Your Dog's Gut Health: Everything you Need to Know

The best and easiest thing to adapt for a dog's gut health is their diet. A healthy, complete diet with additional, supportive gut health supplements can help maintain and restore your dog's gut health. Healthy dog food is packed with high quality, lean proteins, natural superfoods, including nutritious fruits and veggies that help nourish your dog's gut and, most importantly, their gut microbiome. Added prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics help maintain or restore balance to their gut microbiome, and keep their gut and the rest of their body in tip top shape.

Signs of poor gut health in dogs can stem from both the physical health of their gut and digestive tract, and their microbial health, or a mixture of both. Either way, they often display similar symptoms which indicate that something's not quite right with your dog's insides, including: - Diarrhoea - Vomiting - Lethargy - Reduced appetite - Signs of tummy pain or slight bloating Signs of an unbalanced microbiome, or dysbiosis, can specifically cause other symptoms across the body, like - Itchy skin - Hair loss - Joint issues - Smelly farts - Bad breath - Anal gland issues - Stress & Anxiety - Constipation - Variable stools If any of these symptoms are persistent or particularly worrying (especially when paired with the presence of blood, a complete refusal to eat and extreme lethargy), be sure to check in with your vet.

Many dog-safe superfoods can be incorporated into their everyday diet to help improve your dog's gut health at home, with Kefir being at the top of the list. Packed with Lactobacillus, this probiotic-filled yoghurt-like treat can be fed alongside meals or spread onto a licky mat. Be sure to check feeding guidelines so you know how much to feed your specific pooch, and always check with your vet before trying a new food. If you have the go-ahead, introduce gradually, over time. For a more targeted and long-term approach to their gut health, the first step is a Gut Health Test. This helps you find out what your dog specifically needs to restore or maintain their gut health, instead of ineffective (and expensive) trial and error.

Every dog’s microbiome is unique, and it plays a vital role in digestion, immunity, skin health, energy levels, and even behaviour. This test gives you a clear picture of what’s happening inside your dog’s gut.

For some dogs, restoring the microbiome can lead to noticeable improvements right away. For others, it helps rule out gut health as the issue, so you can focus on finding the real cause of any symptoms. Either way, it takes the guesswork out and gives you evidence-based answers to guide you on what to do next.

Our recommendations are based on scientific evidence and tailored to your dog’s unique microbiome results. We only suggest supplements and dietary changes that are proven to support gut health, whether that’s improving digestion, strengthening immunity, or helping your dog feel and function at their best.

Probiotics, by definition, are live bacteria that have a known benefit to the host. This means the supplements we recommend contain carefully selected, science-backed strains that positively impact your dog’s gut health.

Some dogs may benefit from a simple diet adjustment, while others need a more tailored plan involving dietary changes, targeted supplements, and professional guidance from a vet, behaviourist, or nutritionist. Without testing, it’s difficult to know which approach is right.

Even small imbalances in the gut can lead to bigger issues over time. By following the targeted support we recommend, you’re using data-driven, personalised care — not guesswork. It’s the most effective way to help your dog’s gut recover and stay healthy long term.

Our approach is based on a carefully designed, staged 6-month supplement plan aimed at modulating your dog’s microbiome for lasting benefits. While any probiotic can offer short-term advantages, those benefits tend to be temporary if the gut environment isn’t optimised to support the probiotic bacteria long term. In other words, without modulating the microbiome, probiotic strains remain transient visitors rather than becoming stable residents.

By using a combination of supplements and interventions every 8 weeks over 6 months, we help create a gut environment that supports lasting positive changes in your dog’s microbiome.

That said, many factors like illness, stress, diet changes, or medications can affect the microbiome. Continuing with a maintenance phase (Phase 3) helps ensure your dog’s gut remains balanced and resilient against future challenges.

No, you're under no obligation whatsoever - however we do strongly recommend them so your dog can reap the benefits. Different dogs need different levels of support, and everything we recommend is tailored on the back of their Gut Health Test results. We do offer flexible plans and options on our products, to make them accessible to everybody.

Scoop, seal, send. After your dog poops, use the scoop included to collect a bean-sized sample, seal the tube, complete your Activation Quiz and pop it in the post using our pre-paid envelope. It should only add about 30 seconds to your usual morning dog routine.

Most customers notice visible changes in their dogs (such as improved digestion, firmer stools, or better mood) within 3 to 4 weeks. Changes in the microbiome itself typically become measurable from around 6 weeks, so we recommend sticking with the plan for at least this amount of time to give the gut time to rebalance properly.

Gut microbiome testing is beneficial at any life stage, and each age group has its own reasons for testing.

- Puppies: The early months are a crucial window for immune and gut development. Testing a puppy’s microbiome can help ensure they’re off to the best possible start, especially if they’ve had antibiotics, an upset tummy, or difficulty adjusting to new foods. Early intervention helps lay the foundation for long-term health.

- Adult dogs: From around 2 years of age, microbiome diversity naturally begins to decline. Testing in adulthood allows you to optimise your dog’s diet and support their microbiome at a time when it’s no longer adapting and diversifying as rapidly. It’s particularly useful if there are concerns around digestion, allergies, energy levels, or stool quality.

- Senior dogs: In older dogs, reduced microbiome diversity is associated with issues like poor immune resilience, lower energy, and changes in digestion and metabolism. Testing allows for proactive health support as your dog ages, helping to target interventions that maintain quality of life, such as joint support, energy balance, and better nutrient absorption.

Whatever your dog’s age, microbiome testing is a powerful tool if you’re unsure whether their current diet is optimal, or if you’re noticing subtle signs of digestive imbalance.

No. These tests analyse the bacterial composition of the gut microbiome, not parasites (a different type of organism). If you suspect a parasitic infection, it’s important to consult your vet. That said, both current and past parasite infections can disrupt the gut ecosystem and can lead to lasting microbial imbalances. Our Gut Health Test can help identify and address that imbalance through microbiome support.

The quiz is based on general trends in our data, whereas the test shows what’s happening inside your dog. For personalised care, a Gut Health Test is essential!