The kids are out of school for the summer and vacations are in full swing. Maybe your 4-legged family member will be making the trips with you or maybe you will choose to board. The common thread between all of this is change and how your dog handles it.

We were once told a story of someone telling us about their 3 dogs. She told us each of the dog’s breeds and then said the one dog had just developed allergies after a recent move. Our response was it must be the Labrador. She said, “How did you know it was the Labrador?” We mentioned that Labradors often don’t seem to handle change in environment well. The joke about Labradors is that you don’t know how much of the world is edible until you own a Labrador!

The microbiome (gut flora) of the dog does not like change, whether that change is environmental, stress, water, medication or food! Keeping a stable healthy microbiome is key to avoiding health problems like loose stools or caused by Candida yeast, like ear infections. The best way to stay a step ahead of change is by being proactive with a palatable powdered probiotic/prebiotic supplement like a Fido-Vite supplement.

A 2017 study reported in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine by Rose, Rose, Gosling & Holmes showed a significant reduction in diarrhea when a probiotic/prebiotic was proactively used on seemly healthy dogs going into a shelter situation. This thought process can be applied to any change that can disrupt the microbiome. It is recommended when changing dog food, that the new food should be mixed with the old food to minimize change. Changing food often to improve the overall diet is definitely fine, just remember some dogs will handle this better than others and adding a Fido-Vite supplement to the diet will make the changes all the easier. This is why we recommend starting Fido-Vite supplements very slowly. Not everything is going to work immediately, so we want to hold some things back until other things can catch up, avoiding transitional problems!

So, if your dog is looking at change in the future, being proactive with a probiotic/prebiotic powder like a Fido-Vite supplement can reduce the chances of your dog having a health issue caused by sudden changes the microbiome doesn’t like!