Allergic reactions for your protection dog can show in a number of ways including having itchy skin. If your dog’s skin is itchy, feet are chewed up, or has gooey ears, then it is time to get it checked. Allergies are a common health issue in dogs. This is because the commonly used drugs for allergies do not destroy the root cause of the allergic reactions. If you want healthy personal protection dogs, then you have to make sure it is in good health. Most personal protection dogs for sale are usually in good health, but it is good to check if they have any allergies.
The health of the Gut
A microbiome is a group of bacteria found in the digestive tract of a dog{humans have it too). However, these bacteria live throughout the body of your dog. The largest colony of these bacteria is found in the dog’s gut and intestines. The microbiome is a very crucial part of the dog’s body. It is said that 100 trillion bacteria are found inside the gut alone.
The gut microbiome plays a very important role in the immune system functioning of your dog. If the microbiome is unhealthy, then your dog’s health will deteriorate. This is why many allergy diets, treatments, and drugs do not work long-term – they destroy the balance in the protection dog’s microbiome. This is most likely going to cause allergies and some other autoimmune infections.
Role of Microbiome
1. Nutrients’ Absorption
The bacteria in the gut help to absorb nutrients such as vitamins, which are critical to the protection dog’s health.
2. Manufacturing of Important Nutrients
Bacteria in the protection dog’s gut help in the production of both Vitamin K and Vitamin B.
3. Strengthening the Gut’s Lining
Bacteria in the gut help produce fatty acids that keep the intestine’s lining strong.
4. Immune System Regulation
T cells can either decrease or increase the body’s inflammation. They are very important for the immune system. As a puppy, the microbiome bacterium trains the T cells so that they are able to tell apart friendly from harmful bacteria. This makes the dog’s immune system ready for any future allergy attacks.
When the microbiome is good, the personal protection dogs will be healthy. However, if the bacteria found there are restless, they react by attacking your dog’s body to survive. The health of your dogs will thus suffer. There needs to be a balance between the harmful and friendly bacteria in the microbiome.
Why the Microbiome Gets Damaged
· Use of Steroids
Gut functioning is inhibited by the use of steroids. Steroids also lead to suppression of the immune system.
· Unsettled Mind
When personal protection dogs for sale are stressed in any way, there will be an imbalance in the microbiome.
· Vaccines
Some vaccines disrupt your protection dog’s immune system and prevent the growth of friendly bacteria.
· Antibiotics
Antibiotics do not differentiate between friendly and harmful bacteria. They kill them both. This disrupts the balance between the friendly and harmful bacteria, but they could also wipe them all out. This would be bad because the gut needs these bacteria to fight infections.
· Diet
When your dog eats processed food or foods high in starch, there will be an imbalance in the gut bacteria.
- Chemicals and NSAIDs Drugs
These are known to prevent the growth of friendly bacteria.
When bacteria in the gut are imbalanced, it results in something known as dysbiosis. This can result in or worsen allergic reactions through something known as the leaky gut.
The Leaky Gut Explained
Once harmful bacteria proliferate, they can lead to a leaky gut. The leaky gut results from having holes in the gut’s lining, which allows the contents of the intestines to go inside the bloodstream. This is not supposed to happen as it exposes the bloodstream to undigested food, fungus, and bacteria.
Undigested proteins should never go into the bloodstream. When this happens, the dog’s immune system will attack and neutralize them. However, antigens from protein may resemble one of the tissue proteins found in the body, something known as molecular mimicry. This can make the body produce antibiotics against itself, and this can lead to allergies and autoimmunity.
The leaky gut causes allergies and the following:
- Cancer
- Thyroid disease
- Heart infections
- Joint pain
- Liver and gallbladder disorders
- Behavioral issues
- Eye disorders
- Nervous system disorders
- Pancreatic disorders
Dealing with the Root Cause
Prevention is better than cure. It is very important to go to the root cause of a problem than to treat it after it erupts. Going to the root cause of the leaky gut will go a long way toward preventing future health attacks on your protection dog.
Repair and Prevent Leaky Gut in these Steps
- Stop giving unnecessary vaccines
- Avoid processed foods
- Reduce stress on your protection dog
- Stop using drugs on the dog, find a holistic vet
- Feed organic foods to the protection dog, as they are free of any harmful pesticides. Organic meat is antibiotics-free
- Give the dog prebiotics. These are known to assist the gut bacteria in producing fatty acids known for protecting the mucosal cells found in the lining of the intestines.
- Avoid all anti-nutrients. Most kibbles have mycotoxins. These are molds with the ability to cause severe autoimmune and gut reactions.
- Give the dog probiotics on a regular basis. You can help the dog strengthen the friendly bacteria in the gut. You find this in fermented foods, kefir or you can just buy probiotics from the store. Do not go for dairy probiotics.
- Give him digestive enzymes. These help in breaking down food so that the nutrients in it are absorbed into the bloodstream. A leaky gut stops enzymes from working. Therefore, adding them back into the protection dog’s diet will be great.
Therefore, if you have tried many treatment options for your dog’s allergies without success, it is time to try treating his gut. So long as the digested protein and harmful bacteria go into the bloodstream, the dog’s immune system won’t be okay, and his allergic reactions will not go away. The only way to change this is by treating the dog’s leaky gut. Always deal with the root cause of a problem to eliminate it completely.