Gut Guard: For Dogs With Irritated, Leaky Guts

Your dog's small intestine and colon are home to trillions of bacteria and microorganisms. These bugs are so critical to his health, they control most of his immune system ... and can even talk directly to his brain.

These friendly bacteria eat starches and fibers your dog can't digest and use them to manufacture beneficial metabolytes for your dog, such as his B vitamins, vitamin K, short chain fatty acids that control his immune system and inflammation, and amino acids. They also help protect your dog's gut lining.

This delicate balance of bugs can be disrupted by the wrong food, drugs and chemicals, heavy metals and antibiotics. This can allow harmful bacteria to colonize and their metabolytes cause inflammation in the gut lining. This is called dysbiosis.

The gut lining is single layer of cells with tight spaces between. When the gut is inflamed, these spaces widen. This allows undigested protein, harmful bacteria and other inflammatory factors to escape the digestive tract and enter the body.

This is called Leaky Gut. Because the toxins circulate the body and cause chronic, low-grade inflammation, leaky gut can cause chronic organ disease if not corrected.

Leaky Gut is the "great imitator" and is the root cause of many common inflammatory disorders. This includes allergies, yeast, arthritis, digestive issues, liver and kidney issues and more. If left unchecked, the chronic inflammation caused by leaky gut can even cause cancer.