happen.
When your cat or dog eats a meal, the enzymes needed for digestion come from two sources – your pet’s body and the food itself.
Even though your pet’s body makes some of the needed enzymes, it also relies on naturally occurring enzymes in food for optimal digestion.
Once food enters your pet’s mouth, various enzymes work together to break it down into smaller units so they can be absorbed. Four different types of digestive enzymes aid in the process:
These enzymes help unlock vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other important nutrients in the food so your pets’ bodies can absorb and assimilate them.
Properly absorbed nutrients benefit your pets in multiple ways – from feeling more satisfied after meals to having increased energy.
Your pet’s body produces thousands of enzymes that aid in an array of chemical reactions involving energy production, metabolism, detoxification, muscle movement and so much more.
There are two major types of enzymes: metabolic and digestive enzymes.
Digestive enzymes are produced mostly in your pets’ pancreas and are released into their duodenums to help digest food coming from the stomach. And your pet’s intestines can also secrete amylase and other digestive enzymes.
Metabolic enzymes work throughout your pet's body to help build and maintain every cell, tissue, and organ. Here are just some of the many functions other than those involved with digestion that enzymes assist with:
While there are many different types, your pet’s body doesn’t produce unlimited enzymes.
Because the digestion of food is a high-priority task for survival, your pet’s body will do almost anything to provide the digestive enzymes needed for that important function. If the food contains little or none of its own enzymes, the pancreas must supply more.
Many holistic veterinarians recognise that a lack of enzymes – both digestive and metabolic – may be a major factor in less-than-optimal health.
Too few enzymes for digestion can affect your pets’ regularity and lead to occasional bloating and gas. Inadequate metabolic enzymes can impact the health of your pets’ cells, tissues and organs, and speed up the ageing process.
A lack of digestive enzymes may also result in incomplete digestion, allowing partially digested food particles to enter the bloodstream directly from the large intestine. When this happens, less-than-optimal health may result.
When your pets’ diets contain sufficient enzymes to digest the food, there is sufficient nutrient digestion, assimilation and absorption, and less digestive and pancreatic stress.
Dogs and cats of all ages may benefit from supplemental digestive enzymes, especially if they have any type of pancreatic or gastrointestinal (GI) issue.
Plus, certain breeds of dogs don’t naturally produce enough digestive enzymes, which can leave their bodies in short supply.
As your pets age, their bodies’ production of enzymes declines. So, older pets can often benefit from the addition of digestive enzymes.
Sometimes, you’ll notice physical clues that your pets may be low in enzymes and could benefit from more. These signs include:
An integrated veterinarian, Dr Karen Becker, writes that some conventional veterinarians say that supplemental digestive enzymes aren’t needed because, dogs, in particular, can adapt to eating high-carb diets (kibble, biscuits and canned pet foods) without them.
And she further elaborates on why disagrees with them...
While other species of mammals produce salivary amylase, dogs and cats don’t. So a dog’s or cat’s pancreas must produce large amounts of amylase to deal with the refined and heat-processed starch, cellulose and carbohydrates, (kibble diets) something they are not designed to do.
Research shows substances called Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) are produced when starch in foods is high-heat processed (used to make kibble and canned diets.) In humans, AGEs have been shown to have an adverse effect on the pancreas.
The pancreas serves many important roles in the body, including the production and secretion of digestive enzymes. When the pancreas is adversely affected, it can compromise this vital process, so supplementation can be incredibly beneficial for animals eating highly processed, carb-based pet food.
Supplemental enzymes can help take the load off your pets' bodies to produce enzymes as well as promote optimal health and cellular function throughout their bodies.
While raw, fresh food – sourced from plants or animals – usually contains the proper types of enzymes in the right proportions to help with digestion, foods like kibble/biscuits and canned pet food do not.
Because dogs and cats have evolved from eating raw foods, their bodies aren’t naturally adapted to producing massive amounts of enzymes – the amounts needed to adequately digest cooked and processed foods (dry and canned pet foods).
So, in an ideal situation, the food you feed your pet would be teeming with enzymes, (raw foods) just waiting to aid in the digestive process.
If your pet consumes mostly processed kibble/biscuits, or canned or cooked foods, they likely receive few or no enzymes. Why is that?
Enzymes are fragile and easily destroyed or denatured by temperatures starting at around 40º C (104º F). The ingredients in canned food and kibble are repeatedly exposed to very high temperatures during processing, effectively killing off the naturally occurring enzymes found in the unprocessed, raw materials.
Studies suggest that microwaving pet food may destroy the enzymes, so it’s best not to warm your pet’s food in the microwave.
Pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, additives, artificial colourings and even flavour enhancers – all commonly found in processed foods – can also destroy the natural enzymes in the food.
For food to maintain its natural enzymes, it must be raw (uncooked ) and unpasteurised, non-irradiated and untreated with any source of heat.
The processing of pet food may also chemically “trap” food nutrients, and cause them to pass through your pet's digestive system unutilized. Enzymes are needed to help unlock these food nutrients and aid in digestion.
As we’ve seen, when enzymes aren’t present in the food in adequate amounts, your pet’s body must produce them.
Your pet's pancreas can produce protease, amylase and lipase but usually not enough to completely digest a plate of processed food.
So, how do you decide which digestive enzyme formula is best for your pet?
The carbohydrate content of the food you are feeding will determine what type of supplemental enzymes are best suited to your cats or dogs. If the carb content is 20% or greater, choose an enzyme supplement designed for carb-based diets (kibble/biscuits).
You’ll need to calculate the carbohydrate content yourself, as you’re not likely to find it on product labels. Because so many pet foods – even grain-free diets – are high in sugar (in the form of carbohydrates), manufacturers tend to hide this information.
It’s a simple calculation, so grab your calculator and follow these two steps:
If the food you are feeding has more than 20% carbs, use digestive enzymes that are specifically formulated to process carbs. If the percentage is less than 20%, use enzymes formulated to process protein and fat.
Matching the right set of enzymes to what your pet is eating will go a long way to helping your pet not only survive but thrive.
Both Furchild Meals for dogs and Meals for cats contain less than 20% carbohydrates... actually a lot less.
So if you're feeding 100% Furchild Meals to your pet, and your pet does not suffer from a sensitive stomach, try adding other enzyme-rich superfoods from our Furchild menu.
This great product - GI Support for Cats and Dogs is provided via our exclusive partner, Bark & Whiskers, where Dr Karen Becker, one of the most followed wellness and integrative veterinarians in the world, shares the most up-to-date information on species-appropriate nutrition and care.
Just like Furchild, she believes that the food and lifestyle choices you make for your pets form the foundation of their health and longevity.
Moreover, Dr Becker is also the first veterinarian to give a TEDx Talk on species-appropriate nutrition.
She enjoys empowering pet parents and helping them become knowledgeable advocates for their pets’ well-being. Instead of simply addressing the symptoms, Dr Becker promotes the use of functional medicine, which involves making dietary and lifestyle choices to help pets thrive and prevent illness.
And in 2021, she also co-authored with pet influencer, Rodney Habib, to publish their book - The Forever Dog, which became the first-ever No.1 New York Times best-selling book about intentionally creating canine well-being.
Firstly, congratulations on making the switch to a real food diet.
Raw pet foods naturally contain enzymes because they haven't undergone the high-heat processing that can destroy these enzymes. Enzymes are important for the digestion and absorption of nutrients in pets, just as they are in humans.
Even if your pet consumes a raw diet, they can benefit from additional enzymes to support their other metabolic functions and good health.
In addition to Furchild complete and balanced raw meals for cats and dogs, we offer a variety of enzyme-rich superfoods ranging from: