The Gut Microbiome

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I want to talk today about the gut microbiome, what it is, why you should care, and what you can do about it. So the gut microbiome, you’ve probably heard more and more about it. It’s been in the news a lot because there’s a lot of research going on about the connection of the gut microbiome with brain health, with gut health, of course, with allergies, with just about everything, cancer even. So there’s a lot that we can do to help create a healthy microbiome in your pet, and I wanted to explain a little bit more about what that does and how that works.

So gut microbiome is the collection of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and yeast that live in our gut, in our pets’ gut. They produce nutrients. They produce some vitamins, they help us to break down some of the foods, especially the plant-based foods that we’re not really set up and certainly our carnivorous pets are not really set up to digest, and that helps us to extract the nutrients that are in those plants. They produce neurotransmitters. There is more serotonin made in the gut than there is in the brain, and that’s done by those gut microbes. They talk to the immune system, so they help to upregulate, downregulate certain immune cells and contribute to whether or not certain chemicals are released that might be pro-inflammatory or slow down that inflammatory process. So they are really part of this ecosystem that we call our body or our dog or our cat. They are a critical part, and we really need to pay attention to them. Now that we know they exist, now that we know how important they are to our health, we want to pay attention to them.

One of the most important ways to do that is with the food that we feed. That food is the only food the gut microbiome gets to see. So when we’re thinking about what’s best for our pet, we need to be thinking about what’s best for the microbes that we want to support in their gut, and typically that’s going to be what’s best for our pet as well. Healthy whole foods, minimally processed in your dog and cat’s diet. A lot of meat protein, animal protein. Dogs can certainly handle some plant material; cats can do a little bit. I mean, you’ll see your cats going out and munching on the grass. They do want some fiber, but very little, maybe 5% of their food needs to be plant-based. Sometimes it’s a little bit more, but usually not much more.

So we want to think about the microbiome that would have developed with that type of digestive system. And when we’re choosing the foods, think about those microbes. That also means thinking about what was sprayed on those foods, how those foods were raised because many of the pesticides that are sprayed on foods are also antimicrobial, and we want to be careful that we are not including those in the food that we’re feeding. So we start with food, for sure. And then we can do testing, and there’s a microbiome test on my website, the gut health test that you’ll see for dogs and cats, and it’s a very simple test. You order it, they’ll send you the kit, you get a sample of the stool and then send it back in, and you’ll get a report back. Our goal is diversity, diversity without a lot of the pathogens, the bad bacteria that can contribute to disease. And sometimes we can balance things out with just food. Sometimes we need some other supplements. You’ll see S. boulardii +FOS is one of the supplements that I have on the website. That’s a saccharomyces, it’s a type of yeast that doesn’t actually take up residence in the gut. What it does, though, is it helps to kill off the Clostridium, which overgrows a lot with antibiotic treatment. It helps to decrease the E. coli. Now some E. coli species are beneficial; we don’t want to get rid of all of them, but it helps to get rid of some of the pathogens and decrease the amount of E. coli that’s in the gut. So that can be helpful, especially if your pet has a lot of chronic diarrhea. S. boulardii may be helpful, and you’ll see in the microbiome, we’ll often see the reflection of what’s overgrowing and why that S. boulardiii is helping. But S. boulardii is also anti-inflammatory in the gut, and so it can be helpful for various gut issues.

So many times if I’m working with a patient and I’m doing a microbiome test, I will start with food, make sure that we are feeding the good guys and trying not to feed the bad guys, or balancing things out. Sometimes we need more protein; sometimes we need more fiber. We’ll balance it out based on the bacteria that are there. S. boulardii is one of the things that I often use. There are a few other supplements depending on the specific imbalance that’s going on. And then finally, once we have done those steps, I might do the gut restore, which is their FMT, fecal microbiota transplant, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. They’re poop pills; there’s no better way to say it. They are stool from healthy pets, dogs or cats depending on which product you have. They’ve been tested for all types of parasites and bacteria, pathogens. These animals have not had antibiotics in the last six months, I believe. So basically, they’re healthy, diverse microbiomes. When you get a probiotic from your vet or over the counter, the most species you’re going to get in there are probably about 14 or 15. There’s just not that many that have been approved as supplements. So when you’re getting something that’s been created in a laboratory, you’re limited to what you can get. These have thousands of species in there. So when we’re dealing with a really imbalanced gut microbiome, that’s usually the way to do it. Now, none of these products, whether it’s a probiotic that you get from your vet, and those can be helpful, I’m not saying that they’re not, but they’re not intended for long-term use, and that’s really, really important. If they help in the beginning, that’s great. They’re shifting that microbiome, they’re helping to create. If you continue to give them, they will continue to shift that microbiome, and now instead of being over here, you’re over here. You’re still imbalanced. Your pet may have symptoms that look exactly the same, but it’s rarely beneficial to continue with the same probiotics for a long period of time.

So the FMT, the gut restore capsules, typically we’re not going much more than 60 days. We usually do a 30-day course and retest and see where we’re at, and we might do another 30 days. Sometimes it goes longer if the imbalance is really severe. If your pet’s older, it does take longer to shift things. And sometimes, even though the microbiome test still says things are out of balance, if your pet clinically is doing better, we may not go any further. Just let things continue to find their correct balance because we’re all different. There is no one set of populations that should be there. It’s a matter of finding a balance that works, an ecosystem that works for your pet. But that’s what I do with the microbiome testing. It can be a really, really helpful tool for many, many pets. Something to look at. I just wanted you to be aware of that as a resource for you and help you to understand what it does for you and how it can help. If you have any questions, put them in the comments here, and I’d be happy to help.