Are You Overlooking This Root Cause of Illness?
The GI health of dogs and cats relies on a healthy balance of gut bacteria; an imbalance can lead to dysbiosis.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
The GI health of dogs and cats (and humans) relies on a healthy balance of gut bacteria; an imbalance can lead to dysbiosis (leaky gut syndrome) which in turn can lead to a long list of digestive and other disorders
The primary cause of leaky gut in pets is overuse of antibiotics; other contributors include the administration of steroids, anti-inflammatory medications, oral flea and tick pesticides, advanced glycation end products found in heat-processed pet foods, over-vaccination, and parasitic infections
Classic symptoms in pets with a leaky gut are gas, bloating, and diarrhea; a wide variety of other non-GI-related symptoms and conditions can also be caused or exacerbated by dysbiosis
Healing your pet’s leaky gut involves eliminating root causes and developing an individualized protocol based on his or her microbiome changes
If your pet has exposure to microbiome disruptors, instituting a reparative plan during and after the gut insult is imperative to avoid dysbiosis
Thanks to a fast-growing body of research into gastrointestinal (GI) disease in companion animals, there's no longer any question that digestive health depends on a balanced gut microbiome. There's also no longer any question that gut health is crucial to overall health.
The microbiota (living microorganisms) in your pet's digestive tract is made up of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa — an estimated 100 trillion microbial cells that have an enormous influence on the health of your dog or cat.
The right balance of intestinal microbiota is necessary to regulate the immune system, defend against opportunistic pathogens, and provide nutritional benefits. When an imbalance exists, meaning there are inadequate supplies of good bacteria, plus an overgrowth of bad bacteria and sometimes yeast, it can lead to dysbiosis (leaky gut syndrome) and a long list of GI disorders and other, often seemingly unrelated diseases.
Digestion Basics, and How a Good Gut Goes Bad
The digestive process begins in your pet's mouth as she chews her food. When the food reaches her stomach, it mixes with hydrochloric acid and gastric juices. This mixture then travels to the small intestine where the pancreas secretes enzymes, and the gallbladder secretes bile to further assist digestion.
The chemical digestive process continues in the small intestine, where bacterial degradation takes place. Once the food is sufficiently broken down, the membranes of the intestinal mucosa absorb the smaller, simpler nutrients, and the remaining food is either further digested and absorbed or moves into the large intestine where it's ultimately passed out of the body as feces.
For this complex process to take place, the environment of your dog's or cat's microbiome must be healthy and fully functioning. The entire length of a healthy digestive tract is coated with just the right balance of bacteria to protect against foreign invaders, undigested food particles, toxins, and parasites. However, if the gut bacterial balance gets thrown out of whack, the environment of the GI tract becomes unstable, which alters the process of digestion.
Next, the intestinal mucosa becomes inflamed and permeable and begins to leak large, partially digested substances from food particles into the bloodstream. These substances are antigenic and allergenic, which stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies against them. This is what sets the stage for leaky gut syndrome.
Common Triggers for a Leaky Gut
The most common cause of dysbiosis in veterinary medicine is the overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria, which upsets the healthy ratio of good-to-bad microorganisms and depletes the supply of friendly bacteria that keep the GI immune defenses strong and resilient.
Too many pets are given antibiotics these days, often at a very young age. These are either topical or oral medications prescribed for minor conditions that can often be effectively and safely treated with natural substances.
One of the most disrupting treatments to the microbiome is a drug called metronidazole (Flagyl™), which is the most-prescribed medication to treat diarrhea. This drug often causes more harm than good because it's used incorrectly.
To make matters worse, additional medications like corticosteroids such as prednisone or NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are administered along with antibiotics, and research shows these pharmaceuticals, along with flea and tick products, also disrupt gut balance.
Many of these same pets are also fed ultraprocessed commercial diets containing a long list of preservatives, additives and dyes that negatively alter gut flora. Also contributing to dysbiosis is the ingestion of all the byproducts created during the high-heat processing of pet foods (Maillard reaction products), including advanced glycation end products.
The rendered meat proteins sourced from factory-farmed animal left-overs often contain antibiotic residues and have been dramatically altered by the extreme processing that pet food undergoes. They are usually combined with pesticide-laden plant proteins and grains, which further disrupt the gut flora.
The resulting mix is a brew of chemically altered, denatured proteins that are very difficult for pets' bodies to digest, process, and assimilate, but do a fine job of creating massive inflammation in the body, beginning in the gut.
Combine a poor diet with environmental stressors such as poor water quality and excessive chemical and drug exposure, and we've set the stage for many of the diseases we see in pets today.
Additional contributors to a leaky gut include ingestion of environmental chemicals coming from toxic toys, phthalates from plastic food storage containers, room sprays and cleaning products (remember, whatever you spray and clean your home with will inevitably end up inside your pet), parasitic infections (including chronic, undiagnosed giardia), overuse of vaccines (which stimulate gut-associated lymphoid tissue or GALT), and stress.
