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Bacterial infections are extremely common, meaning the majority of dogs are likely to have received a course of antibiotics at some point in their lifetime.
However, whilst it’s true that antibiotics do a great job in helping your dog recover, they also disrupt their gut health, particularly when it comes to the diversity and balance of their gut microbiome. This means whilst antibiotics solve one problem, they could be leading to a whole range of others!
Read on to explore more about antibiotics, what they do for your dog, how they affect your dog’s gut microbiome, and what next steps you should take to get them feeling back to their happy, healthy selves.
Your vet will prescribe antibiotics to help your dog recover from some form of bacterial infection caused by pathogenic, harmful bacteria.
Depending on the class and strength of the antibiotic, they work to kill or prevent the growth of bacteria, helping your dog to fight off the nasties and feel better.
Usually, your dog’s immune system does a good job of fighting off harmful bacteria and preventing them from taking hold on their own. But if your dog’s immune system isn’t up to scratch, or is for some reason not as strong as it should be, this is where illness or infection can occur, and antibiotics can provide a helping hand.
Where antibiotics do a good job at getting rid of the bacteria causing your dog harm, unfortunately, they can’t tell the difference between beneficial bacteria and the harmful ones.
That means, whilst they work hard at clearing out whatever’s causing illness or infection, they’re also getting rid of the crucial bacteria that support the function of your dog’s body, and their overall health and wellbeing.
This particularly impacts their gut microbiome, a part of the gut that’s home to an ecosystem, made up predominantly of bacteria.
The gut microbiome plays a key role in supporting the function and strength of the majority of your dog’s bodily processes.
These include:
For a healthy microbiome, the bacteria living within it must be rich and balanced. In other words, the bacteria must be varying in species but in equal proportions to each other. This balance is very delicate and can be knocked by a number of factors, but is especially impacted by antibiotics.
When your dog has antibiotics, they kill off the bacteria or stunt their growth, drastically knocking the balance and diversity of bacteria that live within the microbiome. An unbalanced microbiome is referred to as dysbiosis and can cause a long list of symptoms for your dog.
There are a number of factors that can knock the balance and diversity of your dog’s gut microbiome and cause dysbiosis.
Antibiotic-associated dysbiosis refers to the symptoms that stem from an unbalanced gut microbiome, caused by antibiotics.
When the gut microbiome has been cleared of all beneficial and harmful bacteria by antibiotics, it creates a big, empty, fertile field. This gives any bacteria the dog comes into contact with the opportunity to settle in (imagine like an open house!). Adding Gut Health Supplements into their diet ensures the beneficial bacteria get first dibs. Without intervention, dysbiosis and aligned symptoms can take hold.
Since it plays such an important role in the function of many bodily processes and your dog’s overall health and wellbeing, dysbiosis can lead to a number of symptoms, side effects and even long-term health conditions for your dog.
These can include:
With antibiotics often leading to dysbiosis, this can often cause a number of physical side effects.
These can include:
And where these symptoms can be signs of dysbiosis, they can also be signs of underlying health conditions. If dysbiosis has been disregarded, the antibiotic course has finished, and symptoms still persist, be sure to contact your vet.
Dysbiosis often displays the aforementioned symptoms, but can also show no symptoms at all. So, it can be difficult to know whether your dog has dysbiosis.
But, if your dog has recently or has ever been on antibiotics, we can assume that their microbiome has been affected.
The best way to explore your dog’s gut health and microbial diversity is through a Gut Health Test.
Our Pooch & Mutt Gut Health Test is an easy and accessible way to take a peek into what’s going on inside your dog’s gut. Powered by science, we’ll send you everything you need to collect a poop sample from your dog and send it off to our lab.
From their poop, we can then get a representative look at the bacteria living in their gut. Armed with information like your dog’s age, breed, medical history and lifestyle, we can provide an outlook on their gut health, microbial diversity, and how it impacts their overall health and wellbeing.
From this, we also provide a completely tailored diet and Gut Health Supplement plan that’s backed by science, so you can give your dog exactly what they need to target their problem areas.
70% of the cells that make up the immune system live within the gut, making the gut microbiome extremely important for the functioning and strength of it.
If the microbiota (group of bacteria) isn’t balanced and in equal proportion, the immune system isn’t equipped to work as it should.
The microbiome is also directly linked to the overall health of the gut, including the permeability of the gut wall. The gut wall acts as a ‘bodyguard’, letting beneficial bacteria in and out, and blocking off the nasties. When the gut is in a state of dysbiosis, the gut wall weakens, and the bodyguards aren’t able to do their job properly. This again impacts the strength of their immune system and its resilience.
When your dog’s finished their course of antibiotics, the next step is to get their microbial diversity and immune system back to fighting fit.
A Gut Health Test would be the best option to assess the state of their gut health and microbial diversity post-antibiotics. This will give a clear insight into their health and areas which need a little extra help.
We recommend waiting 1-4 weeks after antibiotic treatment to send off a sample. Since we need to extract a minimal amount of DNA, it’ll be hard to do when there is little to no bacteria present.
Once you’ve completed a successful test and got your tailored plan, it’s perfectly okay for dogs to start supplements immediately after finishing antibiotics.
For antibiotic recovery, we recommend the Gut Detoxifier and Microbiome Support supplements.
This is because, after being on antibiotics and fighting off harmful bacteria, their immune system will need particular attention. Both their gut microbiome and immune system would have been working extremely hard, and with the added impact of being stripped of both harmful and beneficial bacteria, they’ll need a boost to get back on track. This will help ensure that any other infections or harmful bacteria in the future can be fought off successfully.
Our Gut Supplement Range here at Pooch & Mutt includes everything your pooch would need to help strengthen their immune system and support the balance of their microbiome. Using natural ingredients, they’re packed with pre, pro and post biotics as well as plenty of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that help feed, grow and support beneficial bacteria.
Adding supplements and creating a healthy diet post-antibiotics will help give them the boost they need, rebuild their immune system, avoid dysbiosis and get them feeling like themselves again.
To explore what a tailored Gut Health Supplement plan would look like, check out our guide, 'Your dog's Gut Health Supplement Plan explained'.
Due to the critical role your dog’s gut microbiome plays in your dog’s overall health and wellbeing, a Gut Health Test is always beneficial and the best way to kick off their journey towards optimal health. Explore more about gut health testing and the gut microbiome, and if you have any questions, be sure to reach out to our expert team.
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