SOME FACTS ABOUT OUR DOGS' DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

SOME FACTS ABOUT OUR DOGS' DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

Being carnivores the dog is adapted to eating meat...

1. Dog have 42 teeth on their powerful jaws which can hack but the cannot chew.

2. Dogs have few taste buds but they don't have much sense of taste.

3. They don't have digestive enzymes in their saliva so no predigestion.

4. They have very expandable stomach holding up to 8 liters in giant dogs, so they are adapted to      large meals.

5. Their stomach acidity is much higher than in humans (digestion of bones and destruction of harmful bacteria ingested is made possible)

6. The length of their small intestine is between 2 - 6m depending on the size of the dog. The transit time through the  small intestine is only about two (2) hours.

7. Despite the shortness of the large intestine (20 - 80cm), transit is very slow. This is where ingested food is fermented.

.....from "Everything You Need To Know About The Role Played By Nutrients In The Health of Dogs and Cats by Prof. Dominique Grandjean"