Collagen in Pet Food?

What is collagen?

Collagen is the most abundant protein in our bodies. For human and dogs, you can find collagen in the muscles, bones, tendons, skin, blood vessels and digestive system. This is essentially the “glue” that helps to hold the body together, with this being essential to joint and tendon health. It also provides the skin with strength, this is why it is popular in human skincare products, whilst being used for dogs to help enhance their pets skin and coat.

The Impact of Collagen on Dogs

Collagen can really help to boost the health of dogs, with there being a number of benefits for them. It can assist in maintaining general bone and joint health, due to the help that it provides to build up a pet’s bones, joints, cartilage, connective tissues and blood vessels.

Another that collagen impacts dogs is that it promotes a healthy coat and skin, this is because the layer of a dog’s skin called the dermis is made up mainly of collagen.
Dogs can also benefit from collagen’s ability to boost digestive health. If a dog has poor gut health it can put them at risk of health problems such as disease, allergies and behaviour issues. Collagen can help to soothe and repair the gut lining and other problems with a dog’s digestive system.

Collagen is found in skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. Functionally it provides structure, strength and elasticity to each of these tissues. As dogs age their capacity to produce collagen diminishes, making them susceptible to injuries and painful conditions. Like all proteins collagen does not last forever. Natural breakdown occurs and this can be heightened by things such as daily wear and tear, and ageing. Ingredients that naturally contain collagen in pet food will be digested and absorbed by pets, providing the building blocks (particularly amino acids glycine and proline) for the body to make more collagen which can help maintain healthy joints and skin. 

Orchard’s Prime Superfood 65 recipes each contain fantastic ingredients with Freshly Prepared protein (35% in total) with amino acids that have naturally occurring collagen to help maintain healthy joints and skin in dogs.