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    • Healthy Diets
      • Choosing A Dog Food
        • Choosing the best high-quality kibble dog food
        • You’re feeding your dog wrong! 10 Reasons why you are feeding your dog the wrong way
        • Choosing treats for a dog with a sensitive stomach: 7 rules of thumb
        • Feeding your dog: How much, how often, and what you should feed your dog
        • How to read dog and cat food labels like a pro
        • Essential Tips for Choosing Dog Food for Small Dogs & Puppies
        • 10 Things Every Pet Owner Must Avoid In Their Dogs Food
      • Homemade Diets
        • What to avoid when making your homemade treats
        • Choose the best flour for your homemade dog treats
        • Bone Broth for dogs: What you need to know!
        • 7 rules of thumb when making your pets treats
        • 13 Binders to use in your homemade dog treats
      • Grain-Free Diets
        • The link between grain-free diets and DCM
      • Raw Food Diet
        • Article Review: How a raw diet affects the feline gastrointestinal tract
        • Feeding your cat a homemade or raw diet? You should know about these 3 deficiencies
        • How a Raw Food or BARF Diet Affects Your Dogs Microbiome
        • Five reasons your vet doesn’t agree with raw diets
        • How a Raw Food or BARF Diet Affects Your Dogs Microbiome
    • Healthy Treats
      • Choosing treats for a dog with a sensitive stomach: 7 rules of thumb
      • What to avoid when making your homemade treats
    • Holistic Health
      • Adaptogens & Nootropics: biohacking your dog
      • Dogs & Vitamins: Do dogs need them? Vitamin Deficiencies in dogs
    • Chia Seeds
      • The Benefits & Hazards of Feeding Your Dog Chia Seeds
      • Chia Seeds & Dogs: Which dogs benefit the most from chia seeds?
    • Flax Seed
      • Is Flax Seed Safe To Feed Dogs?: 8 Things to Keep in Mind
      • Flax Seeds & Dogs: Can My dog have flax seeds?
  • Gut Health
    • Probiotics
      • 4 All Natural Probiotics for Dogs we Love
      • How to choose the best probiotic for your dog
      • The pro’s & con’s of giving probiotics to dogs with pancreatitis
    • Microbiome
      • How a Raw Food or BARF Diet Affects Your Dogs Microbiome
      • Your pets microbiome & 4 things you can do to keep it healthy
      • Your pets microbiome & 4 things you can do to keep it healthy
    • 16 Holiday Foods that Can Harm Your Dog or Cat
  • Digestive Issues
    • Camping with a dog that has digestive issues
    • IBD & IBS
      • What’s the big difference between IBS & IBD?
      • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
      • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
      • IBD in Dogs
        • FMT: Could this be the cure for your dogs IBD?
        • Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) in dogs, important things you need to know
        • FMT: Could this be the cure for your dogs IBD?
        • Budesonide or Prednisone, finding the best treatment for IBD in your dog?
    • Diarrhea In Dogs
      • 6 Things to do when your dog has diarrhea
      • 7 safe over the counter medications for diarrhea & vomiting in dogs
      • 13 Foods that can help if your dog has diarrhea or vomiting
      • Chronic Diarrhea in Dogs: 7 Questions your vet will ask
    • Pancreatitis
      • Pancreatitis in Cats
      • Pancreatitis in Dogs
        • Pancreatitis in dogs: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment
        • Best Petco treats for dogs with chronic pancreatitis
        • How to comfort a dog with pancreatitis at home
        • What a veterinarian feeds her dog with pancreatitis
        • Camostat mesilate as a treatment of canine pancreatitis
        • The pro’s & con’s of giving probiotics to dogs with pancreatitis
        • 6 Possible Complications of Pancreatitis
        • Pancreatitis in Pets: Pet safety during the holidays
        • What Dogs are more Prone to Pancreatitis
        • 8 healthy low-fat natural treats for dogs with chronic pancreatitis
    • 5 things you should always have on hand if your dog has a chronic intestinal disease
  • Food Allergies
    • Chicken Allergies In Dogs: The Ultimate Guide
    • The differences between food intolerances and food allergies in dogs and cats
  • Diet Therapy
    • Feeding For Arthritis
      • What to look for in a quality joint-support dog food
      • Types of arthritis in dogs & how food can help
      • Arthritis in dogs: how the dog gut microbiome affects arthritis
      • How food can help prevent or delay arthritis in dogs
      • Arthritis in Dogs: 10 important ingredients in a joint supplement
      • The top joint Supplements to stop arthritis pain in dogs
    • Common inherited diseases in Golden Retrievers and how food can help

