How Your Dog's Ears Can Indicate Gut Health Issues

Your dog's overall health might be more closely linked to their gut than you think. From muscle function to kidney health, and even behaviour, the gut plays a crucial role in maintaining both ours and our dog’s well-being. Interestingly, one of the indications of gut health can be found in their ears. Seemingly dirty or irritated ears may indicate underlying issues. Let's delve into the connection between your dog's gut health and their ears and explore how you can support their gut for better overall health.  

It all starts with the microbiome.  

The Gut Microbiome

The gut microbiome is made up of tiny organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in the body. These organisms are crucial for various functions that human and dog cells can't perform. They play a significant role in immunity and overall health. When the balance of these organisms is disrupted (too many bad guys and not enough good guys) it can lead to problems, including yeast infections. Too much yeast in the gut can move to other parts of the body, like the ears, causing infections.

This is largely caused by issues with the gut barrier. 

The Gut Barrier

The gut barrier is like a protective lining in the gut and has two parts: the physical barrier and the chemical barrier.

• Physical Barrier: This is made of connecting cells that keep harmful substances out. Inflammation or harmful bacteria can weaken this barrier, allowing harmful substances to leak through.

• Chemical Barrier: This includes a mucous layer that protects the physical barrier from bacteria and toxins. It also provides food for good bacteria. In the absence of other food (like fibre), bacteria can eat away at the mucosal layer, leaving the physical barrier unprotected. Stress can also result in degradation of this mucosal layer, again leaving the physical barrier unprotected.

When your dog’s gut is healthy, the gut barrier usually functions as it should.  Everything is where it should be and the result is optimal overall health and well-being.  When there is dysbiosis of the microbiome or inflammation and other factors like stress compromising the gut barrier, those normally harmful yeasts present in the gut can sneak their way through the “seal,” leading to invasive fungal infections.  These more commonly take hold in our dog’s ears. 

For these reasons, if you’re tackling a yeast overgrowth, it's essential to support your dog’s gut health. 

Signs your dog has yeast overgrowth in their ears:

• Foul odour, 
• Greasy to touch, 
• Discharge from ears, 
• Red/inflamed ears, 
• Excessive scratching, 

How to Support Gut Health:

• Feed a fresh food diet, 
• Consider beneficial probiotic strains, 
• Ingredients like thyme are known to support the intestinal “seal,”
• Ingredients like nettle are known to interfere with inflammatory marker production, 
• Include fibrous foods in the diet, including seeds (like pumpkin seeds), 
• Limit stressors where possible.  

Your dog's gut health is intricately connected to their overall well-being, including the health of their ears.  The composition of the gut microbiome is crucial in keeping harmful yeasts under control.  In addition, when the gut's physical and chemical barriers are compromised, harmful yeasts (and more) can leak through causing issues in other parts of the body, often manifesting as ear infections.  Signs of yeast overgrowth in your dog's ears include a foul odour, greasy texture, discharge, redness, and excessive scratching. To this end, if your dog is struggling with their ears, it's essential to first support their gut health.  We’d advocate providing a fresh food diet, including probiotics and fibrous foods along with minimising stressors or supporting stress resilience where possible. Ingredients like thyme and nettle can also help maintain gut barrier integrity and reduce inflammation.  You’ll find those key ingredients in our meal topper multi-vitamin.