For Our Beloved Pets: Is Food Enough?

BY LUCY JABRAYAN

Lucy Jabrayan specializes in nutrition and nutraceuticls and is the founder of Thrive4life holistic pet food, actively helping people and their furry “kids” turn to natural food and holistic approaches.

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What is the one thing all mammals have in common? Well, we all have a gut! And with that comes the gut biome.

What is the one thing all mammals have in common? Well, we all have a gut! And with that comes the gut biome.

In a perfect world, the food we and our pets eat would be fresh and more importantly- live! All of the time!

Unfortunately, that is not the case, what with our overly-processed food industry, from the pet food world to that of our equine friends. So how do we tackle this issue and why is it an issue? 

I’ve experienced first hand how powerfully our gut impacts our health. It does not matter what the health concern is: from allergies, to leaky gut syndrome, stress, to fighting a bug/virus, you name it! More and more research is coming out that links gut health to so many issues, common or not.

So, along with a ‘species appropriate diet’, for myself, or my dogs, cats, horses and even bird, I do feed good quality LIVE probiotics.

Why Use Live Probiotics?

Here is why: 80% of our immune system is in the gut. We as a whole are made up of bacteria, so the difference between a healthy individual (human, dog, cat, horse, bird) and an unhealthy one is that the balance ratio between the good guys and the bad (bacteria that is) is out of balance. You always want the good outweighing the bad. 

Even with an overall ‘healthy’ diet, I constantly hear stories of how a good probiotic on top of that has changed someone’s life, or their dog’s life, cat’s life, etc.

You see, in the wild, when our cats and dogs’ ancestors would hunt, the first thing they would consume after a kill is the stomach and gut of the prey, why? Because that is how they get their probiotics. Thing is, it is fresh. I know that in no realistic way I can give my dogs and cats something that fresh!

So, how do we safely get those ‘good guys’ into their gut biome so that they can over populate the bad ones? For overall general maintenance add as many ‘live’ foods as you can to their diet, such as organic kefir, fermented vegetables, etc. 

But again, I do not believe we and they get enough from food, so pick a probiotic supplement that has guaranteed live strains and dosage, ideally ones kept in the fridge. The proper balance of good intestinal bacteria is very important to your pet’s health and well being. Proper probiotics can help support intestinal health, help maintain healthy intestinal flora, stabilize gut flora, restore nutrition to make assimilation easy and assist with recovery.

Would probiotics be beneficial for my pet?

Your pet can greatly benefit from a probiotic supplement when:

1. They have been on any medications and antibiotics that have completely wipe their gut flora clean, therefore leaving their immune system defenseless.
2. They are fed a dry and processed diet.
3. They are mid-age to seniors.  
4. They suffer from any conditions such as allergies, Urinary Tract Infections, inflammation, skin issues, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, leaky gut syndrome, chronic diarrhea, anxiety issues, digestion disturbances etc. 

And if your pet is perfectly ‘fine’, introducing probiotics once in a while will keep them thriving and their immune system engine roaring, and isn’t that what we want? So that we can watch them thrive and not just merely survive!

WHO IS LUCY JABRAYAN?

Lucy herself uses natural alternatives to care for all her four-legged “children”: dogs, cats, horses and even goats! Lucy is also a certified education consultant for a Canadian supplement company. To learn more visit www.thrive4lifepetfood.com