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Digestive Enzymes, Good or Bad?

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BeckPo:
I've been buying kibble for more than 6 years and my vet recommended switching to a raw diet because of some issues we've been having. She recommended Darwin's or Primal. I tried a sample of Darwin and my dog just wouldn't have it. Then I tried the primal food and my dog went crazy over it. But, since we switched shes been licking her lips a lot. I noticed her kibble before had digestive enzymes, is it possible that my dog has gotten use to the enzymes helping break down food and now cannot do it herself?

I will ask my vet soon if I should supplement the raw food with the digestive enzymes, but I just wanted to see if anyone else has seen this before. I don't want to switch back to kibble because the raw has really helped with her skin...so I just want to make it work and keep her on raw.

Pookie:

--- Quote from: BeckPo on September 01, 2016, 12:44:55 PM ---I've been buying kibble for more than 6 years and my vet recommended switching to a raw diet because of some issues we've been having. She recommended Darwin's or Primal. I tried a sample of Darwin and my dog just wouldn't have it. Then I tried the primal food and my dog went crazy over it. But, since we switched shes been licking her lips a lot. I noticed her kibble before had digestive enzymes, is it possible that my dog has gotten use to the enzymes helping break down food and now cannot do it herself?

I will ask my vet soon if I should supplement the raw food with the digestive enzymes, but I just wanted to see if anyone else has seen this before. I don't want to switch back to kibble because the raw has really helped with her skin...so I just want to make it work and keep her on raw.

--- End quote ---

First, welcome to our forum!  :)

I can't say if I've seen it before since I never got Pookie switched to all raw.  Anything is possible, including your dog's body not producing enzymes anymore because they were in the food.  What I can say is that I don't think it would cause any harm to add enzymes to your dog's food, and it may help.

That said, lip smacking, IMO is a sign of indigestion or nausea, and what I'm suspecting is that your dog may not be producing enough stomach acid to break down the meat protein.  Enzymes break down carbs, acid breaks down meat, and it's possible that the kibble "trained" your dog's stomach to not produce (as much) stomach acid.  Now that she's getting meat, if her stomach isn't producing enough acid, it might be causing some indigestion.  So what you could do, in addition to the enzymes, is also add a little apple cider vinegar to her diet.  I'm not quite sure how you would do that with raw (in canned you could just mix it in), but if you're also feeding a puree of veggies with the meat, you could add the ACV to that.  Or maybe to her drinking water.  Not tons, but some.  If she doesn't need it, she'll let you know.

I'm sure the others here will also have some thoughts on what might be going on, and suggestions.  I hope this helps!

Edit:  We have a section called "Apple Cider Vinegar for Pets Too" -- here's a link to one of the topics in it:

http://parenting-furkids.com/index.php?topic=2925.msg19991#msg19991

Middle Child:
HI Becky Po and Welcome welcome! Wow are you lucky to have a vet who recommends raw!  bananamiddlechild.

I know more about feline nutrition than canine but there are some things that are similar, and like Pookie has said, years on a kibble diet will have destroyed the digestive enzymes and acidity your dog needs to properly digest raw meat.

Don't despair though because healing can and does happen.  However I do think your dog should be on a good digestive enzyme and also probiotics.

Did you do a sudden switch or slow transition?

Lola:
I don't think Primal raw is the devil, but... montmorillointe clay is one ingredient I personally avoid.  Or try to.   ;D  If my choice (for whatever reason) was Primal every day or kibble... I'd feed Primal. 

Beef ingredients:


--- Quote ---Beef Hearts, Beef Livers, Ground Beef Bones, Organic Kale, Organic Carrots, Organic Squash, Organic Broccoli, Organic Apples, Cranberries, Blueberries, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Montmorillonite Clay, Organic Parsley, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Salmon Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder, Dried Organic Kelp, Alfalfa, Vitamin E Supplement.
--- End quote ---

DeeDee:
I'd start with the ACV. Vlad's the size of a small human (105#), so he gets 1 tbs per meal. You have to work up to that though. Start out with 1/2 tsp per meal and raise the amount every 3-4 days. If he were up to 120#, I'd be giving him 2 tbs. Once up to maintenance amount, leave there for 2 weeks before doing anything else.

Primal has it in already, but it's so far down the list that I don't consider it having it, if you get my meaning?

2nd--find some good probiotics, or give a couple of tbs of Kefir every meal. Give a couple of weeks to let that set in.

3rd--start giving some digestive enzymes.

The reason I'm saying to give each step time to set in is because then it will be easier to tell which part of the digestion process was missing--acid, gut flora, or pancreatic enzymes. Then your vet will know better what to closer look at as far as health issues.

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