Understanding Your Pet’s Gut Health – Getting the Balance Right

Digestive problems are one of the most common reasons for bringing your pet in to see one of our vets. For many dogs and cats, this may be a one-off episode, often caused by a sudden dietary change, scavenging, or a virus. However, for other pets, food intolerances and chronic illnesses mean signs of digestive issues, such as diarrhoea, are a frequent occurrence.

Diarrhoea and loose stools are one of the most easily recognisable signs that your pet’s gut is not happy. But do not despair, there are ways to help your pet and improve their gut health.

What is a healthy digestive system?

Until now, you may have thought that the digestive system’s sole purpose is to break down food and provide the body with energy.  However, a healthy digestive system has many additional roles, including protecting your pet from illnesses.

You may be surprised to discover that the digestive system plays an essential role in providing immunity, as 70% of the body’s immune cells (the cells that fight infection and keep your pet healthy) are found within the gut. In addition, the health of your pet’s gut can affect the health of the skin, kidneys, lungs and brain, so improving your pet’s gut health can improve their overall health.

But how does the gut perform these roles?

The gut relies on the microbiome

Similar to the skin and other body systems, such as the respiratory tract, the entire length of your pet’s digestive tract is lined with thousands of microscopic living organisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi. This colony of tiny organisms is the microbiome. It works together to protect the gut from infection, plays a key role in digestion and helps keep the gut in optimal condition.

Why is a healthy microbiome important?

The highly diverse nature of a healthy microbiome is essential for it to be able to carry out each of its functions, including:

• Digestion
• Producing vitamins, including vitamin K, D and B12
• Ensuring a healthy gut lining is maintained – The gut lining is replaced every few days
• Protecting against harmful bacteria – The microbiome competes with harmful bacteria for nutrients and prevents them from having the space to establish themselves in the gut
• Provides immunity

However, the microbiome is finely balanced and sensitive to changes, so any disruption (dysbiosis) in the population of microorganisms can have significant effects on the ability of the gut to function and the overall health of other body systems.

Development of the microbiome

Puppies and kittens are born with an immature microbiome that is thought to start developing in the uterus before birth. The microbiome continues colonising the gut during and after birth, so it is influenced by the mother’s microbiome, the environment, and people and animals that the puppy or kitten meets. This means your pet’s microbiome is unique.

Disrupting the gut microbiome

Unfortunately, it is easy to upset the balance of the microbiome, and this will negatively affect your pet’s gut health, causing your pet to suffer from signs of excessive gas, loose stools, diarrhoea, or vomiting. It can even affect your pet’s skin and cause generalised lethargy (quietness).

Common causes of disruption to the gut microbiome include:

• Antibiotics.
• A sudden dietary change – either through suddenly changing your pet’s diet or through scavenging.
• Stressful events – This could be bringing your puppy or kitten home for the first time or sending your pet to a kennels or cattery when you go on holiday.
• An underlying illness affecting your pet’s gut health.

Antibiotics and your pet’s gut microbiome

Antibiotics are important, lifesaving medications and are vital for treating bacterial infections. However, antibiotics do have a negative effect on your pet’s gut. Antibiotics work by killing the bacteria that are causing your pet to be unwell. However, antibiotics cannot distinguish between harmful bacteria and the bacteria that make up the microbiome, so alongside treating harmful bacteria they also disrupt the microbiome, causing dysbiosis.

After a course of antibiotics, it can take a long time for the microbiome to recover and, in the meantime, it can leave your pet vulnerable to other infections. So, to protect your pet’s gut health, it is important that antibiotics are only used when necessary. Our vets will also usually advise feeding a probiotic supplement alongside antibiotics to help restore the microbiome and prevent disruption.

Should I be worried about antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for both vets and doctors, as harmful bacteria develop ways to survive antibiotic treatment, so treatments that used to be effective no longer work. This reduces the options available to treat infections. Bacterial infections [JW1] can also be spread between pets and people, causing illness in people that may also be difficult to treat.

To protect your pet’s health and to preserve antibiotics for when your pet needs them, our vets will only prescribe antibiotics to your dog or cat when it will benefit them. They may first recommend tests to identify the cause of your pet’s illness or to advise alternative treatments. The reduced use of antibiotics will also help protect your pet’s gut health.

How can I improve my pet’s gut health?

There are things you can do to help keep your pet’s digestive system healthy and reduce the risk of a digestive upset.

• Keep your pet’s diet consistent – Make any changes to your pet’s diet gradually over 10 days.
• Only use antibiotics when needed – Antibiotics can have a significant impact on the health of your pet’s gut, so only give medications that have been prescribed by one of our vets and follow the instructions carefully. Our vets may also prescribe probiotics at the same time to help support your pet’s gut.
• Keep your pet stress-free – If stressful events cannot be avoided e.g. vet visits or a kennel or cattery stay, then speak to one of our team about adding a probiotic supplement to your pet’s diet to try and prevent digestive problems developing.
• Add a prebiotics supplement to your pet’s diet for optimal gut health – Prebiotics help support the gut’s microbiome and keep it healthy.

Digestive issues are unpleasant for your pet, so if they can be avoided by protecting your pet’s gut health, not only will your pet be happier, but you will be improving your pet’s general health. Our supportive team are always happy to answer your questions about your pet’s gut health and help reassure you about any concerns you may have, so you can keep your pet in the best possible health.