A dog’s “gut” refers to its digestive system which not only enables your dog to extract the nutrients from its food, but also supports the immune system.
Critical to this role, is the microbiome of the gut – the trillions of micro-organisms such as bacteria, yeast and protozoans that live in the gut and play a role in digesting food, neutralising toxins, keeping pathogens at bay and boosting the dog’s immune system.
A healthy microbiome is therefore crucial for your dog’s overall health and wellbeing. When the gut microbiome gets out of balance – as can occur when a dog eats food that has gone off, is infected with a gut parasite or simply because it is eating the wrong diet – it can result in malabsorption, malnutrition, lower immunity, diarrhoea and lethargy. In short a very unhappy dog.
Fortunately, there are a number of functional ingredients that can be included in your dog’s diet to keep their gut healthy and fighting fit.
- Probiotics – these are live bacteria, that when ingested can shift the bacterial population in the gut to have more of the healthy bacteria and less of the unhealthy bacteria. Because they are living, probiotics are hard to add to dry dog food which undergoes cooking, so they are more commonly available as supplements.
- Prebiotics – these are fibres that feed the beneficial bacteria in the gut. Beet pulp and chicory root are examples of prebiotics commonly found in dog food.
Food for Dogs contains both of these prebiotic fibres and at the levels required to be effective.
Food for Dogs also supports gut health with the inclusion of TruMune®, a unique microbial fermentate from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that provides multiple beneficial bioactive compounds. TruMune® has been clinically proven to help maintain immune strength and digestive health for optimal health and wellness. If you would like to know about TruMune®, please visit https://trumune.com/