Sensitive Stomachs: Find Relief for Your Pup
Does your furry friend suffer from digestive woes? Finding the right food is crucial for alleviating discomfort and promoting optimal well-being. Our guide explores the complexities of sensitive stomachs in dogs, empowering you with knowledge and solutions.
Understanding Sensitive Stomachs
Many factors can contribute to a dog's sensitive stomach, including dietary changes, food allergies or intolerances, stress, and parasites. Other potential causes include overeating, eating too quickly, and consuming spoiled or contaminated food.
Sensitive Stomachs: A Deeper Dive
If your furry friend is experiencing digestive distress, you're not alone. Sensitive stomachs are a common issue in dogs, and understanding the causes, symptoms, and management strategies can make a world of difference in their comfort and well-being. Let's dive into the world of sensitive stomachs in dogs and explore how to help them feel their best.
What Causes Dogs to Have Sensitive Stomachs?
Once serious conditions like stomach cancer are ruled out, it’s time to examine other possible causes of sensitive stomachs in dogs. There is a wide variety of food items that dogs can have trouble tolerating. Some dogs are sensitive or even allergic to certain proteins, like chicken or beef. Another possibility is that your dog’s diet is lacking something, like fiber, vitamins, or minerals. It could even contain too much of something, like fat. Your dog’s dog food might not even be the problem! If your dog has a habit of getting into the trash, or if your dog eats a lot of treats and table scraps, something other than their dog food could be causing their upset tummy.
How to Know if Your Dog Has a Sensitive Stomach
The term “sensitive stomach” is usually used to describe mild intestinal upset in dogs.
Symptoms of sensitive stomachs in dogs include:
- Occasional vomiting
- Loose stools
- Flatulence
One possible cause of your dog’s sensitive stomach is their diet. You can test out different varieties of food for dogs with sensitive stomachs to help learn what will reduce or eliminate your dog’s symptoms and get their digestive system back on track.
Finding out if your dog’s food is the issue is easy, but it will require some discipline on your part. In consultation with your vet, start by eliminating any food items from your dog’s diet other than their actual dog food. This includes table scraps, treats, and anything else your dog might eat throughout the day.
Finding out if your dog’s food is the issue is easy, but it will require some discipline on your part. In consultation with your vet, start by eliminating any food items from your dog’s diet other than their actual dog food. This includes table scraps, treats, and anything else your dog might eat throughout the day.
Dog Food Ingredients That Can Upset Stomachs
Dog foods are formulated to be complete and balanced, which means they can include a range of different sources of nutrition, including proteins, fats, grains, vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients like vegetables and fruits. For dogs, there are a few key areas of these nutrition sources that can trigger sensitivities in some dogs.
- Protein source
- Fiber source
- Fat content
- Adequate vitamins and minerals
- Quality of ingredients
Some dogs just don’t digest certain types of protein well. For example, if your dog’s current dog food is made with chicken as its protein source, talk with your vet about switching to a dog food that’s formulated with a different protein source—often beef, lamb, or fish—to do a food trial and see if that resolves the issue. Be sure you’re not feeding your dog any treats or table scraps while you try out a new food, or your findings won’t be very helpful.
Some dogs do better with extra fiber in their diets. Beet pulp is an excellent source of fiber, according to Merck Veterinary Manual, and “provides good fecal quality in dogs without affecting other nutrient digestibility.” Other recommended sources of fiber in commercial dog food include inulin and psyllium. Talk to your vet about adding fiber to your dog’s current diet, or choosing a specially formulated high-fiber dog food.
Dog food diets that are high in fat are harder to digest than ones that are higher in protein or carbohydrates. Read the ingredient label on your dog’s current food and see if fats and oils are listed in the first four ingredients. This is an indicator that the food might be too high in fat for your dog’s digestive system. In consultation with your vet, compare your current dog food to other formulas or brands and find a food that is lower in fat. The crude fat percentage that the food contains will be listed on the “Guaranteed Analysis” section of the dog food’s label.
Commercial dog foods produced to AAFCO standards are formulated to contain at least the minimum amounts of vitamins and minerals required in order to be “complete and balanced.” However, if you are feeding a specialty diet, like a raw diet or a home-cooked diet, or if you aren’t feeding a commercial food balanced for your dog’s life stage (ie, puppy, adult), it’s possible that your dog could have a nutrient imbalance or deficiency. Talk with your veterinarian to make sure you are feeding your dog all of the nutrients they need for proper health and digestion at their life stage, and if you need to, adjust your dog’s food accordingly.
A good way to decide on the quality of dog food ingredients is to look at any feeding trials performed on a particular brand of food. Choose a dog food brand that statistically outperforms the competition, and don’t be afraid to contact the dog food manufacturer directly. (Note that feeding trials aren’t the only way that a dog food brand can establish that it meets minimum AAFCO standards, though. Nutritional analysis is another method by which dog food brands can test the nutrition of their products.)
Newer dog food brands might not have many clinical studies or feeding trials, as studies require time to undertake and evaluate. This doesn’t mean they aren’t a quality dog food, but it’s smart to confirm that the company employs a board-certified veterinary nutritionist on its staff. This suggests that the company is knowledgeable about dog nutritional needs and how to formulate a product that meets requirements.
Newer dog food brands might not have many clinical studies or feeding trials, as studies require time to undertake and evaluate. This doesn’t mean they aren’t a quality dog food, but it’s smart to confirm that the company employs a board-certified veterinary nutritionist on its staff. This suggests that the company is knowledgeable about dog nutritional needs and how to formulate a product that meets requirements.
