How Are Allergies Connected to Your Dog’s Gut Health?
When your dog’s gut microbiome is out of balance, your dog can develop allergies. An allergy is an exaggerated immune response that causes uncomfortable symptoms like itchy skin, hives, sneezing, watery eyes, and recurring ear infections. Common allergy triggers include pollen, insect bites, and mold spores.
Health Tip
If you suspect your dog has food allergies or food sensitivities (intolerances), see this article and the Gut & Digestion page.
The gut microbiome is involved in allergies because 70%–80% of immune cells live in the gut. So if your dog suffers from allergy symptoms, rebalancing their gut microbiome can help.
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 good health.
How Does a Dog’s Gut Become Imbalanced?
A gut microbiome is imbalanced when it’s missing good bacteria, has too many harmful bacteria, or doesn’t have enough diversity. When the gut is out of balance, immune functions stop working properly, making allergic reactions much more likely to occur. 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
How Can You Know What’s Going On in Your Dog’s Gut?
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 may be causing allergy symptoms.
You send us a small poop sample from your dog, and we do the rest. Using DNA sequencing, our scientists analyze all the types of bacteria in your dog’s poop and compare them 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 your dog’s gut and overall health.
How Can You Restore Your Dog’s Gut and Relieve Their Symptoms?
For dogs who suffer from irritated, itchy skin or other allergy symptoms that are chronic or severe, 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 Supplement is a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) in an oral capsule. FMT has been shown to improve symptoms in dogs with itchy skin and other allergic reactions. Replenishing any missing bacterial populations can often resolve symptoms 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.
For dogs with occasional or mild allergy symptoms, we recommend our DoggyBiome™ S. boulardii + FOS Powder, a probiotic plus prebiotic daily supplement.
With active ingredients Saccharomyces boulardii and Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), our supplement designed for dogs supports good digestion, strengthens the immune system, and promotes healthy skin. S. boulardii is a probiotic yeast with anti-inflammatory properties, and FOS is a prebiotic fiber that good bacteria like to eat. Studies in dogs have shown that supplementation with FOS improves both gut health and immune functions.
How Can You Protect Your Dog from Allergies?
Try our treat with “healthy” benefits, DoggyBiome™ ImmuneShield with EpiCor® Chews.
Our daily chews are specially designed to maintain a healthy immune function, reduce systemic inflammation, address seasonal allergies, and support dog gut health. The active ingredient, EpiCor® Fermentate, is a postbiotic formulation that has been clinically shown to increase and improve immune function. The soft, trout-flavored chews are easy to give and dog-approved for tastiness!
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 multiple factors including diet and medications, we suggest re-testing your dog’s gut health annually or anytime symptoms arise. A well-balanced gut microbiome will help your dog live a healthier, happier life.
