One of the most important aspects to address within pet nutrition is digestive health, as it is essential for a long and healthy life. The digestive system is crucial to maintain a strong immune system for both cats and dogs.

A dog’s digestive system is responsible not only for breaking down food, absorbing the nutrients from the food and distributing them throughout the body, but also for preventing pathogens from entering the dog’s system. Meanwhile, a cat’s digestive problems are one of the most common reasons cats are brought to their veterinarian. Additionally, antibiotic treatments in dogs and cats can have negative effects on the health of their gut microflora and digestive system.

Butyric acid has been shown to be beneficial for intestinal integrity and health. Its use in livestock has already more than 20 years and the number of studies on its properties and mode of action increases each year.

Tributyrin comes from human clinical nutrition and improves taste and odor to deliver butyric acid to pets and solve gastrointestinal health problems. It is a novel trend for the intestinal integrity of dogs and cats.

Tributyrin is a triglyceride of butyric acid. It increases the concentration of butyrate when pancreatic enzymes hydrolyze it. It has been the subject of much research and has proven to be more potent than other forms of butyrate.

Butyric acid is the main source of energy for the colonocyte. Most gastrointestinal disorders are characterized by low concentrations of butyric acid.

Butyric acid is highly beneficial in young animals since it favors a rapid development of the intestinal mucosa, it increases the resistance to external aggressions (mechanical, bacterial) and favors the establishment of saprophytic flora. But also butyrate is beneficial in any challenging situation of the digestive integrity, the need for recovery of the intestinal mucosa or the convenience of optimizing the capacity of absorption of nutrients.

Some of the proven effects of butyric acid on the intestinal wall are:

Increase in the length of the intestinal villi, which means an increase in the absorption surface of the nutrients in the feed.
Increase in intestinal secretions, which implies greater digestibility and protection of the enteric mucosa.
Anti-inflammatory and stimulating effect of the local immune system, which implies a greater resistance to stress and the action of pathogens.
Reinforcement of the cellular junctions of the enteric mucosa (Tight junctions), which reduces the permeability of the intestine.

Butyric acid is a POSTBiOTiC produced in nature by the intestinal microbiota.