Colostrum for Pets: Supplement For Pet Gut Health and Immunity

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Episode 21 • 25th October 2023 • The Pet Industry Podcast • BSM Partners

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Welcome to the Pet Industry podcast, connecting you with the people behind the passion, the leading experts in the pet industry. I'm your host, Dr. Megan Sprinkle.

Dr. Mary Cope: And I'm your other host, Dr. Mary Cope.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Welcome to the Pet Industry Podcast, A podcast by BSM Partners where we go behind the scenes of the pet industry, including the people, products, and science. We are going through two different series right now, one series on DCM research, and another series on pet gut health and the microbiome. Today, we are back to the latter to discuss a unique nutritional ingredient to support gut health and the microbiome for our pets.

This is a great example of emergent insights. Into the pet industry. So let's get to our guests from Zinpro, Allison Milligan and Adam Geiger.

Well, welcome Allison and Adam. I'm very excited to talk with you today because I think gut health and keeping our pets healthy by building up their immunity, these are very common things that a pet owner considers. Because we want our pets to be healthy and we want them to have good poops and all of those wonderful things!

So you are going to talk with us a little bit about a little bit of a different way that you can address those particular health concerns, and that's with colostrum, but I would love to know a little bit about both of you just to get to know you a little bit better, and I would love to know, how did you get into animal nutrition?

So Adam, do you mind starting?

Adam Geiger: Yeah, sure. My name is Adam Geiger. I live in Madison, Georgia, which is just outside of Atlanta, and I've been with the Zinpro Corporation for about seven years working in our colostrum group here at the company. I got involved with animals and animal nutrition from a really young age. I actually was born and raised on a dairy farm near Green Bay, Wisconsin and was surrounded by animals and pets and all sorts of things from a very young age and then did a degree in animal science at University of Wisconsin and a master's in animal science, nutrition at Mississippi State. I did a Ph.D. in physiology at Virginia Tech and have been working in various capacities with animals, production and companion, since that time. I've got a lot of pets; we've got a whole gaggle of animals in the backyard and it's just always been something that's been a big passion and so excited to be here. Happy to talk with you. And yeah, looking forward to it.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Yes, thank you so much. And Allison, what about you? What got you into working with animals and animal nutrition?

Allison Milliken: Hello, yes, I am Allison Milliken. I actually started with Zinpro about a year ago and have been in the pet space and I have a similar story to Adam. I grew up in West Texas, my family ranched and we raised sheep and cattle and I always had a dog and we had chickens. We had the whole nine, and I fell in love with it from the get-go. I did try to stray - I always chuckle because, in undergrad, I decided I was going to be an engineer and I made it two years and I was like, "You know what? My passion is animals." So changed about course and went to animal science. I did my Bachelor's at Texas A& M and then I did a master's in animal physiology at Clemson and then I came back to Texas A&M - because once an Aggie, it just sucks you back in - and did my Ph.D. in animal nutrition there and since then it's You know, it's always been a passion, but now I get to make a career out of it.

And I love what I do. And I think that it's definitely an exciting field to be in when you love it as much as we do.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, so I'm excited for you to share your enthusiasm for this particular area of nutrition, and we're going to actually take both of those, you both talked about being raised around cows and things like that, and this colostrum is coming from cows, but then we're also going to see how it applies to pets.

I think a great foundation is, so what is colostrum? What is it in it that is going to lead to maybe these reasons that we are going to give them to pets?

Adam Geiger: Yeah, you're right. When we think of colostrum, we typically think about dairy animals, right? Or cows, cattle, but all mammals. make colostrum. Humans make colostrum, right? And so when we think about colostrum, a newborn, and if I take a step back, colostrum has two primary kinds of purposes when we talk about feeding it to animals.

And the primary reason we typically think about is the newborn animal. and so if we think about a newborn animal, it really doesn't matter what it is. Most animals are born more or less without a functioning immune system, right? So they don't really have any way to protect themselves from the diseases of this world.