Symptoms of Dysbiosis
The classic GI-related symptoms in pets with a leaky gut are gas, bloating, and diarrhea. But it's important to understand that dysbiosis can also cause or exacerbate a wide variety of other symptoms and conditions, many of which may appear to have nothing to do with digestion. These include:
Hyperactivity
Certain types of cancer (including GI lymphoma)
Immune system disorders; autoimmune disease
Liver, gallbladder, and pancreatic disorders
Bladder inflammation (cystitis)
Chronic yeast infections
Allergies, skin, and ear issues
Nutritional deficiencies
Food intolerances
Respiratory difficulties, including asthma
Weight fluctuations
Seizure disorders
Bad breath
Getting Help for Your Pet's Leaky Gut
Because the circumstances, history, and individual physical responses to the triggers of leaky gut are unique for each animal, a cookie cutter approach can't be applied to resolve it. Each case of dysbiosis is unique, so a customized healing protocol must be designed for each patient based on the animal's specific history, symptoms and underlying disorders.
It's very important to recognize that your dysbiotic dog or cat has a very fragile immune and digestive system. A sudden change in diet or an inappropriate medication or supplement protocol could make him worse instead of better.
Resolving dysbiosis involves identifying and addressing the microbial imbalances in the gut. The easiest way to do this is to test your pet's microbiome. Testing is recommended because it identifies specifically how the microbial balance has been disrupted. Is there a lack of healthy microbes? Bacterial overgrowth of some communities? A reduction in microbial diversity?
Each of these conditions are treated very differently, so assessing exactly what's going on with your animal's microbiome is important for long term improvement.
Many animals have had a hyper-permeable gut barrier long enough that dietary sensitivities develop, in which case food allergies and intolerances should also be identified, and a novel ingredient diet instituted. Functional gastrointestinal (GI) testing to identify underlying malabsorption or inefficient digestion should also be identified, if suspected, and concurrently managed.
Depending on the situation, functional medicine doctors may address diet first, or begin a protocol to stabilize the GI tract and address diet later. Sometimes a gut restorative protocol and dietary protocol are instituted at the same time.
Dietary interventions involve removing allergenic ingredients, ultraprocessed foods (and accompanying inflammatory advanced glycation end products), additives, dyes, artificial flavorings and synthetic ingredients. Organic, human grade, fresh and non-GMO ingredients are best for these sensitive patients.
Rebalancing the Dysbiotic Gut
Your pet's treatment protocol will be specific to his or her symptoms and test results. There are many very effective GI nutraceuticals your veterinarian may use to modulate microbial communities, repair the gut lining and reduce intestinal inflammation, as well as some common dietary suggestions that have shown positive results, including the addition of prebiotic fibers, fermented and unprocessed (raw) foods.
Almost all dysbiosis treatment protocols include adding specific strains of probiotics, based on microbiome results. Probiotics reseed the gut with missing bacteria and may prevent an overgrowth of opportunistic bacteria, which returns the intestine and mucosal lining to good health.
Fortunately, the conventional veterinary community is increasingly embracing the fact that supplementation with beneficial bacteria in the form of probiotics can help pets regain and maintain gut health. According to a report in the veterinary journal Clinician's Brief:
"Many studies in the human and veterinary literature have demonstrated that the administration of probiotic bacteria can aid in the prevention and treatment of disease."1
For example:
In two placebo-controlled studies, probiotics significantly shortened episodes of diarrhea in dogs with acute gastroenteritis.2 3
Shelter cats given probiotics also had a significant decrease in the duration of diarrhea.4
Dogs with moderate to severe inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were given either probiotics or the drugs prednisone (corticosteroid) and metronidazole (antibiotic). While it took the dogs on probiotics about a week longer for their symptoms to resolve, both groups had similar remission rates.5
In addition, only the dogs given probiotics showed enhanced T regulatory cell function and normalization of dysbiosis 30 days post-treatment.
Traditional veterinarians (and MDs) are also coming around to the realization that probiotics are an excellent way to prevent antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal side effects (AAGS). According to one study, AAGS is a problem for 5% to 39% of people, and up to 70% children.6
Just a 7-day course of antibiotics can alter the fecal microbiome and increase bacterial resistance for at least 4 years,7 and administration of probiotics is associated with about a three-fold decrease in AAGS in people.8 And while the incidence of AAGS in pets isn't known, studies show that antibiotic therapy does indeed "derange" the microbiome of dogs and cats similar to its effect on humans.9
Veterinary researchers believe antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal side effects play a significant role in dogs and especially cats receiving antibiotics, who are much more likely to show a decrease in appetite, aversion to food, and vomiting.
There are many different types of probiotics, each having its own merits and benefits. Some animals can't tolerate milk-based probiotics.
Others can't tolerate probiotics derived from yeast or soil cultures or even certain strains of non-dairy organisms, which is why it's important to work with a veterinarian who understands all the different facets of dysbiosis and can prescribe the correct probiotic and GI supplements based on the results of your pet's microbiome analysis and other gut diagnostics.
Many veterinarians, including myself, believe fecal microbiome transplants (in the form of capsules administered orally by you or a rectal fecal transplant administered by your veterinarian) are often superior to probiotic therapy for many patients with chronic or recurrent GI disease, as they provide a much broader spectrum of different microbes that can have a synergistic effect for gut recovery.
If your pet has exposure to microbiome-disrupting medications, chemicals, or reactive ultraprocessed food constituents, instituting a reparative plan during and after the gut insult is imperative to avoid leaky gut and the potential for ongoing GI issues. You can find an integrative veterinarian that can help you here.
Healthypets Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your own veterinarian or doctor. Dr. Karen Becker cannot answer specific questions about your pet's medical issues or make medical recommendations for your pet without first establishing a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Your pet's medical protocol should be given by your holistic veterinarian.