Once
upon a time, long, long ago, dogs ate things that we now would cringe at the
thought. They use to bury half eaten bones, only to later dig them up and gnaw
away at them. Those old bones were covered in bacteria.
Here’s the thing. We have been conditioned to think all bacteria is bad. Taught we need to kill off every living thing other than ourselves for our own safety. In the rush towards a totally sterile environment we are shooting ourselves in the foot and taking our dogs with us.
There is good and bad bacteria. Lots of good bacteria, or probiotics are supposed to inhabit our intestines and our Shelties’ as well. (Though there are different varieties needed for each species).
Even some of the bad guys while harmful to us, doesn’t produce the same problem in our dogs.
Dogs
have a shorter gut than we do. So while something like salmonella is a problem
for us to consume, the dog can eat, digest and eliminate food contaminated with
that bacteria before they come to any harm.
On the flip side, probiotics need to be introduced and maintained sufficiently in the dog in order to be able to digest food properly, prevent leaky gut, and promote a good immune system.
How can we add probiotics for dogs?
Well, we’ve killed anything good that may have existed in the “baked-to-death” kibble in a bag. Occasionally one of the unhealthy bacteria manages to survive in the kibble (e.g., salmonella).
Even some raw companies are high pressure pasteurizing their food because of all the paranoia about bacteria in food. And while it may kill bad bacteria, it also wipes out the good guys as well as any fragile enzymes that are helpful to digestion.
So those are not going to help.
We
have irradiated, pasteurized and sterilized ourselves into a real mess.
Every time our pups are given a pharmaceutical antibiotic, it kills off all the good probiotics in the gut along with all the bad bacteria elsewhere in the body.
Because we are so convinced of our Shelties' inability to cope with the real world, we now need to add probiotics for dogs to their diet to help restore some balance.
If
your dog has allergies, a sensitive stomach, a chronic inflammatory illness, or
other imbalance, it could very well be due to lack of the normal flora in their
gut.
Which kind?
Well,
after going through the usual mind numbing internet search and reading the
ingredients on each manufacturer’s label and finding out what each probiotic is
for, my recommendation is Mercola’s. It contains all of the following:
Now
you may recognize one or two of these as present in human grade yogurt. But
there are also many not found in human grade commercial food that is helpful
for your Sheltie in this probiotic mix.
I
add probiotics for dogs to my homemade food supplement as they can survive
freezing very well. It also makes it easier with multiple Shelties to just add it
all in one supplement.
I’m
all for easy….