And it's the same with humans, same with dogs, cats, calves, whatever. So, colostrum is filled with one very important thing and a term that you're going to hear me say over and over again, it's filled with antibodies, or we can call them immunoglobulins or IgG, it's all the same thing, but essentially what that is, is those antibodies are being passed from mom to baby via colostrum, and that is essentially the memory of all the diseases that mom has encountered in her lifetime.

And so she's giving those antibodies to the baby to protect it because it doesn't have an immune system. So she's essentially giving the baby an immune system. And she's doing that through those antibodies, which are just a memory of all the diseases she's faced. And so the baby can consume that colostrum, can absorb those antibodies, and use that to fight diseases while she then encounters, he or she then encounters different diseases in the environment and learns herself.

So it's a way for mom to communicate to baby and provide support and help and protection from the environment. And so that's typically what we think about when we think about colostrum. But those antibodies in the colostrum have a whole host of other benefits and a big one is that it can also just help the animal generally fight disease on a daily basis.

So we could give it to a full-grown dog or cat or a, one that's just been weaned off milk, for example, and it can consume the colostrum and those antibodies can just hang out in the stomach. If the animal ever gets into something it shouldn't or encounters disease, those antibodies actually have a very local effect right there in the stomach and they're going to, take care of those disease-causing bugs before they can make your animal sick and cause loose feces, things like that. So that's a long answer.

Dr. Mary Cope: Now, I think it is important to, when we think about colostrum. Colostrum is essentially the first milk that comes in right after, a baby of whatever kind of mammal is born. So it's that first milk that they're going to be drinking. But the microbes that a cow is exposed to versus what a dog's exposed to, I assume would be very different microbes. So do you see like a translation over from the antibodies that a cow has to benefiting a dog? Or would you need colostrum from a species-specific? Or is it more of a blanket ability of these antibodies to act?

Adam Geiger: Yeah, that's a good point. you know, we think about colostrum. We often call it nature's perfect food. Because it has a mixture of different things in it. Proteins, fats, it has a lot of different growth factors and these kinds of bioactive factors that Some we know a lot about, some we're still learning about, but it's that first milk that's produced by any mammal. And again, we typically think about it in terms of cows, but it's that first milk produced by any animal to be provided to its offspring, because that offspring is essentially born without an immune system.

So it's a way to give that animal a fighting chance. And protect it from the diseases of the environment that it hasn't encountered yet. And we talk about colostrum and we talk about supplementing colostrum to any species. We are typically talking about bovine colostrum. There're a couple reasons for that.

Number one, cows produce a lot more colostrum than any other species, right? So when we talk about collecting it, we can get our hands on quite a bit of it. And there're also a lot of cows throughout the U. S. that, are available to collect colostrum from. And when you look at colostrum supplements or treats or, foods or feeds that contain colostrum in them, almost all of them are going to be bovine colostrum, whether you're feeding it to calves, baby goats, bulls, dogs, cats, puppies, kittens. And one nice thing about that is the antibodies that we find that are present in bovine colostrum actually have a lot of cross-reactivity or apply to the majority of the major things that we're encountering regardless of species. Bovine colostrum has a lot of antibodies that are effective against very common diseases, such as E.coli, Salmonella, is one that is deals with maybe a lack of sanitation or things like that, coccidiosis, clostridium, and parvovirus. And so those, diseases apply to a whole gambit of different animals. And that's one thing that makes bovine colostrum really efficacious, not only for production animals but specifically for companion animals because it is going to have a lot of impact against a lot of the diseases that our dogs and cats are going to typically encounter.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: And Allison too, I know you have a huge focus when it comes to using this colostrum in cats and dogs. So from your experience, when would we want to be giving colostrum to a cat and dog? I know we started talking about the very young animal, we've also mentioned several times that this could be used in an older animal is this more of for prevention of disease or could it be to help support maybe like a loose stool situation.

What are you experiencing when it comes to our pets?

