A GUIDE TO HEALTHY TUMMIES FOR DOGS
Apr 29, 2024 6:28:35 AM
Having a healthy digestive system is so much more important than just ensuring your dog has firm stools and less flatulence!
Every single cell in a dog’s body requires nutrition for its creation and survival. The digestive system, essentially, is designed to extract the nutrients from food, deliver them to where they are needed and remove any waste.
WHAT IS A MICROBIOME?
The gut microbiome is like an eco-system in your dog’s tummy, made up of bacteria, microorganisms and viruses that all live in the gastrointestinal tract. They all work together to create the best environment for nutrients to be absorbed into your dog’s body.
For example, bacteria in your dog’s gut produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) that nourish the intestinal wall, while the intestinal wall produces mucus that feeds beneficial bacteria.
A healthy gut microbiome helps with metabolic functions, protects against bad bacteria & microorganisms and supports the immune system, ensuring overall health and vitality.
WHAT HELPS KEEP THE MICROBIOME HEALTHY?
Like any eco-system, by including ingredients that provide nutrients that thrive in the gut and help support the environment, the microbiome will flourish.
These ingredients include dietary fibre, prebiotics and probiotics.
WHAT IS DIETARY FIBRE?
Fibre comes in two types, insoluble and soluble. Fibre is beneficial to help food move through the digestive system.
Insoluble fibre acts as a bulk within the digestive system which helps the movement of food through it. This needs to be slow enough to allow for the nutrients in food to be absorbed but not so slow to cause constipation. It also adds bulk and moisture to stools which benefits the colon.
Soluble fibre, such as fructoligosaccharides (FOS) and mannanoligosaccharides (MOS) can improve the health of the digestive tract by providing food for beneficial (friendly) bacteria. However, not all fermentable fibres have a prebiotic effect.
Our Trophy recipes include beet pulp and vegetables which, along with many other great benefits, provide excellent sources of fibre.
WHAT ARE PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS?
Prebiotics basically feed the beneficial (friendly) bacteria in the gut.
- Fructoligosaccharides (FOS) break down under the effect of bacteria which releases short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) that nourishes the intestinal wall, while the intestinal wall produces mucus that feeds beneficial bacteria. This helps stop the development of bad bacteria which improves digestive health.
- Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS) are the superstars of prebiotics! These yeast fibres are beneficial to the dog’s tummy in two ways. Firstly, they prevent the development of bad bacteria by stopping them attaching to the gut wall and secondly, they directly help the effectiveness of the dog’s immune system.
All our Trophy Super Premium dry recipes contain both FOS and MOS and our wet recipes include FOS.
Probiotics are the friendly bacteria in the dog’s gut. Adding them into your dog’s diet ‘tops up’ the existing friendly bacteria. By rapidly growing the number of friendly bacteria, probiotics can populate the microbiome and push out the bad bacteria.
THE AMAZING YUCCA
You will notice that all our Trophy recipes, both dry and wet, include an ingredient called Yucca. Yucca is a plant andcontains many benefits. It is high in antioxidants and acts as a prebiotic, which feeds the friendly bacteria in your dog’s tummy. Its main feature is that it contains special compounds which are natural detergents that help decrease stool odour.
Trophy Digestive Aid
Digestive Aid contains a blend of natural herbs renowned for their nutritional support of the digestive system which may be beneficial to dogs that have ‘delicate tummies’ and suffer from digestive upsets, stomach, or bowel problems. Many of the queries we get on the Trophy Care Line relate to the dog's diet and are always digestion and bowel related. We advise switching to one of our Trophy Super Premium dog foods and adding this wonderful herbal blend to the dog's food.
For further information on which Trophy recipe would suit your dog, especially if they have a sensitive tummy, please contact your local Trophy Nutritional Advisor.
The Role of the Canine Gut Microbiome and Metabolome in Health and Gastrointestinal Disease: Rachel Pilla* and Jan S. Suchodolski
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