Does your dog suffer from a bad case of gas? Any pet owner knows that dog farts are not pleasant for anyone in the house. Your nose isn’t happy, your guests are wondering what that smell is, and clearly your dog’s tummy isn’t feeling its best. If you are wondering what to do when your dog has bad gas, you’re in the right place. We’ve put together some home remedies for dog gas that can help everyone in the home feel more comfortable.
What Causes Dog Gas?
In order to understand why these home remedies work, let’s talk about why dogs get gas in the first place. The biggest reason for dogs to have gas is that their digestive system isn’t working as well as it should be. While it is normal for some gas to happen during digestion, very excessive gas, or very smelly gas, shouldn’t be happening.
When the digestive system is trying to process something that it’s having a hard time with, the food particles are essentially sitting in the colon and fermenting. That is what causes the excessive, smelly gas that owners really want to get rid of. Improper digestion is mostly caused by what your dog is eating, but can also be caused by being obese, not getting enough exercise, and even some medical issues like having parasites or having an intestinal disease.
For most dogs, the problem falls under the categories of diet and lifestyle. Here are some home remedies for dog gas that you can use today:
Encourage Your Dog to Eat Slower
Digestion works a lot better when dogs aren’t swallowing a ton of air every time they take a bite of food. Dogs that tend to gobble their bowl up in seconds typically have this problem. You can try feeding them smaller portions at a time, using a bowl designed to slow them down with ridges that they have to navigate to eat, or even adding a small bit of water to their food so that they “lap” instead of “gobble”.
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Feed High Quality Dog Food
In many low-quality dog foods, there are fillers that do nothing except make the dog feel full. They don’t offer nutrients and they aren’t truly things dogs need to be eating. Some dogs can be very sensitive to these fillers, and even if they aren’t – not getting the nutrition they need could cause the digestive system to not work as well as it should. Choose a high quality dog food that features ingredients you recognize, like real meat, vegetables, and fruits – and stay away from those with grain fillers as the first ingredients. Ask your vet for a food recommendation if you aren’t sure where to start.
Get Your Dog Active
If your dog is overweight, or has a very sedentary lifestyle, consider working more exercise into their daily routine. Add a second walk, go to the dog park more often, or schedule a puppy play date with an energetic dog of a friend. You can even hire dog walkers similarly to calling an Uber these days with apps on your smart phone. Speak to your vet about reducing your dog’s calories to help them lose weight if they are severely overweight.
Don’t Feed Your Dog People Food
It’s tempting to slip your dog a little treat from the dinner table when they are sitting right there watching you eat – but this could be a major factor behind smelly dog farts. Human food is rarely good for dogs, primarily because of the way we cook our food. But even if you are eating a totally raw diet, there are still many food items that dogs don’t digest well. It’s best to skip the snacks from the dinner table, and instead focus on getting your dog the best quality dog food you can afford.
Create a DIY Gas X for Dogs
Dogs can benefit from natural digestive aids like ginger, yogurt, and edible peppermint oil. These three ingredients have all been shown to help reduce dog flatulence. You can feed them the yogurt, sprinkle ginger onto their food, and put a few drops of peppermint oil into their water dish, to get the benefits of all three. This works as a sort of homemade Gas X for dogs!
Consider a Digestive Aid Supplement
Finally, if changing their diet and getting them more active isn’t totally solving the issue, you can also add a supplement into their diet. Look for something that helps restore the good gut bacteria, like Vivamune. Vivamune uses beta-carotene, which helps to get rid of bad bacteria and promote the growth of good bacteria. In addition to improving their diet and lifestyle, this can be the answer you’ve been searching for when your dog has bad gas.
Related Content:
Help, I Have a Smelly Puppy!
Yuck, My Dog’s Breath Smells Fishy!
9 Vital Weeks – Caring for Your Dog During Pregnancy and Whelping
11 Reasons Olive Oil Could Be Your Dog’s Best Friend
Sources:
https://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/flatulence-farting-and-gas-problems-in-dogs
http://www.dogster.com/dog-health-care/dog-gas-when-is-it-a-problem