Allison Milliken: Absolutely, so I think what's so fantastic about this specific ingredient is really, it has a place in both spaces. So you can utilize it from that prevention standpoint where I believe it's the most effective, but inevitably we always are going to have our pets get into something or face these stressful situations that you may See that loose stool, or that additional stress that you can utilize this as a tool to help combat that.

So like you mentioned, the younger pets, that is one focus, right? And you think about our puppies and our kittens, they have to go through multiple stressful periods in their life. So weaning, going to new locations, diet changes, all of those can be. they can have some negative impacts on stool quality, also how the puppy or kitten feels.

And so that would be a scenario where you could almost work from a preventative angle knowing, these upcoming stressful situations are coming. But also when they're little, you may not have the ability to do it in the same capacity that you have with older dogs. So it could be something you could give in response to one of those stressful situations.

Are older dogs and cats a similar thing, right? we're, personally I take my dog PJ, she goes with me everywhere, right? And sometimes that can be stressful. other times, even me just leaving the house without her, she's wait. I'm a little stressed, right? So there's just all these times that we face, we, or we put our pets in these stressful situations.

So if you have a high stress dog doing something preventative, having them on it consistently can help minimize the. the chance of having some of these gut health related issues to stress. but also thinking about from a,from an immunity standpoint, you take your dog to the kennel or, you take your cat to a new environment.

So they're just like us. They're exposed to new things. It's like taking a kid to a playground. You'd never know what they're going to come home with. so if there's a way that, I'm going to be taking my dog to the kennel, like maybe, a week, two weeks before you start supplementing them with colostrum to kind of prep them.

We also have some re or there is some research out there too, that shows it. Being fed daily at a lower dosage. So it would again, be that more preventative, but you'll also start to see things on the market that are more of a supplement and that you could regulate yourself, based on what your animal is really going through.

Dr. Mary Cope: So it sounds like typically when a dog or a cat gets sick with something, they're introduced to some little microbe that kind of sets off this cascade of events, and it takes a little while for their immune system to a identify. What the problem is and then be make the antibodies are like the little soldiers to go in and battle the microbes that are causing G.I. Upset.

And so it sounds to me like the antibodies that are in colostrum are like the shortcut in that immune response for your dog or your cat. So if you feed this, you're introducing antibodies directly into the gut to battle the bad bacteria. And we had a previous episode where we talked about the benefit of probiotics where the good bacteria outcompete the bad bacteria, but it sounds to me like colostrum is basically just like a little army that you're sending in there to immediately fight those bad bacteria.

Is that an accurate take on how this product can work to, keep our pets guts happy and healthy?

Allison Milliken: Yes. So one, I love that, little army. I think that is the perfect way to describe it because. Really what colostrum can work in two ways. And one is really that yes, you're putting soldiers in the GI tract. and that's that IgG or the antibodies that Adam was talking about, and it can act. locally within the gut by basically binding up, any of those bad bacteria and allow them to shoot out the other end.

So able to move all the way through, without getting into the bloodstream. The other way that colostrum can impact, or those IgGs can really serve the pet well is. About 70 percent of an animal's immune system is actually within the gut, and those cells that produce a lot of your actives within the immune system, that IgG can have a positive impact there.

And basically give that animal a boost on what we would consider systemically so that would be able to help prepare that animal to produce their own antibodies in response if it does. get basically absorbed into the bloodstream. So there's two different ways and it acts in both what we would consider localized and systemically to help boost that immune system.

Yeah, I just thought you said two things that were really interesting. And so number one, I do love your army analogy, right? And I think that pulls up a really important distinction between colostrum and probiotics. We want to keep following that. Army analogy, right? Probiotics are essentially supplying the army with more tools to succeed and beat the enemy, whereas colostrum is putting more soldiers on the front line.

Adam Geiger: Okay. So they are very complimentary in the way that they can work, right? Because what we're trying to do is we're trying to just put more soldiers in there. They're going to take care of the enemy, which is. Any disease, or stress before it causes a problem. And then to your point, is when we have a situation, we can't all predict when our pets are going to get sick.

