Author Julio Bernal
functional foods in pet, provide health benefits if they are consumed on a regular basis as part of a varied diet, pet nutrition for dogs and cats, functional foods modify gastrointestinal physiology, promote changes in biochemical parameters, improve brain functions and may reduce or minimize the risk of developing specific pathologies, novel foods and food components have been identified as functional because they provide health benefits beyond the provision of essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, water, proteins, carbohydrates and fats, functional foods in dogs (Canis familiaris) and cats (Felis catus), metabolism, optimising companion animal nutritional and health status, digestive-related processes but, while cats are carnivorous, dogs appear to be omnivorous like human beings (Bosch et al., 2015). Dogs share some carnivorous traits with cats as both lack salivary amylase, have a short gastrointestinal tract and are unable to synthesize vitamin D, dogs during domestication and are involved in starch digestion and glucose uptake, dogs digestive system is that they can synthesise several essential nutrients such as niacin, taurine and arginin, catabolise and use amino acids as a source of energy for gluconeogenesis, Cats have a diet consisting of 52% protein, 36% fat and 12% carbohydrate, companion animals acquire the wrong eating habits from their owners ,
