Mary Allen
Do you know what provides the necessary nest protection for newborn puppies and gives the decisive kick for healthy growth?
It is the colostrum that gives the little ones the best start in life. But what is colostrum actually? What makes it so valuable? And can colostrum also promote health in adult animals? We think so, and for our new colostrum preparation, Dr. Hölter Jolostrum has already received a lot of positive feedback. In this article you can read what is behind it and whether colostrum is perhaps also the right thing for your animal.
What is Colostrum?
Foremilk, first milk, colostrum or (Latin) colostrum are common names for the milk that is produced by the mother around the time of birth and that every mammal gets naturally as the first food. The most valuable colostrum available on the first day of life differs significantly from what is later known as mature breast milk. During the first three to five days, the composition of colostrum slowly changes to mature milk.
What Makes Colostrum so Valuable?
Milk makes tired men awake – but colostrum can do much more than normal milk. Colostrum provides newborns:
Defense
The mother’s concentrated immune system is passed on to the puppies with the colostrum because newborn cats and dogs are born with an immature immune system that cannot yet protect them. They only receive sufficient antibodies against pathogens in their environment, the so-called nest protection, with their mother’s colostrum. Maternal antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins, protect the little ones against most pathogens in their environment during the first few weeks. Only particularly aggressive pathogens such as parvoviruses can still be dangerous to them.
“When the puppy is born, it not only has to change its breathing and nutrition and regulate its heat balance but – since it changes from a sterile to a germ-rich environment – it also has to deal with the germ flora of its environment. (…) After birth, the sensitive newborn is therefore protected by ready-made antibodies from the mother animals.” (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zentek in “Dog Nutrition”, 6th edition 2010)
Colostrum contains very high amounts of the immunoglobulins IgG, IgA, and IgM. These antibodies work in a similar way to a police patrol: they recognize potential culprits (the pathogens), capture them (stick to their surface) and ensure that they are rendered harmless.
Energy
As a real calorie bomb, first milk provides puppies with the necessary fuel to raise their body temperature by around six degrees Celsius within a very short time – from sometimes just 30°C in wet, exhausted newborns to around 36°C normal temperature after the first suckling. In addition, colostrum provides the necessary building materials for the rapid growth of the tiny puppies, which double their weight within just 8 to 10 days. Its particularly high energy content and high-quality, easily digestible nutrients make colostrum the ideal source of energy and nutrients.
Colostrum only for Newborns?
If nature provides such a valuable potion for newborns, it is only logical that people want to use it for other life situations as well. For as long as anyone can remember, colostrum has been used in the hope of healing various ailments. Some effects were obvious – for example, breast milk soothes reddened baby skin – others could only be confirmed and explained centuries later with scientific methods. However, some of the claimed effects turned out to be superstition.
After all, it has now been proven without a doubt that many of the bioactive substances in colostrum and also the immunoglobulins survive the journey through the stomach unscathed, even in adult animals and humans. So-called glycoproteins (alpha-2 glycoprotein) in the colostrum protect them from the destructive stomach enzymes, the proteases.
The intestines of newborns are still permeable to immunoglobulins, growth factors, and other substances so that they can take effect in the organism. Although the intestinal barrier is closed in healthy adults, positive effects on intestinal health and general health have been demonstrated. Various human medical studies have found a strengthening of the body’s defenses and measured an increase in performance in athletes. In humans and animals with an impaired intestinal barrier – for example, due to chronic infections with diarrheal pathogens or autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease – it is assumed that the growth factors from colostrum can develop their tissue healing-promoting effect in a similar way to that in newborns.