If we could, that's a whole other story, but if we could, that would be awesome. But we can't, right? And as Allison mentioned, this colostrum does work best as a preventative. And the reason for that is when we have a situation that causes stress that maybe we didn't see coming or we weren't appropriately prepared for, that takes a few days before we really start to see that show up in terms of, loose stools, right? So something's happening inside of our dog or cat causing stress. And typically what that means is that the enemy soldiers or the bad bacteria in there are starting to win. And they're starting to attack the actual stomach tissue of our dog or cat. And that's what presents itself as loose stools.

And so by coming in and trying to prevent with this colostrum, and the antibodies that are present in it, when those things are in there and having their effect and we're not even aware of it yet, we've already provided more soldiers that are taking care of those bad guys, those bad pathogens and binding to them and they're just going to go out the other end in the theses, and so that's where this thing becomes really important. And it has a similar effect in humans. I can speak from personal experience. I've been to a few countries traveling. and I've encountered some food in some situations that I, everybody else in my group, had some pretty significant issues as a result of bacterial contamination from the water and the food.

And because I had been preparing and taking colostrum as a preventative, there's been multiple situations where I am the only one in my group that did not get sick. And I was also the only one that was taking colostrum beforehand.

Dr. Mary Cope: Now, for our pet owners who have heard that, dogs and cats outside of, puppy and kitten-hood are lactose intolerant and milk is, has the potential to cause GI upset. How is this, bovine colostrum product different than the milk that you'd find in the supermarket?

Adam Geiger: Yeah, that's a really good question. And so remember stepping back colostrum is not milk. It's really that first milk. So it's much higher in fat and protein than regular milk. So as a result, if fat and protein go up, your lactose is naturally going to be lower, but colostrum in general does still have lactose in it.

And so it is something that we, we need to be aware of. And that's where the conversation of not all colostrum is colostrum comes into play. There are a lot of different options available for pet owners out there in terms of colostrum, but they're not all the same because a lot of them are processed differently.

And so one thing we need to look at is what sort of colostrum powder is being used as the active ingredient in the treat, for example, that you're purchasing. There are a lot of products out there. that are simply dried bovine colostrum. So they collect it from the cow and it's just dried down into a powder.

That's going to have a lot higher lactose content and a lot lower protein and antibody content. For example, a lot of those products are probably going to have a protein content, less than 50%. and a, on a drive in terms of the powder. And an antibody content of definitely less than 25%. Whereas the products that we work with specifically for pets, they have, they're concentrated and they go through an ultra filtration process, similar to some of the milk we can buy off of the store shelves.

Where the lactose content is significantly lowered and the protein content is increased to the 70, 80 percent range and the antibody content to around that 50 percent range. So what we see is both humans and pets that have sensitivities to lactose, for example, they don't have the same issues with those more concentrated products.

So it is very important for us to understand the form, And maybe ask some questions when it comes to the colostrum that we are providing to our pets.

Dr. Mary Cope: So for our pet owners who are looking for products to that potentially do have colostrum integrated within them or looking for a colostrum supplement. Is there, are the products distinguished based on how they're labeled, for quality or is that, is there just a blanket term for colostrum?

How can people know the quality of the colostrum that they're purchasing?

Allison Milliken: That is an excellent question. And unfortunately, there's not a defined distinction and how they're labeled that I'm aware of. However, one potential way to notice it would be based on how much is added. So we know when we look at an ingredient label, right? The ingredients that are highest are going to be the ones where there's the most, in that product.

And then as you move through the list, that the amount of those ingredients is going to decrease. So if you're looking at two different products, you could potentially do some comparison that way and see where on the label it falls. Again, if you have a more concentrated product, you're going to have to add less of it to meet that. Antibody concentration and oftentimes, especially if it's a supplement, you'll see on the label that they'll call out what their actives are. So there may be some that calls out colostrum specifically and others that will call out those. Active compounds within colostrum, the 2 you'd be most likely to see would be that IgG, so that antibody that Adam's been talking about, and then you could potentially see a lactoferrin, which is another. peptide within the colostrum that has some positive impacts on the immune system. however, it's at a much lower concentration than what the IgG is within the product. I would also encourage, we, there's numbers, there's contact information, on those products.

