When your dog’s gut microbiome is out of balance, common digestive symptoms like diarrhea or loose stool may result. Your dog’s poop should be somewhat firm in consistency and have a distinct shape. Diarrhea can refer to a range of consistencies, from moist but distinct piles of poop to shapeless blobs to watery puddles.
Frequent diarrhea is often a sign of a digestive issue caused by a problem with your dog’s gut microbiome not functioning properly. So what is the gut microbiome? It’s the community of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that live in your dog’s digestive tract and are essential for health.
How Does a Dog’s Gut Become Imbalanced?
A gut microbiome is imbalanced when it’s missing good bacteria, has too much harmful bacteria, or doesn’t have enough diversity. Factors like disease, age, diet, and medications—especially antibiotics—can cause this kind of imbalance in your dog’s gut.
Missing Good Bacteria
Too Many Harmful Bacteria
Not Enough Diversity
We recommend testing your dog’s gut microbiome with our at-home DoggyBiome™ Gut Health Test.
Gut microbiome testing can give you a detailed understanding of what’s going on in your dog’s gut, revealing any imbalances that can cause diarrhea.
You send us a small poop sample from your dog, and we do the rest. Using DNA sequencing, our scientists analyze the bacteria in your dog’s poop and compare it to our healthy dog reference set to determine if an imbalance is present. We then provide an interactive online report of your dog’s gut microbiome with personalized diet and supplement recommendations to help relieve symptoms and improve their digestive and overall health.
How Can You Know What’s Going On in Your Dog’s Gut?
For dogs who suffer from moderate to severe chronic diarrhea, we recommend our DoggyBiome™ Gut Restore Supplement.
The supplement introduces an entire community of beneficial dog-specific bacteria to add diversity and bring balance to the gut while relieving symptoms. Gut Restore is a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) in an oral capsule. FMT has been shown to improve symptoms in dogs with chronic digestive issues. Replenishing important missing bacterial populations can often resolve diarrhea quickly by restoring a healthy balance to your dog’s gut. If possible, we still recommend testing your dog’s gut microbiome with a Gut Health Test.
How Can You Restore Your Dog’s Gut and Relieve Their Symptoms?
For relief of short-term occasional or mild diarrhea, we recommend DoggyBiome™ GMP for Triple Action Diarrhea Relief.
DoggyBiome GMP for dogs is a unique blend of prebiotics, probiotics, and phages. Ingredients: the phage PreforPro® helps reduce harmful E. coli and C. difficile bacteria, yeast-based probiotic S. boulardii helps restore microbiome balance, and prebiotic MOS helps good bacteria to grow.
To avoid bouts of diarrhea, feed your dog a healthy diet and maintain a balanced gut with DoggyBiome™ S. boulardii + FOS Powder daily supplement.
With active ingredients Saccharomyces boulardii and Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), this probiotic + prebiotic supplement improves stool consistency and supports your dog’s digestive health.
How Can You Help Prevent Diarrhea in the Future?
- Health Tip
Feeding a healthy, balanced diet is the best way to manage your dog’s gut microbiome. If you’ve taken our Gut Health Test, follow the diet recommendations in your dog’s personalized report to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria.
Since the microbiome is an ever-changing ecosystem that is impacted by factors including diet and medications, we suggest re-testing the microbiome annually or if symptoms arise. A well-balanced gut will help your dog live a healthier, happier life.