Nom Nom Blog

Pet Health & Immunity — A Gut Test

Monday, April 13, 2020

By Kyle Bunthuwong

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Health. It’s a very hot topic right now. But we’re not going to blog about what you think we’re going to — we’re covering the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in a different entry.

Today, we’d like to bring up your pet’s immune system. And how you can support it.

The immune system, a crash course

In our pets, just like in all of us, a healthy immune system acts like the virus protection program on your computer. It not only identifies and eliminates potential intruders, like bacteria, fungi and parasites, but it also monitors cells to make sure they’re working properly.

When this system is compromised, our pets’ bodies become increasingly vulnerable to illness. Left in that state, the system can open the door to infections or long-term, and sometimes fatal, health problems like diabetes, heart conditions, and cancer.

About 70% of the system lives in the gut

“The gut contains an extraordinary amount of immune cells, and these cells are in constant interaction with the microorganisms of the gut, collectively known as the microbiome,” says our Director of Microbiology Dr. Ryan Honaker. “As a result, these bacteria and other microorganisms have a very strong influence on the health of your pet's immune system.”

So, what pets eat can help immunity

“As with all systems in the body, immune health requires and benefits from a variety of essential nutrients,” says Shmalberg.

Fresh diets, like Nom Nom, contain many of these nutrients naturally as well as added bio-resourced vitamins and minerals. These fresh diets are highly digestible, which can help the body absorb critical amino acids, fats and other nutrients.

Please excuse us while we humblebrag about just a few of the immune supporting nutrients you will find in our Nom Nom diets.

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Diet, plus regular exercise and play, can help keep up immune defenses in your pet. If you want to check out their current gut health, our at-home Microbiome Testing Kit is a great way to get recommendations on diet and supplements to proactively protect their health.

And to us, that’s the kind of good news we need right now.