So if there is something, especially if you have an animal that is lactose intolerant, I would encourage maybe doing a little bit of research, maybe reaching out to the company and just asking, hey, what is your source of colostrum? Is it concentrated? Or does it have lack to a significant or wouldn't be significant?

But. More lactose in it than a concentrated product. So again, unfortunately, right now, there's not a true standard there. but I believe as the, as this ingredient continues to gain more traction and understanding within the public, I foresee there being some changes in that moving forward, but right now, it's still a new ingredient.

So you're not going to see it everywhere yet. Thank you. but I have definitely started to see it in some of the supplements that are on the market.

Adam Geiger: Yeah, and I would just chime in that a majority of the time it's labeled as dry bovine colostrum on the label. and then I think it comes to having a trying to reach out to the company that is making the treat that you're interested in purchasing. the question I would ask them is, for what reason, or what benefit did they include the, the colostrum powder and ask them, what If they can share any characteristics of the powder that they're using, and the important thing that Allison alluded to is we understand why we're adding bovine colostrum or colostrum to a treat or a formula.

We're not just doing it to add it, right? It's not just Hey, I'm going to add, five grams of this stuff or, a pound in my formula, whatever it is, right? And then boom, we have an effect, right? It's the effect comes from those functional. elements we talked about, right? The antibodies, for example, being a big one.

That's what's actually giving you, the impact on the animal. So we can do our due diligence that way, in understanding, okay, did we add, asking somebody, why did you add this to the formula and what benefit can I expect from my pet? What's the inclusion rate or the not even the inclusion rate, but what's the, source of the colostrum that you're using and what in the colostrum is giving me the benefit that I'm, that I'm seeking if they can answer those questions for you.

That means they truly do understand that it needs to be added at a rate that provides the benefit and that we're not just adding in some colostrum and kind of hoping for the best, if that makes sense, because there are specific elements within colostrum that give us the benefits and then that goes back to the, not all colostrum is colostrum, right?

If we have a more concentrated product, we don't need to add as much because we're, we have a higher percentage of those functional and important ingredients in a more concentrated product.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Along these lines, just with this similar theme that we're talking about here and then Allison, you did highlight that this is a newer ingredient for pet products. So I'm curious. Have you come across or maybe what are some of the most common? Misconceptions or challenges, anything along those lines, because I know there's going to be some people who are early adopters and it's Ooh, new, and this is great.

But then there's some people that hear new and it's Oh, should I wait and make sure it's safe or something? So I'm curious, what have you heard that might be like a misconception or, just maybe a challenge with the product?

Allison Milliken: Yeah, so one thing I'll tackle first is new is maybe not the best term, right? Maybe it's newer to pet owners, ultimately we've been leveraging colostrum in various other industries for years, especially in the dairy industry, some of our production animals, but also in the human industry.

There's quite a bit of literature out there around, the supplementation of colostrum in humans and what those health benefits are. So new as a, it's not as scary, right? Because it does have a really long history. It's just, we're finally getting to the point that we're getting to leverage some of these benefits that we know and understand in our pets.

and really to be able to equip them, like I said, to face, some of those challenging situations, the stress. But when you start looking as to what's out there, again, there's a handful of supplements out there that are really starting to leverage this. And I would say from a misconception standpoint, and Adam may be able to speak to this a little bit more than I can, but.

The only one I really see is one. Okay, yes, new, maybe a little scary. but the second one would just be any negative connotations around. a dairy product, right? And I think that depends on what your background is with it. but ultimately it's just in my mind, just really exciting that we're getting to leverage the knowledge that we've gained around this ingredient in our pets and it has a multitude of health benefits. So again, you'll see it in different types of products.