Your pets microbiome & 4 things you can do to keep it healthy

cat eating wheat grass microbiome healthy pets

A dog or cats microbiome is composed of communities of bacteria (and viruses and fungi) which live all over the body, but primarily in the gut. It is responsible for an extensive array of functions, including development of immunity, pathogenic defense and of course securing adequate nutrition. The microbiome is basically a mini-ecosystem which is extremely important in the well being of your pet. It is so important that it is sometimes called the “forgotten organ”.

One of the major functions of the microbiome is to support the immune system through working closely with the GALT or gut-associated lymphoid tissue in the gut. The GALT is actually a mucus membrane that lines the intestinal tract and with your pets microbiome makes up over 80% of the immune system!

A healthy gut can house at hundreds if not thousands of different species of bacteria; but a pets microbiome is not static and can change depending on what it eats and its environment.

Think of the microbiome as a little army inside your pets (and your) body. When they are compromised or killed off the bad guys are able to come in and basically destroy whatever they want.

The diversity and numbers of microbes can be affected by multiple factors including infection, stress, nutrition, disease and of course antibiotic use.

If the beneficial bacteria are wiped out or greatly diminished for some reason and bad or pathogenic bacteria are allowed to flourish this can wreak havoc on your pets GI and immune system. You will then start to see diseases such as IBD, diarrhea, weight changes, dullness of coat and Dysbiosis.

Here are four things you can do to ensure your pets microbiome remains in tact and full of healthy bacteria

Feed Healthy Foods

Avoid genetically modified foods, foods high in preservatives and artificial flavors. It is best to feed whole and fresh foods even if you have to add some to your dogs kibble. Some pet owners even go as far as feeding raw food which has been shown to increase the bacteria in your pets microbiome, you can read about that in this article.

Feed Pre and Probiotics

Probiotics are full of beneficial bacteria. Make sure to research high quality probiotics that are free of fillers and artificial junk, if you are looking for some great natural choices you can read our article about four that we think are great.

Probiotics will help restore your pets microbiome so definitely administer them if your fur baby is on any type of antibiotic. Many owners find pellets easier to administer than powder, but of course see what works best for your pet.

Another great way to add probiotics is to give fermented foods like plain low-fat yogurt or kefir. Most pets love them and a small amount usually goes a long way. Of course you will want to discuss this with your vet first to get an appropriate dose.

Always make sure you give a prebiotic or that your probiotic comes with a prebiotic. Read more about choosing a good probiotic for your pet here.

Avoid Killing Off Beneficial Bacteria

This goes without saying but sometimes we may not be aware of how our choices affect our pets microbiome. Chemicals such as pesticides on the grass can cause a plethora of issues including killing off your pets microbiome, so for those of us that have pets that are perpetual grass eaters make sure to lay off the pesticides. Seek out natural alternatives whenever you can.

While there will be times antibiotics can not be avoided, you will want to quickly replenish your pets microbiome with probiotics. Antibiotics wipe out beneficial and pathogenic bacteria so it may be necessary to add them back into your pets intestinal system.

Destress

There’s a reason our guts are deemed a ‘second brain’ because there is something to be said about the gut brain connection. Stress can cause your pet to have a decrease in beneficial microbial population and alter the regulation of neurotransmitters mediated by the microbiome.

TOP FOUR PROBIOTIC PICKS FOR 2020

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROBIOTIC FOR YOUR DOG

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