What are probiotics?
By Shadrach on Jul 1, 2009 in Dog Nutrition, Natural Dog & Cat Health, Natural Feeding
And why should you care? Well, they are the friendly intestinal flora we all need to be healthy – humans and dogs alike. 
The problem is today, most veterinarians are going to prescribe one of the main things that destroy friendly intestinal flora, antibiotics. Do you see the similarity in these two- ANTI-biotics and PRO-biotics? Well anti means against and pro means for. You probably already know that. But what about biotics? What does that mean? It means life.
Here is a great article that it explains probiotics very nicely by naturopathic doctor, Dr. Edward Group (he’s on the advisory board of HolisticOption.com with my mom):
Probiotics Explained
Another thing to note is that when ANY food is cooked to extreme highs (as in packaged pet food) then that kills off ALL the good probiotics and enzymes. Yes indeed and that means kibble-fed dogs are dipping into their enzyme resources AND not getting the probiotics they need to thrive. On top of it all they often get steroids and antibiotics that further deplete the immune system. So it’s no wonder we’re all dying younger (not living longer contrary to popular myth and propaganda), and of human-like, awful diseases. Nutrition is key and it needs to be species appropriate RAW food humans. We can handle it even if YOU can’t, so stop anthropomorphizing it all for us okay? We know you love us, so get over yourselves, WOOF!
Here is a great resource page my human put together to help you learn more:
http://aspenbloompetcare.com/pet-resources
Great Sources for probiotics and enzymes:
Pet Enzymes
Animal Essentials Plant Enzymes & Probiotics
And here are two great mp3 audios with veterinarian Dr. Hugh Bassham on probiotics:
Enzymes: Just Another Song & Dance?
More additional resources:
Probiotics Prevent Colds and Flu
http://aspenbloompetcare.com/pet-resources
Have a pawsitively tail waggin’, NATURALLY healthy day!
Shadrach the Neo Mastiff
Bark ‘N’ Blog is brought to you by Aspenbloom Natural Pet Care
3 Comment(s)
By Dental Corpus Christi on Jul 1, 2009 | Reply
This is a very informative article.
By Todd on Jul 2, 2009 | Reply
Interesting. I have always heard of probiotics mentioned in human yogurt but never really knew what they were.
It makes sense that dogs would prefer raw food. They don’t exactly get kibble in the wild lol.
By Shadrach on Jul 2, 2009 | Reply
So glad that helped you learn what they are and how important to our health and that of our animals Todd!
And true, wolves do not shop at the supermarket for their kibble lol!
Dr. Kim & Shadrach