So if you're looking out there for products that have colostrum in it, what you're going to see is there's a couple of different health benefits that are going to be most targeted, for the utilization of that ingredient. And what we've done, we've alluded to the fact that stress is a big piece, so you'll actually see this not only in, in gut health, products where we know we often see the impact of stress within that GI tract, but you'll also see it in some of the calming supplements on the market. So if we think about that connection there, it often has. Pulls back on the gut brain axis and how when we impact the gut positively, we can impact things like mood and things like that within humans, within animals so you will see it in maybe some of your calming supplements as well. And right now, those are the probably the biggest two, but the last one you'll see is just general immune health. So at the end of the day, they're actually all very connected, it's just a matter of how you want to target, what benefit you're looking for with those various different approaches.

Dr. Mary Cope: So it sounds like it's not a new product. It is a new application of a product that has been around since really the dawn of time since, colostrum is every mammal consumes it shortly after they're born. So very exciting to see new applications of some of these products that science allows us to utilize for continued benefits.

Adam Geiger: Yeah. I guess I would chime in there. One other type of treat that you do see colostrum in as well is allergen treats to help reduce the impact of allergens on our pets. That's another area that colostrum, and there is some research out there on it that colostrum has been shown to have a pretty nice impact, is in kind of that response to allergens. And to Allison's point, and to your point as well, this is a new species or kind of a new area colostrum is now being used in, but again It's something that's been recommended by veterinarians and industry professionals and other species for a very long time, we actually have a quite a bit of research that's published and some internal research With baby dairy calves and baby piglets. In the piglets it shows that when you give it to the runts of the litter. It actually makes them more robust and energetic and actually helps them catch up to the bigger piglets so that a couple weeks later you can hardly even notice a difference between what the runt was and the normal rest of the litter. In baby calves, when they're still on milk and their stomachs are very similar to that of dogs and cats, we actually see when we supplement this stuff to these calves during stressful periods that the animals that are fed the colostrum, we actually see a 25 percent reduction in the number of animals that have loose stools. So this is something actually that other industries, other animal industries have been using for probably close to a decade to improve fecal consistency, boost overall immune, status of their animals and help some of those animals that maybe aren't thriving as well from the get go or struggling with the stress more to help them catch up and put them on a level playing field.

So it's really exciting to be able to take this technology and bring it to an area where we can see the benefits daily, 100%.

When my dog is starting to struggle, or I know that we're going to be entering into a stressful situation with kenneling or something like that, being able to prevent that and improve fecal consistency and to lose stool situation with my animals. that makes a big difference to me.

Dr. Mary Cope: Yeah, definitely. I know I have, I have show dogs and, I have one of my dogs, she's been showing since she was just a puppy. and now she's two and a half years old, and you'd think at this point that going out on the road traveling, given that she's so accustomed to it, it wouldn't play a role and it wouldn't be stressful for her at this point, but she always seems if it's longer than two days of travel, she always seems to get a little bit of an upset stomach.

And I know that it's that stress bleeding over. So even for, outside of just pet dogs for performance show dogs as well, where they're constantly on the road, and traveling, I think this ingredient shows promise for improving some of those loose stools, because there's nothing worse than traveling with a dog and having to pick up after a dog that has some loose or any stools.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: I don't travel with my dog. But she's, one big ball of anxiety and she's a great Dane. So when you have a big dog, you also, no matter where you're going, whether it's at home or on the road, you want good stool with that big dog. So my dog's not as fancy as, Mary's. But she definitely is, has high anxiety. So I, I love this opportunity to, again, that the new application of an ingredient that's been around for a while that it's just been underutilized potentially in the cat dog pet world so that is super exciting. we will definitely link a few additional resources in our description below this episode, but just as we wrap up today, what's one last thing that you would like to leave everyone when it comes to colostrum and using it for our pets?

