Have you ever thought about giving your dog pre and probiotics ? If not, i hope after reading this you may give it consideration.
75-80% of healing begins in the gut. We have a microboime that lives in the gut that feeds our entire body. Our immune system, our nervous system, signals to the brain, our absorption of vital vitamins and minerals all come from the gut. In the gut we have good and bad bacteria. Ideally we need more good bacteria to keep the bad bacteria at bay. If the bad bacteria is more present, then we become ill, have inflammation issues, upset tummies, auto immune problems, all illnesses related to bad bacteria. So the idea is, if we flood the tummy with good bacteria, it will keep the bad bacteria at bay. You will always have bad bacteria present, that is the way things are, but the more good bacteria you have, the more resistance you have in your system to prevent many health issues.
This is not only relevant to ourselves, but also our dogs. You can buy pre and probiotic supplements which so many are readily available now. But they are expensive to buy and supply, especially if you have a giant breed and multiple giant breeds ! So the best way to give your dog the goodness he or she needs is by adding things into their diet. You want to add pre and probiotic food as the prebiotics feed the probiotics so these work together to make the good bacteria more efficient.
The ways pre and probiotics can help your dogs is with ear problems, itchy ears, yeasty ears, anal glands, scooting, eating grass becomes less. Unpleasant wind. Helps with diarrhea. If they have arthritis, it may help with that due to its inflammatory properties. It helps heal skin issues due to its immune building properties. So many benefits for so little effort.
Some of the foods we feed here on a daily basis are seaweed which is a prebiotic, Manuka honey which not only is prebiotic but also is anti fungal, anti bacterial, helps with inflammation and allergies. Apple, which is another prebiotic, ours have half an apple one day and then half a banana the next day with banana being a prebiotic. They have a baked sweet potato which is a prebiotic. They have natural yogurt three times a week which is probiotic and also at least 5 days a week homemade sauerkraut which is one of the best probiotics you can give your dog and yourself ! All things are given in moderation. A large teaspoon of sauerkraut. Half an apple one day, half a banana the next etc
This now leads me onto something which i make that needs its own space. Kefir, which is fermented milk. I make my own Kefir which is really simple and this is a probiotic that they have every day. Kefir has been around for thousands of years and is one of the oldest fermented foods. But in terms of goodness and health benefits, it is the most powerful and effective of any food around. In comparison say to yogurt that may have 9 strains of good live bacteria, Kefir has over 30 types of good bacteria. Having 30-50 friendly strains of bacteria not found in yogurt. It has billions of good bacteria that stay within the gut for a lot longer than any other food and feeds the gut with much more good bacteria. It helps improve digestion, reduces and can eliminate allergies, can reduce the cold and flu virus, treats yeast infections, is as effective as a antibiotic without the side effects, treats inflammation, treats diarrhea, helps repair leaky gut, helps balance IBS, and promotes well being. There was a study done where they had a glass of Kefir and they put the nasty stomach bacteria of salmonella in to see what would happen. The Kefir cured the salmonella and no traces were found in the jar. It didn't work on E-coli but shows you the power of the good bacteria present in Kefir. I can also vouch for this working as one of my own girls got an upset tummy. She was sick quite bad twice. I had only just started using Kefir at this point, but i gave her Kefir, cottage cheese and sweet potato and she was really not well that morning and all of a sudden, she just picked up and changed. She was back to health by the afternoon, no sickness at all. I put it down to the fact that i feed so many foods rich in good bacteria that she had all that good bacteria ready to fight against the bad bacteria so the bad bacteria didn't take hold for very long at all. The good bacteria was stronger.
The studies that have been done with Kefir show how amazing this food is. It really is the gold star of all foods. My dogs go crazy for it and it is so simple to make. You can find videos on youtube how to make it, but the goodness my dogs are getting from this amazing food is the best yet. Seeing them go mad for it, even better. If you don't do the pre and probiotic foods i have mentioned, at least try the Kefir. You can buy it in the supermarket, but it costs so little to make and the effort is minimal. You just buy the grains and you feed them milk every day. Leave them. The grains feed on the sugar in the milk and it turns it into a soured milk and then it is ready. You have a pourable yogurt at the end of it and a jar of billions of good bacteria that will do you and your dogs the power of good. I look at it this way, the more we do to look after our dogs health, the longer we hopefully have them and the more we keep them away from the vets, the better it is for us all. So by adopting some new measures to look after their gut health which in turn, looks after their immune system, the nervous system, anything that is inflamed, adding too it has even shown reports that it helps with chronic bronchitis. It heals you from within so with that in mind, what have you got to lose ?
A lady i follow on youtube is Donna Schwenk. She has videos and podcasts galore and will give lots of information about Kefir and fermented foods and their benefits.
