Dog Digestion, Gas, and Diarrhea. How to Stop Your Dog from Clearing the Room!Dog digestion is the hub on which all other body systems depend. Dog digestion is the first line of defense. If your dog's food is not digested and assimilated properly, all other body systems will pay the price. The Canine Digestive System. Let's take a closer look, shall we? Previously, we spoke about your dogs digestive system being similar to your own. It is, but is isn't. It is similar, but with a few major differences. The organs and body systems are the same. The chemistry and to some degree the structure of those systems are different. The most obvious difference is your dog's teeth. Think of what your dog would eat in the wild if he were left to fend for himself. He has little small teeth in the front for scraping meat off of bones. He has fangs to hold and tear the meat. His big incisors are for cutting the food to the right size. The large molars at the back of his mouth are for grinding. Humans chew their food. For this purpose our mouths secrete enzymes. These enzymes help to pre break down the food in your mouth, before it goes to the stomach. Dogs don't chew. So your dog does not produce enzymes in his mouth. Also, your dog cannot move his jaw from side to side, and so chewing is impossible. His jaw is like a hinge. It only moves in one direction, up and down. Therefore the food goes straight from the mouth, lubricated by saliva and guided by the tongue down the esophagus. The esophagus is the connecting tube to the stomach. It is a muscle and contracts to move the food along the path to the stomach. You can see where the expression 'wolfing down' your food comes from. Once the food reaches the storage area called the stomach it is further broken down into a very thick liquid called chyme. The job of the stomach is to take care of preliminary digestion. It does this with enzymes and hydrochloric acid... a very strong chemical. The stomach works like a cement mixer, mixing and grinding and liquifying the food. The stomach prepares the food for complete digestion in the small intestine. The environment in your dog's stomach is extremely acidic... about 1-2 PH. It would burn your hand if you were to touch it. This is way more acidic than human stomach acid which is about 5 PH. Along with this acid, and some enzymes the stomach breaks the food down into a usable form. The lining of your dog's stomach is covered with a thick mucus. This prevents the stomach from digesting itself, due to the strong acid. The small intestine is the next stop on the journey of dog digestion. Basically, the small intestine is a long hollow tube. It is about four times the length of your dog's body. The lining of the small intestine has millions of little finger type things called villi. These little villi increase the surface area of the small intestine to better assimilate and absorb nutrients. Within the small intestines there are openings that let digestive juices enter from the pancreas and gallbladder. The pancreas secretes enzymes that help to further break down proteins. The pancreas is also an endocrine gland that regulates blood sugar. The gallbladder stores and regulates the release of bile. Bile is needed to break down fats. The main job of the small intestine is to absorb nutrients from the liquid food that has been broken down. The canine intestinal system is shorter than that of a human. This is because for proper dog digestion your dog needs a faster passing time for all the protein he requires. Almost all nutrients are absorbed from the small intestines into the blood. The small intestines provide nutrients to all parts of the body through the blood stream. You can see that this is a crucial role to play in good dog digestion. The blood carries nutrients and oxygen to every last little cell in your dogs body. Last but not least is the large intestine. The large intestine has the important job of saving water and electrolytes from the food that has passed through the whole system. It is in the large intestine that feces are formed and stored. In addition, bacteria is produced to help break down the very last hard to digest material. This is where things can start to go wrong if something up to this point is not right. Food that is not digested properly will create gas and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting. Have you ever been in a room with a dog who has just passed gas? I'm sure you have, we've all been there. Dog gas...whew, who needs it? My boy Jack, looks around as if to blame one of us, and then he gets up and leaves the room. More on Jack's digestive issues later. Please realize that, if your dog's food is not digested completely, the nutrition from food will not be assimilated. You might have heard the expression... You are what you eat. More accurately it should say...you are what you assimilate. The same expression goes for your dog. If you are ever confronted with a dog health issue, you need not look any further than your dogs digestive system. A poorly functioning digestive system, directly affects your dog's immune system, on which everything else depends. Generally, dog digestion time, takes about seven to ten hours. That's dog digestion in a nutshell. Things you need to remember... ~ Dog digestion is the hub on which the health of all other body systems depend. ~ Dogs do not chew. ~ The stomach processes the food into a usable form ( chyme ) for entry into the small intestine. ~ The small intestine provides nutrients to all body parts through absorption into the blood. ~ Bacteria is produced in the large intestine to break down very hard to digest material. The choice is yours. You can now...
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