Imagine this: Your beloved dog is sick, you’ve done everything you can at home and now you have no choice but to take him to the vet.
So what happens now?
You can expect to rack up an expensive vet bill so that your vet can tell you that Fido has an out of balance GI system, which means that the good and bad bacteria in his gut are out of whack. Luckily, there is a very simple cure for his ailment: probiotics.
Over the last few years, large amounts of research have been done on how to help dogs and cats with GI system problems.
These studies have shown that giving your pet probiotics can help in balancing out their GI system. This is great news, especially if your pet has had previous problems with their GI system.
Probiotics are also a huge help for animals who have recently changed owners or spent time in a shelter, as the associated changes in diet can cause GI imbalance.
Healthy GI System For Your Pet
Probiotics have the healthy bacteria that your pet needs to help give them better GI health and aid in their digestion. If they have always been a little sickly, this can help with improving their overall health and giving you a healthy, happy pet. When your pet has a healthy inside, they have a healthy outside.
Having a healthy GI system can promote overall good health, which then gives them a longer life to live with you. It allows them to live a more active lifestyle and have more strength in their muscles.
Stress Affects GI Health
A pet going through stress is more likely to have GI system problems than a pet who is less stressed. You will mainly see stress in animals that have been abandoned by owners, or pets who have spent the majority of their lives in a shelter.
While a good shelter will care for the animals, they can’t give them the kind of life they can have with a secure and permanent home. Also, dogs or cats who scare easily at thunder or fireworks, for example, can cause themselves a lot of stress.
They have sensitive ears and hearing very loud noises can cause them to be severely stressed out, which then has a negative effect on their overall health.
How You Can Help
Maintaining your pet’s overall GI system health is the best way to start maintaining their entire health and well-being. Introducing probiotics to your pet’s regular diet can help solve some of these problems. Over the last few years, there have been many studies performed on how probiotics help dogs and cats with their GI system.
Because of this research, there are now many products on the market that you, the pet parent, can choose from. But like many medicines, you have to choose the right one for your pet. Choosing one off the shelf because it seems like it might work can actually do nothing for your pet, which then can lead to a worsening of their internal systems.
But how do you know which one is right for your furry friend? The best thing you can do is read the labels and ask yourself some questions. If you have experience with probiotics, then you know they there are different strains depending on the strength of the product you are looking at.
Research has shown that the higher the number of strains in the probiotics, the more likely your pet is to receive the most benefit. While choosing a product with only 1-3 strains in it will more than likely help your pet on their road to a healthy GI system, choosing something with at least 10 strains will have a much better effect. The larger the number, the better it will do.
You definitely want to keep that in mind when you are shopping for probiotics. The probiotic you choose for your pet will need to contain at least 20 million bacteria per serving, according to recent research. That may seem like a very large number, but again, you want your pet to receive the best they can from their probiotic.
Do Your Research
Now you may be asking yourself, how do I know if I’ve chosen the right product? Once again, you have to read the label and trust what you are buying.
Do extensive research on the product you are thinking about choosing and give yourself some confidence to choose the right probiotic for your pet. When you’re reading the label, make sure you are looking for key ingredients and hints that you are picking a good choice. If the probiotic you are looking at isn’t certified, put it down.
You want something that has been certified to know that you aren’t exposing your pet to something that could be potentially harmful to them. Research has shown that some probiotics that were not certified contained traces of mold and bad bacteria that could potentially harm your pet.
A good label to look for when choosing your probiotic is GMP, or Good Manufacturing Practice. This is a company that holds manufacturers to certain standards and makes sure they are following certain requirements to ensure that these pet supplements are good for your pet.
They make sure that nothing harmful gets put into your pet’s medication. GMP helps make sure that medicine manufacturers are doing their jobs and keeping only pure and healthy ingredients in your pet’s medicine.
If you cannot find a GMP seal on the bottle of the probiotic you are looking at, you can go online and do an internet search of the products to see if what you are looking at is a recommended product.
It is very important for the health of both your cat and your dog to ensure that they maintain their GI system health.
This has a larger impact on their overall health than it may appear to. If you have adopted a pet from a shelter, it is really important that you give them probiotics to help rebalance their systems now that they are in a more stable home.
If you dog loves to eat sticks or your cat prefers bugs to food, also give them a probiotic to help purge their systems of any impurities and keep them healthy and fit, so they can enjoy a long life as your best friend.