Adam Geiger: I guess if I had to leave you guys with anything, this concept of colostrum, it's proven in a lot of different applications already. And it is. It is already here and entering into both the human and specifically the companion animal, the pet, dog and cat space, it's an all natural product that has the opportunity and has been shown to significantly improve gut health. And overall immune functions in our pets, especially when we use it as a preventative, when we know a stressor is coming. And so I would leave that as our opportunity, right? If we've got an animal or a pet that has these loose stools and is, consistently having issues when it comes to time of stress, things like that, find a product that has colostrum in it. Because I think you're going to be really surprised to see the daily impact that we'll have on your pet. If we can get it in there and we can get that animal consuming colostrum and all those various factors that are within it.

Allison Milliken: Yeah, so I'll just jump in and add to that. really for me as I, I just want all of you to be able to know that this is, it's an option for you, especially if you have stressful pets or, you're going to be putting your pet in a stressful situation, no matter the age. So we know that there are these health benefits for your dogs and your cats at all ages.

And it just gives you another tool in the toolbox. And, as an industry, we keep pushing forward to have more functional ingredients and understand how they can benefit our, our family members. And I think this is just, it's another tool to have in your toolbox. And like we were just talking about, there is nothing worse than G.I. issues, whether it's, it doesn't matter which end it's coming out of, it's not fun to deal with. And it's just good to know your options and know that, that this is something that could really help, boost that immune system, be, play a prominent role in maintaining gut health. And then ultimately maybe have an impact even on the on that cognitive piece of your animal. So a lot of opportunity for it. And I think we're just going to continue to learn more about it and what it can do for our pets.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: I have one extra bonus question for you because you talked about, all the uses and most of the examples you mentioned on where we might find it to use it for our pets is like supplements and functional treats. But. I think it was Adam who mentioned a little bit on a, a smaller dose more consistently, more on a daily basis has also been looked at and shown to have some benefit as well.

So is it currently, or is this something that we might see in the future where it could be incorporated into a complete and balanced diet that we would feed our dogs or cats daily?

Adam Geiger: Yeah, that's a good question. And, you, you did ask about some of the drawbacks with it earlier to, or potential things that might, people might get hung up on. and, that is one thing we, the biggest negative about colostrum is that all those components, they are heat sensitive, right?

So because of that, we're talking about 160 degrees Fahrenheit, we start to have some problems. And. Dog food is processed at higher temperatures than that. it can't be included in a formula in, into the actual feed itself, but there are, technologies out there that can spray it onto the dog food after it's processed, like coating type technologies.

To the best of our knowledge, there aren't any companies that are utilizing that technology currently. but it is an option that we discuss with pet food manufacturers, so hopefully it will be something that will be available, in the near future.

Allison Milliken: I do know I, this is primarily in the U S, but there are some products, I believe in Europe that, that do leverage colostrum in a kibble for cats and for dogs. but in the U S there really isn't anything, Right now that I'm aware of from a complete and balanced diet standpoint and really where this market is more focused on incorporating it in supplements.

But I do hope that's something we see in the future. I know if I could buy dog food for my pet, with it in there, I would 100 percent do it. as much as supplements, I love giving her treats and things like that. But at the end of the day, I know I'm not very consistent at it. And so if I had something that I could provide it more consistently. I would be all about that.

So I do hope that in the future that is becomes more readily available from an option standpoint.

Dr. Mary Cope: No, there are a lot of pet owners who do supplementing, their existing kibble. But maybe are interested in doing standalone supplementation so they can really, cherry pick exactly what they want to supplement their dog with instead of having to purchase, a calming or an immune supplement that has a smattering of different ingredients.

Is, colostrum available for purchase as a standalone ingredient that people could add into their dog's diet as a topper? the powdered colostrum, is that or will that be available for supplementation in the pet space?

Allison Milliken: There is at least one company that we work with that provides a daily supplement that contains colostrum as a part of it. it also contains some other things, vitamins and minerals. It's not an exclusive colostrum powder. that is something that we have been looking at.

