Could Dog Leaky Gut Be The Problem?
Leaky Gut Causes & Problems
Leaky Gut is more common than you may think with your dogs and cats. Your pets need a Healthy Digestive system for nutrient absorption and overall wellness and this is why we focus on “Gut Health”. Most of you have heard about and experienced some form of “Leaky Gut”, right? It is no different for your pets. Poor gut health like dog leaky gut leads to conditions like allergies, IBS/IBD, food sensitivities, autoimmunity, Kidney and Liver disease, Pancreatitis, Atopic Dermatitis, behavioral issues, etc.
Let me Tell You About Gracie and her Dog Leaky Gut
Baby Grace
Gracie is a pitbull mix that came to us from the streets of Texas. What a bundle of energy she was and still is! That was expected with a puppy, but what we weren’t completely prepared for were significant bouts of watery stool, bloody hot spots and overall skin sensitivity. “Image of hot spot” This mostly seemed to happen after her first visit to our vet where she got her last puppy round of vaccinations as well as deworming. We were going back and forth between the old standby of “chicken and rice” with “high quality dog food”. Every time she went back to the dog food so continued the loose stool.
Hot spot on tail
Have you ever experienced this or something similar? You think you have itching or diarrhea under control and it just keeps coming back? Well, just like us, we need to do more than address the symptoms. Vets can address many of the symptoms with pharmaceuticals as well as many herbs and supplements, but that is only temporary unless your pet stays on them for a very long time and possibly forever. What we need to do is get to the root cause and that usually means that we need to heal the “leaky gut“!
Leaky Gut
What Steps Did we Take to Address her Dog Leaky Gut?
We already know that disease begins in the gut for dogs and cats as well as us humans. With that knowledge, I focused on supporting Gracies digestion by healing leaky gut AND improving her detoxification:
-
Removing irritants including stressors where possible.
-
- This includes removing foods she is sensitive or allergic to. Removing any potential anti-nutrients like low quality grains or legumes or additives. Making sure her environment is free from excessive toxins like room or carpet deodorizers, cleaners, shampoos, etc.
-
Making her food at home to control ingredients and quality.
-
- So important to give her nutrient rich food that is easy to digest. This also means being able to control what proteins, fats, and carbs are used to not irritate further the gut. Image of food
-
Providing her with some gut healing herbs / supplements.
-
- This involved some bone broth, slow cooked food, probiotics (restore microbiome), Omega 3 fish oil (anti-inflammatory), and a couple supplements / herbs to support deeper gut healing and detoxification.
-
Regular exercise and fresh air.
-
- I know..sounds pretty obvious, right? This means doing what we can to make sure she is not consuming a bunch of toxins on our walks. Not always easy to do when she has nose to ground so often! TIP: Keep your dog or your cat, if out walking, off of beautifully green lawns with no weeds. Yup, most likely full of pesticides and fertilizers that contribute to leaky gut.
What’s Gracie up to now?
The Original Crock Pet for Gracie
Gracie showed significant improvement with these changes. She is no longer on a specific gut support protocol, just real food & a couple basic supplements. It doesn’t mean that we just go back to the old way of doing things. We continue to cook for her and take notice if any of those old symptoms start popping up. We rotate the protein and the vegetables in her meals so she is getting a variety of nutrients. I can tell you that the one version I made with cabbage did produce a little more gas….more on “The Original Crock Pet Diet” in another article.
Love your dog with the best nutrition
Putting the time in now can help reduce the chances of more significant chronic dis-ease down the road. Continuing to make food may prove to be too much for larger dogs, but a great way to get started on healing the gut. There are other solutions out there to support real food nutrition and we will find what is right for your dog or cat. Our pets are bio-individual just like us and there is no one food or food plan that will support everyone. Reach out to me with questions or if you want to get started, set up an initial session. I’m here to help you help your dog or cat stay healthy or get back on the path to wellness.
Don’t Let Chronic Disease be the Norm!
Chronic disease is prevalent in our dogs and cats today and is only getting worse. Check out this pubmed study: Disease prevalence among dogs and cats in the United States and Australia and proportions of dogs and cats that receive therapeutic diets or dietary supplements.
It is a survey that looks at reported health, disease, and diet or supplements. What I found most interesting was that more people reported their pets as “healthy” even though they have a disease diagnosis. While I agree that we want to be as healthy as possible regardless of so called “diagnoses”, I also think it has become way to “normal” to have a pet with one or more chronic disease diagnoses.
Let’s help our pets heal from the inside out so they can live healthy and long lives.