It has been proven that the use of yeast in the pets feed brings numerous benefits. Besides being highly palatable, yeasts act in the digestive process, providing behavioral and well-being improvements. Pets that feel comfortable become less cranky and interact more. Also, the improved intestinal functioning reflects directly on the fur texture, making it glossy and shiny.

According to Márcia Villaça, Pet & Aqua Technical Sales Manager of ICC Brazil, a Brazilian company specialized in ingredients and additives based on yeast; yeast is present in most of the good quality feed in the market, especially those classified as Premium, Premium Special and Super Premium. “Yeast may be added both in the feed composition as in the extruded feed cover. The feed formulation is carried out by specialized professionals, and the diet is complete, with no need for supplementation by the pet tutor. To balance the diet it should be considered the nutritional requirement for each stage of the animal life and the breed,” she says, highlighting that to check if the feed purchased contains yeast, take a look at the composition on the back of the packaging because this information is mandatory in any feed package.

To choose the most appropriate yeast type for each kind of feed, economic and nutritional factors should be considered, and the specific benefits desired. There are a lot of rations on the market. In general, the best quality contains richer ingredients composition, although this is not a definitive way of qualifying them. Also, there are therapeutic or veterinary feeds, which are produced by a more limited number of manufacturers due to their complexity.

ImmunoWall® (yeast cell wall source of β-Glucans and MOS) is one of the main ICC Brazil products present in the animal feed. It helps to improve the intestinal integrity and promote microbiota balance because of its efficiency in agglutinating pathogenic bacteria as Salmonella ssp and E. coli. Another ICC product (Lyscell®) present in feed composition is the autolyzed yeast, obtained by a process that stimulates cell disruption through endogenous enzymes, providing a greater quantity of peptides, dipeptides, and short chain polypeptides; and mycotoxin adsorbents (StarFix®), an evolution in mycotoxin efficiency that combines in a single product the main concepts of adsorption added to a liver regenerator.

Márcia explains that it is necessary to close attention to the label of the ration. “Just like the food we buy for us, the validity is the first item to be checked. Afterward, the tutor should make a choice based on the profile of the animal, considering weight, age, and feeding preference. Some animals feel more attracted by the meat taste while others prefer the chicken flavor, for example. The next step is to check the particularities. There are light rations for overweight animals; there are specific ones to reduce the odor of animal feces, especially those that live indoors, and others to each breed. Another tip is to check the diversity of ingredients in the composition because, just like ours, the pet’s diet should be variously abundant and can hardly be achieved in a diet containing a very limited number of ingredients,” she points out.