One of the more common ailments your dog can suffer from are gut issues. As scavenging carnivores, a dog’s digestive system developed to consume meat and other kinds of foods such as fruits, so they could survive on what they could find in the wild. However, there are some things that cause problems, especially grains.
The problem is, many commercial foods actually contain grain of some kind, and without knowing, your dog can be eating things that are not good for them. This leads to gut problems, causing your pet to have issues digesting food properly or have bacteria growth and other issues inside their guts. Mostly this will produce minor problems, but you want to avoid even that for your dog, and despite being minor, it can be very difficult to get rid of some of these problems. Dogs have been known to develop diarrhea, and then suffer from it for years before it clears up.
With that in mind, knowing the best approach to restore gut health can save your dog from a lot of problems, here is our 4-step approach to getting back to normal.
1. Make sure there are no grains in your dog’s diet
One of the more common causes of gut problems is grains, so it makes sense that if you want to solve gut health issues, first make sure that your dog is not still eating grains. Otherwise, the problem will just keep returning.
Many studies have been carried out on the effect of grains on dogs, and many suggest that dogs can digest grain. However, there is a difference between being able to do something, and it being a good idea. Many vets agree that grain can cause dogs problems and that removing grain from a dog’s diet shows improvement in gut health.
2. A good diet with raw foods
Long term, a good diet will keep your dog’s gut in balance and healthy. Raw food, in particular, contains the microbes and nutrients that a dog’s intestines need, as they were designed to receive in the wild. Of course, with raw food, care should be taken, as with our own bodies, raw foods need to be stored properly to avoid issues.
A nice balance of good-quality food with a raw bone or plenty of raw fruit offer plenty of the goodness your dog needs to restore their healthy gut.
3. Probiotics
Many foods can be a great source of probiotics, which really help the gut. In particular, fermented vegetables, raw goats’ milk or live yogurts are foods your dog will happily eat. Probiotics help combat harmful bacteria within the gut, along with providing protection against viruses and fungi. In addition, probiotics promote nutrient absorption, making sure that whatever food your dog has, they are able to get the most goodness from it.
However, for many, a more reliable way to ensure a dog’s diet contains enough probiotics is to use a supplement. As with every supplement out there, the choice is endless, with varying quality and effectiveness. Our high quality 15 in 1 Multi Chews will support your dog with all the necessary probiotics and vitamins.
For your dog, an easy to take supplement can be a much more easily managed way to ensure that they get the balanced diet they need to restore gut health, and importantly, maintain it. With the additional help from probiotics, the balance needed for a healthy gut can be achieved more quickly, while inclusion their diet will help ensure they don’t have issues again. Supplements such as Alpha Paw 15 in 1 Multi Chews or Alpha Paw Allergy Chews certainly help restore gut health, but it will give you peace of mind for your dog once healthy again as well.
4. A Happy Dog
While up to now we have focused on the dietary needs that can restore gut health, there is another area to focus on. Having gut problems can affect your dog’s mood, causing stress, but stress itself can also be the cause of gut issues itself. That means, if your dog gets stressed then any gut problems are going to get worse, and so taking steps to relieve stress is another very important part of getting your dog’s gut back to health.
There are many approaches to destressing dogs, one of the most common is within everyone’s reach, and that is to simply provide them with more exercise. There are other benefits too, a stressed dog can become difficult to live with, more exercise or other measures get your loving, happy dog back again and keeps them healthy. More exercise is one of those situations where there are only upsides.
Summary
In terms of the mechanics of how their digestive systems work, and how to maintain a healthy gut, dogs have a lot in common with ourselves. In that respect, a good, balanced diet that includes the nutrients and vitamins the body needs is the same approach for your dog’s gut problems as you would take yourself.
Avoiding grains will help prevent gut problems to begin with, but it is also an important part of recovery as well, and it can bring some relief from symptoms very quickly. Of course, being stress-free matters to your dog as much as you too, and for any dog, being happy is an important part of being healthy.
Finally, having a good-quality, effective source of probiotics can help restore gut health and maintain it. Alpha Paw 15 in 1 Multi Chews and Alpha Paw Allergy Chews provide a range of probiotic enzymes that help maintain the essential balance inside your dog’s gut that is vital for long-term health.
All of these things together will restore your dog’s gut health, but that should never be the end of the journey. Through probiotics and a healthier, balanced diet free from grains, you can ensure that your dog lives a happy life free from git problems in the future too.
