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Benefits of a good quality fresh food diet
How To Select Good Food For Your Dog (whether they have sensitive stomach or not)
Some Additional Dietary Considerations
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Sensitive stomachs in dogs
When choosing pet food for your dog, whether they have sensitive stomach or not, the essential aspects to consider typically are the quality and nutrient content of the food.
This becomes difficult and complex for pet owners to manage when many diets or types of food are available on the market with very confusing ingredient lists. It becomes further difficult to pick the right food for dogs with non-specific dietary sensitivity, sensitive stomach and other gastrointestinal issues.
Unfortunately, many of our four-legged friends these days have poor gut microbial diversity, making them prone to digestive difficulties. An increasing number of pet parents visit vets each year for digestive care reasons, and are often asked to feed boiled rice and chicken to aid digestive care. That may not be the best alternative infact in many cases rice causes inflammation and can cause further damage to gastrointestinal health.
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Dietary sensitivity in dogs is a poorly understood phenomenon. For an individual dog the true abnormality is almost never determined. Food ‘allergy’ is believed to occur due to a pathological reaction where body produces excessive antibodies in response to a food allergen, in reality a very small % of dogs have any kind of allergy. But food ‘intolerance’ may be more common than food allergy and may be due to metabolic or pharmacological reaction. Common symptom of food intolerance is loose stools or diarrhea. Common causes include dietary indiscretion intaking inappropriate food such as spoiled food or human food that the dog is not accustomed to eat (for example, methylxanthines in chocolate may affect dogs.), abrupt dietary changes, or medications especially antibiotics. Dogs undergoing stress may also experience gastrointestinal disturbances that can manifest as loose stool or diarrhea. The phrase ‘food sensitivity’ is generally used when the precise pathogenetic mechanism is unknown and hence you see all the brands trying to lure you in with sensitive stomach dog food.
Self-limiting symptoms are often just cured by feeding dogs a healthy species-specific diet. But dogs with acute diarrhea exhibit a significantly lower microbial diversity compared to healthy dogs. A change in diet can help by making nutrients available to the colon that selectively nourish desirable bacteria and provide the necessary substrate to restore healthy intestinal microbial growth, thereby reducing the symptoms of diarrhea. Studies show that approximately 50% to 60% of dogs with chronic diarrhea due to inflammatory causes respond to nutritional interventions. Furthermore, scientists urge to stop giving antibiotics to dogs to treat diarrhoea as it risks the dogs developing superbugs.
Benefits of a good quality fresh food diet
When choosing between fresh or dry food, it is important to understand the different processes that the two types undergo. Compared to the commonly known dry foods, lightly cooked fresh foods are processed at relatively lower temperatures and pressures therefor retaining most of the nutrients present in the food. They also have a higher proportion of soluble fibre and fresh meats which increases the proportions of protein and fat in the food. Conversely, dry foods have higher proportions of carbohydrates and lower fat contents. Thus, a dry pet food will be made from different ingredients and through different processes than a fresh diet. As a result, there are differences in the nutrient profile of the diets and the nutrient availability to the animal, which could in turn influence the nourishment of the animal. So if a dry food brand tells you that it is appropriate as a sensitive stomach dog food then you have to take a good look at what their ingredients are and how they have been prepared.
In addition, studies have found supplementation of high-quality dog food with a canine-derived probiotic can provide benefits to gut health and stool quality in dogs with food-sensitivity or in dogs undergoing gastrointestinal stress. Studies have also shown that soluble non-fermentable fiber from vegetables such as sweet potato, squash, and pumpkin are soothing to dogs suffering digestive upset. The fiber in these veggies is what does the trick. Psyllium husk is a mixed fibre source, that has also shown to be beneficial in dogs with stress diarrhoea.
How To Select Good Food For Your Dog (whether they have sensitive stomach or not)
So the next time you think about food for your dog, there are some important considerations to keep in mind:
- Fresh or not – As mentioned before, fresh food with good quality protein and other suitable ingredients is an absolute must to support the gut of your healthy dog
- Quality of protein – Keep in mind that good quality human grade food has very high bio-availability for your pet, so think twice before you buy the offcuts from a butcher, there is a reason it is sold cheap
- Carb content – Carbs are not essential for dogs, some carbs are good as they spare protein from being used as energy. Look for food that is low in carbs and avoid any food that suggests high quantity of starch, or other carb rich fillers
- Detergent aisle – If you are picking food from a detergent aisle, think again, why is food in an aisle meant for shelf steady products
You can also browse through our products to see the quality
Some Additional considerations
Here are some additional things to think about to further improving your pet’s gut health:
Prebiotics: Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers and compounds found in certain foods that promote the activity and growth of beneficial microorganisms (such as bacteria) in the digestive system. Sources – Flaxseed, asparagus, banan etc
Probiotics: Probiotics are live microorganisms, typically bacteria or yeast, that confer health benefits to the host (usually humans) when consumed in adequate amounts. They can be found in fermented foods like yogurt.
Postbiotics: Postbiotics refer to the byproducts or metabolic substances produced by probiotics during their fermentation process. Postbiotics can be present in fermented foods or extracted and used as supplements.
Maintaining a balance of these components can contribute to a healthy and well-functioning digestive system. However, it's essential to note that the field of microbiota and gut health is continuously evolving, and research may uncover new insights in the future. We also recommend alternating between a variety of food sources to improve your pup's gut biodiversity.
All of these aid the development of gastrointestinal diversity and could be vital supplements to dog food you are feeding.
In conclusion choose fresh and species appropriate food for your dogs. Remember food that costs less today might cost you more later.For a comprehensive guide on how much to feed your pup, read the dog food chart here .
At Brunswick Fur Food, we specialise in gently cooked, well balanced, nutritious dog food, that gets delivered to your doorstep for convenience. If you would like to talk to us about anything, please reach out. We have tested our recipes on sensitive tummies and passed with flying colours.
