FERMENTED FOODS FOR YOUR DOG

The gut is the centre of your dog’s immune system. Like humans it makes up for around 70% of the immune system, so it’s vital to treat it correctly so your dog can naturally keep itself healthy. The level of bacteria or the balance of the microbiota in the gut will determine a likelihood of illness. When that becomes imbalanced due to improper or unnatural diets, the bad bacteria take hold, and your dog will get sick. A healthy diet is feeding your dog the building blocks and energy components that allow them to grow, develop to their potential, maintain a healthy body weight, support the immune system, reduce the risk of chronic disease, support healthy ageing and to stay active throughout their life.

FERMENTED FOODS

Fermented foods are rich in probiotic bacteria so by consuming fermented foods your dog are adding beneficial bacteria and enzymes to his overall intestinal flora, increasing the health of your dogs gut microbiome and digestive system and enhancing the immune system. Some foods naturally containing good bacteria (probiotics), come at no extra cost and taste great, such as kefir, yoghurt and fermented vegetables. They contain a wide variety of beneficial bacteria, potent chelators and detoxifiers, vitamins and minerals.

KEFIR & YOGHURT

Kefir is a good source for probiotics you can either make or buy. Add 1-3 teaspoons of kefir to your pet’s food once or twice a day. Kefir normally contains 10-20 strains of probiotics and is one of the best and least expensive ways to up their probiotic intake. Grass fed plain yogurt is an excellent source of beneficial probiotics, providing calcium, B vitamins and cancer-fighting conjugated linoleum acid (CLA). If you make it, use a starter culture and raw grass fed milk. If you purchase, choose organic, unflavoured and made from pastured milk. 

FERMENTED VEGETABLES

When adding fermented veggies into your pet’s meals, start with very small amounts, gradually increasing by a teaspoon or two per day. Feeding too many fermented veggies all at once may cause GI upset.

REMEMBER

- Introduce slowly to allow your dog’s digestive system to adapt. 

- There is a difference between probiotics and prebiotics.

- Always choose a probiotic formulated for pets not humans.

- It may take several days before you see noticeable results, even though the probiotic starts to work repopulating good bacteria as soon as it enters your pet’s gut.