Maltodextrin is one of those ingredients that can look completely harmless on a dog food or supplement label. A white powder, almost tasteless, highly soluble and technologically convenient. It is used as a carrier, filler, texture improver, stabiliser or processing aid in powdered products. It is also very common in...
When a dog is diagnosed with IBD, chronic enteropathy or another serious digestive condition, it can feel as though the illness appeared overnight. Not long ago the dog seemed “perfectly healthy”, and now they suddenly have ongoing diarrhoea, foods no longer agree with them, their skin is itchy and digestion...
A dog with sensitive digestion may need a slightly different approach. If your dog often has soft stools, gas, vomiting, poor appetite, or an easily upset stomach, sensitive digestion may be part of the picture. This does not always mean one specific disease, nor does it mean that the dog...
Stool color can provide a useful clue, but a color is not a diagnosis. The whole picture matters: what the dog ate, what the stool looks like, how often the change occurs and how the dog feels overall. A dog’s stool is a kind of digestive-system report, but not a laboratory...
Some time ago, I was asked to write about which bones are suitable for which dogs. The starting point for this article was, and still is, the approach of integrative veterinarian Dr Peter Dobias, who divides bones into three groups according to purpose: for eating, for cleaning teeth, and for...
Why antibiotics are not a black-and-white issue Antibiotics can save a dog's life. At the same time, they can cause adverse effects, alter the gut microbiome and select for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The right question is therefore not whether antibiotics are good or bad, but when they genuinely benefit an individual dog. Not...
Diarrhea is one of those dog problems where the owner’s first question is very practical: what should I feed now? For years, the standard answer has been “chicken and rice.” Integrative veterinary medicine often suggests pumpkin, sweet potato or other squash instead, together with a well-tolerated lean protein. Both approaches...
When your dog has an upset stomach, the advice to “cook chicken and rice” comes faster than you can ask what caused the upset stomach in the first place. This is one of the most persistent home recommendations in the dog world. However, integrative veterinarians, including Dr. Karen Becker, have...
I have listened to and taken notes on dozens of hours of lectures by integrative veterinarians about gut health. I have collected more notes than I could possibly list. The deeper I went, the more one question stayed with me: how much can we genuinely do for our dogs' intestines,...
Does your dog keep licking the floor, carpet, sofa, or even your hands and feet? An occasional lick does not necessarily mean anything. Dogs explore the world with their mouths and noses, and a surface may simply smell interesting. But when licking becomes repetitive or intense, or it feels as...
