Best dog food for IBS

The best dog food for IBS is a highly digestible homemade diet made with fresh ingredients. Nutritious, easily absorbed food that will be gentle on your dog’s troubled digestive system and help your pet on the road to recovery.

Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS is becoming an increasing problem amongst today’s dog population. In so many ways, canine health problems are mirroring health problems currently being experienced by human beings. Sad to relate, the root cause of most of them is a poor diet.

In the case of dogs, that means low-quality commercial dog food made with cheap fillers and questionable ingredients. Ingredients that provide insufficient healthy nutrition and make matters worse by fuelling inflammation.

What is canine IBS

IBS or irritable bowel syndrome is an extremely painful medical condition where your dog’s intestinal muscles don’t function as they should.

Mainly affecting the large intestine, IBS is said by some in the veterinary profession to be a diagnosis of exclusion. That means a disorder, in this case a digestive disorder, which cannot be directly attributed to any one thing. A general term used for a digestive order causing abdominal pain, diarrhoea and or constipation. Exactly the same symptoms as so many canine disorders. Which is why any number of otherwise unattributable canine digestive disorders are likely to be labelled IBS.

What causes canine IBS

There are two principle causes of canine irritable bowel syndrome. It can be stress related and it can be caused by a poor diet.

While IBS in dogs can be caused by stress, in my experience as a canine nutritionist, the main cause of IBS is food related. An inappropriate diet for your dog, which generally means dry commercial dog food which aggravates your dog’s digestive tract. Otherwise known as kibble, dry commercial dog food is known to cause inflammation to a dog’s intestinal lining which can result in an intolerance to fat.

Traditional IBS treatment

For most vets, their treat of choice for your dog’s IBS is likely to be medication followed by a dry so-called prescription diet. Both of which are completely counterintuitive as far as I’m concerned.

Medication is going to treat the symptom and not address the cause, which means that the underlying cause will still remain. And when dry commercial dog food is likely to have caused IBS in your dog, why would yet another dry dog food be the answer to your dog’s digestive problem?

I’m sorry, but a high-fibre, carbohydrate-rich dry dog food made with inferior protein sources is never going to be the solution to your dog’s IBS. The best it will do is make your dog’s stool firmer by absorbing the moisture from its colon. It will address the symptoms, it will mask the symptoms, but your dog’s IBS will still remain and potentially worsen.

And medication is never, ever going to cure your dog’s irritable bowel syndrome. It will interfere with your dog’s natural gut flora and only cause further digestive problems. Medication is not a cure – for IBS or anything else!

Proper IBS treatment

If you truly want to heal your dog’s irritable bowel syndrome, you need to change to a more species-appropriate diet. Either a raw or a lightly cooked, homemade diet.

If your dog appears to be suffering from IBS, please contact me for a consultation. We will work together to find a gentle, natural solution to your dog’s digestive disorder. Not with drugs. Not with potentially damaging steroids. But with natural, fresh healthy food that will improve your dog’s health immeasurably!

If of course you’re looking for a simpler and more immediate solution to your dog’s irritable bowel syndrome, I have written an immediately downloadable Digestive Problems Feeding Guide. It will guide you in preparing a healthy homemade diet for your best friend.

Whichever you choose, I am certain that between us we can make your dog’s wretched IBS a thing of the past!