Food Sensitivities & the Microbiome
Does your pet have a sensitive tummy? Do they tend to throw up when stressed or if some food doesn’t suit them?
Then you most likely have an imbalanced gut flora on your hands.
If this is the case the best thing you can do is help your pet heal themselves instead of reaching for medication which would just prolong the problem and make your pet drug dependent eventually.
A sensitive tummy in most cases can be traced back to an imbalance in the diet - but the upside is no one has to feed perfectly, you just have to make sure to feed the animal what it needs.
A healthy body can deal with challenges and a wholesome diet can involve some guilty pleasures!
The most important thing to keep in mind is to feed your pet's gut microbiome - if that is well, then your pet will be healthy and resilient.
You might have heard the word Microbiome before - microbiome are the little organisms keeping your pet’s gut healthy and helping to fulfill bodily functions and processes.
The Microbiome is made up of trillions of tiny organisms inside your dog’s mouth, respiratory tract and intestines. The bacteria, antibodies and fungi in the microbiome outnumber your pets own cells by ten times!
These organisms are not our enemy, they are our treasure of immunity and health. Keeping the microbiome in balance means healthy digestion, means a healthy pet.
These bacteria not only defend your pets body from anything harmful, be it viruses, bad bacteria or other pathogens - they also metabolize chemicals, manufacture vitamins and other nutrients from the food you feed, fight any intruders, regulate the hormonal balance and in general keep immunity in check.
So… how do they do it?
The friendly bacteria actually form little colonies to get work done together.
If these colonies are thriving, then your pet will be resistant to harmful bacteria and parasites entering the body.
Here’s an example of the superpowers of a healthy microbiome:
Let’s say your pet gets bitten by a tick carrying Lyme bacteria or gets into the trash and eats rotting meat with salmonella or other viruses - these harmful, pathogenic bacteria will enter your dog or cat.
Bacteria are living beings so they need food and resources to live.
If your pet is well fed and healthy, there are trillions of friendly bacteria already in the gut. The friendly bacteria will compete for resources with the harmful bacteria, starving the bad bacteria and keeping your pet healthy. The good bacteria even protect your dog from fungi like yeast as well as parasites in the gut!
That means if the microbiome is well, you do not have to worry about anything entering your pets system because the microbiome will clear anything that isn't supposed to be there.
If you feed your pet processed foods and grains though - be it Rice or Kibble or Bread - that harms the microbiome and makes it weak because the dog and cat's digestive system is not meant to consume those types of foods. Starchy Foods like that get converted to Sugar in the body and they feed the unwanted Yeast and other damaging bacteria in the gut, helping them thrive.
If the gut bacteria or microbiome is imbalanced and there aren’t enough good bacteria, this is known as Dysbiosis. In this situation, your pet will be more prone to disease and infections as their defense mechanisms will not function as needed to fight off the harmful bacteria.
We will talk more about the Gut Lining and what Dysbiosis is, as well as how to heal it in the next blog!
If you are looking at some Food from us to help your pets sensitive gut here are a few suggestions:
Green Tripe either Goat or Beef, Happy Gut Powder, Cell Shield, G.I. Booster and Gold Dust are each helpful in their own way - send us a mail at consultation@canineindia.in if you need help figuring out which foods would best support your furries system!
Just remember: the only thing to heal your pet is to feed wholesome, real food that is species appropriate.
