[weezerweeks]

I give my pet mercola animal based digestive enzymes. An article in only natural pet said plant ones were best because they are stable at the pH of a dog and will start working in the esopogus and continue to the tail where animal based are effective only at pH levels that are not commonly found in the body and therefore are of less value. The author was Rebecca Rose. Should I switch to plant based ones?

[Mom2Cavs]

I can’t advise you to switch from animal to plant enzymes, but I do know that my dogs do the best on plant enzymes for everyday feeding. One time, years ago, my now deceased Shih-Poo had an acute pancreatitis attack. The vet we were seeing at the time gave him some enzymes (animal) and he recovered from it all, fwiw.

[EnzymesForPets]

You are correct, animal-derived enzymes are generally active in a much narrower pH range, so they will only work in the environment with that pH. Additionally, they can become denatured and not work at all if they are in an environment which varies too much from that pH. Microbial and plant-derived enzymes tend to work under a wider range of conditions. This is why they are usually the preferred choice for digestive supplements. Especially when a supplement includes a range of enzymes, they can be active throughout the pH changes of the digestive tract. The stomach has a very low pH, but the pH in the small intestine is much higher. Many animal-derived enzymes may be active in one or the other, but will not work in both (and may get denatured in the acidity of the stomach, therefore never even being active in the small intestine).

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