Adam Geiger: Zinpro will have something available on Amazon, in the coming. Future that won't be labeled specifically for pet, but we'll have multi species use and a lot of folks that do it currently as just a daily supplement of pure colostrum powder.

But the one thing I'll say is that when we buy these things from our kind of feed stores, do make sure you read the label because just because it says colostrum supplement doesn't actually mean that it contains colostrum powder. And so there are a lot of things out there that are labeled colostrum supplements, but what those things are actually meant to do is be supplemented into cows, colostrum, just to raise the fat and protein.

And they don't actually contain any of the functional ingredients we're interested in. there are a lot of things that are at, factory supply, depends where our listeners are from, farm and feed stores, things like that, that, that work for kind of a multi species application, but just make sure that they, report either an antibody, an IgG, And a globulin or a globulin protein content on it, if they don't or bovine colostrum powder isn't listed as an ingredient, they might provide you with some sort of benefit, but they're not going to be the benefits that we outlined today.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: That's helpful. Thank you because the label does get really confusing. So thank you for pointing that out. it's definitely easy to get lost in the label sometimes, or just, look at the front and it sounds fancy and it sounds what I'm looking for, but always said. To keep looking. So absolutely.

Thank you for entertaining our, my down path. we always just a fun way to wrap up the episode. I know Adam, you mentioned a little bit about your, I think your pet earlier, but please tell us about your personal pets.

Adam Geiger: how much time do you got? So we have, all right, we've got three labs. We have dairy goats. We have six chickens. We have about we have eight cows, male, female, milking, non milking. We have a miniature donkey. And we have a cat.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: You're like a zoo!

Adam Geiger: yes, we, it's pretty impressive. And a bunch of our goats are about to have babies, so it's about to be the wild west.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: I love baby goats.

Dr. Mary Cope: A lot more than just 10 soon!

Adam Geiger: We're about to have a lot more than just 10. But what I will say is that all of our baby goats, we do give this colostrum to, for the first week of their life. And, we've had over, 60 goats born on this farm. And we've never had to treat any of them or, none of them have ever gotten sick, and just because of anecdotal experiences like that, I really do believe in the benefits that the colostrum can provide.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: I love that. Allison, can you top that? I

Allison Milliken: Maybe I have a few pets, but my, my dog, PJ, she is the main one. She steals the show. She is, an Australian cattle dog or red healer, and I've had her now for, almost 11 years, and she still acts like she's about five. She gets a little sore on occasion after, she goes at it a little too hard sometimes we have to slow her down and remind her she's getting older. But, yeah, she's, she keeps us on our toes. It's never, ever dull. She talks back, probably more than any other child. And... and, is incredibly hardheaded and stubborn, but we love her. And, yeah, I don't know. My life would not be the same, without the PJ dog running around.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Fascinating, right? I hope you found this an enlightening discussion about a powerful, yet often overlooked nutritional ingredient, colostrum. Our guests from Zen Pro, Allison Milliken and Adam Geiger shed light on the incredible benefits it offers for our pet's gut health and overall immunity. Colostrum isn't a new product. It's as old as mammals and it's making its way into products for companion animals. From bolstering the immune system to aiding in stress related issues, Colostrum emerges as a versatile tool for pet owners. As we wrap up, remember that It's not about newness, but about tapping into the proven benefits of nutrients like colostrum to keep our pets healthy and happy.

Stay tuned for more insightful episodes on the Pet Industry Podcast by BSN Partners, where we continue to explore the science, people, and products shaping the pet industry. For more, check out the BSN Partners website for pet resources at bsmpartners.net.

Thank you for joining us on the Pet Industry Podcast, a BSM Partners production with editing by Cliff Duvenois. Thank you to the podcast team, Dr. Megan Sprinkle, Dr. Mary Cope, Whitney Russell, Dr. Stephanie Clark, and Michael Johnson. If you want to learn more about our family here at BSM Partners, please visit our website at bsmpartners. net.

And please make sure you are subscribed to the podcast, tell a friend, and find us here next time.

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