75-80% of healing begins in the gut. We have a microboime that lives in the gut that feeds our entire body. Our immune system, our nervous system, signals to the brain, our absorption of vital vitamins and minerals all come from the gut. In the gut we have good and bad bacteria. Ideally we need more good bacteria to keep the bad bacteria at bay. If the bad bacteria is more present, then we become ill, have inflammation issues, upset tummies, auto immune problems, all illnesses related to bad bacteria. So the idea is, if we flood the tummy with good bacteria, it will keep the bad bacteria at bay. You will always have bad bacteria present, that is the way things are, but the more good bacteria you have, the more resistance you have in your system to prevent many health issues.
This is not only relevant to ourselves, but also our dogs. You can buy pre and probiotic supplements which so many are readily available now. But they are expensive to buy and supply, especially if you have a giant breed and multiple giant breeds ! So the best way to give your dog the goodness he or she needs is by adding things into their diet. You want to add pre and probiotic food as the prebiotics feed the probiotics so these work together to make the good bacteria more efficient.
The ways pre and probiotics can help your dogs is with ear problems, itchy ears, yeasty ears, anal glands, scooting, eating grass becomes less. Unpleasant wind. Helps with diarrhea. If they have arthritis, it may help with that due to its inflammatory properties. It helps heal skin issues due to its immune building properties. So many benefits for so little effort.
Some of the foods we feed here on a daily basis are seaweed which is a prebiotic, Manuka honey which not only is prebiotic but also is anti fungal, anti bacterial, helps with inflammation and allergies. Apple, which is another prebiotic, ours have half an apple one day and then half a banana the next day with banana being a prebiotic. They have a baked sweet potato which is a prebiotic. They have natural yogurt three times a week which is probiotic and also at least 5 days a week homemade sauerkraut which is one of the best probiotics you can give your dog and yourself ! All things are given in moderation. A large teaspoon of sauerkraut. Half an apple one day, half a banana the next etc
This now leads me onto something which i make that needs its own space. Kefir, which is fermented milk. I make my own Kefir which is really simple and this is a probiotic that they have every day. Kefir has been around for thousands of years and is one of the oldest fermented foods. But in terms of goodness and health benefits, it is the most powerful and effective of any food around. In comparison say to yogurt that may have 9 strains of good live bacteria, Kefir has over 30 types of good bacteria. Having 30-50 friendly strains of bacteria not found in yogurt. It has billions of good bacteria that stay within the gut for a lot longer than any other food and feeds the gut with much more good bacteria. It helps improve digestion, reduces and can eliminate allergies, can reduce the cold and flu virus, treats yeast infections, is as effective as a antibiotic without the side effects, treats inflammation, treats diarrhea, helps repair leaky gut, helps balance IBS, and promotes well being. There was a study done where they had a glass of Kefir and they put the nasty stomach bacteria of salmonella in to see what would happen. The Kefir cured the salmonella and no traces were found in the jar. It didn't work on E-coli but shows you the power of the good bacteria present in Kefir. I can also vouch for this working as one of my own girls got an upset tummy. She was sick quite bad twice. I had only just started using Kefir at this point, but i gave her Kefir, cottage cheese and sweet potato and she was really not well that morning and all of a sudden, she just picked up and changed. She was back to health by the afternoon, no sickness at all. I put it down to the fact that i feed so many foods rich in good bacteria that she had all that good bacteria ready to fight against the bad bacteria so the bad bacteria didn't take hold for very long at all. The good bacteria was stronger.
The studies that have been done with Kefir show how amazing this food is. It really is the gold star of all foods. My dogs go crazy for it and it is so simple to make. You can find videos on youtube how to make it, but the goodness my dogs are getting from this amazing food is the best yet. Seeing them go mad for it, even better. If you don't do the pre and probiotic foods i have mentioned, at least try the Kefir. You can buy it in the supermarket, but it costs so little to make and the effort is minimal. You just buy the grains and you feed them milk every day. Leave them. The grains feed on the sugar in the milk and it turns it into a soured milk and then it is ready. You have a pourable yogurt at the end of it and a jar of billions of good bacteria that will do you and your dogs the power of good. I look at it this way, the more we do to look after our dogs health, the longer we hopefully have them and the more we keep them away from the vets, the better it is for us all. So by adopting some new measures to look after their gut health which in turn, looks after their immune system, the nervous system, anything that is inflamed, adding too it has even shown reports that it helps with chronic bronchitis. It heals you from within so with that in mind, what have you got to lose ?
A lady i follow on youtube is Donna Schwenk. She has videos and podcasts galore and will give lots of information about Kefir and fermented foods and their benefits.