When it comes to your pet’s health, the gut really can’t be overstated. It plays many roles including defending them from pathogens and toxins, helping them process essential nutrients, and sending signals to organs throughout your pet’s body. You can read more about what a hard worker it is here.
The microbiome is also highly responsive to your pet’s environment, behaviors, exposures and stress levels. That means that however diligent you are with your WellJoy™ supplements, there’s a world of other elements positively and negatively affecting their gut health. And you might be surprised by some of them….
Things that impact your pet’s gut health
1. Enthusiastically drinking from puddles
Dog Loyalists will know the struggle: at home, a clean bowl of water awaits, but still your dog prefers to lap from a muddy puddle in the park.
To understand why, we have to get into the mindset of a dog and that incredible nose they rely on. Puddles smell “interesting”, and taste different to the boring old tap water they’ve got back at home. The downside is that puddles often harbor harmful bacteria and protozoa, as well as runoff contaminants. While they’re gulping down puddle water, they’re also receiving an influx of unfamiliar microbes that can temporarily disrupt their microbiome and cause diarrhea or soft stools.
2. Deciding that grass is delicious
Grass-eating isn’t inherently bad. In fact some pet stores sell grasses like oat, wheat or barley grass specifically for cats to enjoy at home.
There’s a world of reasons your pet might be chomping on a mouthful of greenery, including curiosity, texture preference or sheer boredom. In some cases, they may be feeling mild nausea and trying to induce vomiting (this is particularly the case for cats). Bear in mind, however, that grasses can be contaminated with pesticides or fertilizer which can irritate your pet’s GI tract.
3. Dining out on soil
This is one of those behaviors that can be both beneficial and disruptive. A small amount of soil can actually enrich your pet’s microbial diversity (that’s one reason outdoor environments can be good for immune development).
However, watch out for your pet eating large amounts, which can introduce parasites like roundworm eggs, hookworm larvae, or cause vomiting and diarrhea.
4. Recovering from a course of antibiotics
Antibiotics can work miracles in helping your pet recover from infections. However, in the process of killing the bad bacteria they also remove the good bacteria. This can put your pet into a state of temporary dysbiosis and increase susceptibility to GI upset for weeks or months afterwards.
We’ve put together a guide on supporting your pet post-antibiotics, which includes three simple steps for getting their microbiome back to full power again.
5. Drinking or eating from unwashed bowls
Pets’ bowls very quickly accumulate a biofilm: a sticky layer of bacteria that can harbor opportunistic bacteria that your pet then ingests. Occasional exposure is ok, but long-term ingestion can alter your pet’s microbiome and cause intermittent soft stools – especially in seniors or immunocompromised pets.
If you’re feeding your pet a raw food diet, or using plastic bowls, then it’s even more important to dutifully wash those bowls every single day. Your pet will (silently) thank you.
6. Interacting with other pets
Having fellow cat friends or dog friends to interact with enriches your pet’s life, supporting their emotional health and reducing stress. Though while they’re playing, or cuddling, or chasing one another, they’re also swapping bacteria. That tennis ball your dogs are arguing over? The social and mutual grooming your cats are doing? That water bowl in the pet store? All sources of bacteria.
Usually, they’re harmless and can even strengthen your pet’s microbiome. However stressful events like boarding your pet or taking them to a busy dog park can lead to temporary gut disruption.
7. Eating a lot, or things they’re not used to
The microbial balance in the gut can be disrupted if your pet’s eating a lot of foods they’re not used to, or have somehow got their paws on an extra-large meal or bag of treats. This sudden influx of food can cause good bacteria to be overwhelmed by new substrates or fats, and in turn your pet’s system can respond with inflammation or dysbiosis.
It’s not possible to control every aspect of your cat or dog’s life, but you can set them up for the best possible gut health with a WellJoy treat or supplement. Every bite of WellJoy contains GutBoost®: our unique biotic blend created to improve their overall gut health to power up the other important ingredients in each formula. Even better, our treats and supplements have pet-approved recipes, so they taste good while they’re doing good.
We’re proud to say that all of WellJoy’s content is fact-checked and verified by a Pet Loyalist team, including a veterinarian trained in companion animal nutrition and a PhD board-certified companion animal nutritionist.