Ep. 106 If your pet has diarrhea... w/ Dr Alyssa Sullivant

In this episode of the Family Pet Podcast, hosts Michael and Stephen discuss gut health with Dr. Alyssa Sullivant, an expert in veterinary internal medicine. The conversation covers the importance of gut health for pets, the role of the microbiome, and the processes of digestion and absorption. Dr. Sullivant explains the functions of different parts of the digestive tract, emphasizing the significance of the colon and the microbiome in maintaining overall health. The episode provides valuable insights for pet owners on how to support their pets' gastrointestinal health. In this conversation, Dr. Sullivant discusses the complexities of gastrointestinal health in pets, focusing on diarrhea, its causes, and treatment options. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding gut health, the role of probiotics, and the future of veterinary care in managing gastrointestinal issues. Dr. Sullivant emphasizes the need for pet owners to be prepared and aware of red flags that may indicate more serious health concerns.

Keywords

pet health, gut health, microbiome, digestion, veterinary medicine, canine health, feline health, pet care, gastrointestinal health, pet owners, pet health, diarrhea, gut health, probiotics, veterinary care, pet owners, gastrointestinal issues, pet nutrition, microbiome, pet wellness

Transcript

Family Pet Podcast (03:16.272)
Welcome into the Family Pet Podcast, the podcast for curious pet parents where we believe the more you know about pet healthcare, the better pet parent you can be. I'm your host, Michael Shirley, joined as always by my brother and co-host, Stephen. Welcome, brother. Hello, Michael. How are you feeling? I am feeling great. It's not the case in my household for another family member. yeah. Is Elizabeth feeling okay? Elizabeth says fine. Although she wants to.

Alyssa Sullivant (03:39.789)
Okay.

Family Pet Podcast (03:43.947)
She's very sleepy because we have been dealing with a dog with diarrhea and the 3 a.m. scratch, scratch. It's time to get up. Well, it's really nice. It's really nice of Maverick that he scratches at the door. It is. It beats the alternative. I don't think my dogs would do that. So they would just leave a surprise that you might step in. But it was very appropriate timing for today's podcast episode, which we had scheduled well before.

He's had his issues. Maverick was just trying to give you intro material for the podcast. He gave me lots of content material for this podcast episode. sure did. Lots of content. yes. He released a lot of content. Out of both ends. goodness. Well, today we have Dr. Alyssa Sullivan on the podcast. She is an assistant clinical professor at Mississippi State University, Hail State. Dr. Sullivan, welcome in.

Alyssa Sullivant (04:41.943)
Hail State! Hey guys!

Family Pet Podcast (04:44.564)
have to say that versus what my brother always says, who our brother always says the next part. refers to another institution in Mississippi. This is a family podcast, so we won't say that today.

Alyssa Sullivant (04:52.712)
I know.

Alyssa Sullivant (04:57.475)
Yeah, we're just we're put it this way. We're hopeful for basketball season.

Family Pet Podcast (05:01.654)
That's right. The eternal. Yes. When's the next seat? Yeah. When we switch in. Well, I actually enjoyed a trip down to Starkville, Mississippi a few years ago, because my alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University played Mississippi State there. And it was fun. We had a good little road trip. My brother and I went together. It was fun. Yeah, there you go. Well, we appreciate you joining us on the podcast today that as Stephen and I.

Alyssa Sullivant (05:21.082)
Okay, yeah, we love Stark Vegas.

Family Pet Podcast (05:28.936)
already kind of alluded to in our intro, we're going to be talking about gut health for our pets. So why are we talking to you about that?

Alyssa Sullivant (05:37.376)
gosh, my daughter would ask me, you talking about diarrhea again? I do love the GI tract and as an internist, I get to deal with all organs, but I've always kind of had a fascination with the GI tract. And so that's what a lot of my CE talks are on, GI health. And it's what's really exciting. And I'm no researcher, but I have.

Family Pet Podcast (05:41.311)
What a...

Alyssa Sullivant (06:00.192)
mad respect for the research that's occurred in the area of gut health over the last decade. And so really what's come out in veterinary medicine has changed what we do as veterinarians, as clinicians, what we teach, and really what we think about is going on in the canine and the feline GI tract.

Family Pet Podcast (06:16.886)
I don't think I mentioned this, but you are a boarded veterinarian and the listeners of the Family Pet podcast, they're above average pet owners. know They're well above They know what boarded means, but your board certification is in internal medicine, correct?

Alyssa Sullivant (06:31.014)
That's right, internal medicine. did private practice for a while and then I came back to do a specialization in internal medicine.

Family Pet Podcast (06:37.458)
And internal medicine, what does that cover? And then is gut health just a part of that or is it a big part of that?

Alyssa Sullivant (06:43.161)
Yeah, yeah, it's the former. It's a part of it really for all organ functions. So internists treat kind of chronic or stubborn or really wild diseases of organ systems. And GI medicine, very rampant in private practice and then also even in specialty practice. And so what this looks like from the gut aspect is general practitioners see a lot of the common

simple to complicated GI disturbances and when they just don't respond to therapy or it keeps coming back, that easily ends up on our doorsteps as internists to do a little bit deeper dive and work up some of these chronic diseases.

Family Pet Podcast (07:24.31)
All right. So we talked about, come on. So Michael, the video. I don't know if anybody watching on the video saw, but I showed him a little piece of paper. It said, don't say so. It's his, it's his interest. We all have them. It's, it's my tick. And my other one is circling back. Let's, want to circle back to that later. I circle back to something you said earlier. Ask her a question. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. did mean to interrupt. Now I can't get it out of my head. So.

Alyssa Sullivant (07:38.905)
Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Sullivant (07:47.043)
Thanks

Alyssa Sullivant (07:52.406)
Okay.

Family Pet Podcast (07:53.214)
You mentioned the phrase, and we've said it several times, gut health. What does that mean? Simplify that or explain that to our

Alyssa Sullivant (08:00.29)
Yeah, let's unpack that a bit. The gut health, that term just simply is referring to the ability of the gut to do its job. And that is to remove nutrients, foodstuffs along the GI tract at the perfect time, the perfect rate to extract, if you will, the nutrients from the food that that pet takes in.

And that sounds simple, but it's actually a really elegant, complicated process of lots of nerve movement and muscle movements, appropriate digestion. And really at end of the day, this is hugely impactful to the rest of the body because those nutrients that the GI tract is providing for the rest of the body, it's really what's necessary for that body to grow, thrive, survive, heal, repair.

And so we take that for granted that the gut is doing that really from mouth to the back end right all day long with what we eat and what our pets eat. What's really surged in the last decade is the role of the microbiome and so the organisms within the GI tract, the role they play in maintaining this gut health that we talk about. So not only the long known

process of digestion and movement and getting nutrients to the rest of the body, but really what's going on inside that's some things that are dictated by that microbiome again. So the microbiome now goes hand in hand with gut health.

Family Pet Podcast (09:28.032)
I've always considered the gut to be the intestines. Is that, am I wrong there or, okay.

Alyssa Sullivant (09:31.807)
Yep. So technical terms, the intestines would be kind of the squirrely little, windy, duodenum, jejunum, ileum. So technically it's the mouth that's part of the digestive tract or the gut, stomach, esophagus, stomach, intestines, colon. But yeah, you we say gut or GI tract or intestines, and we usually are talking about

the same thing but there are various parts of it you know again walking from the mouth all the way down to the colon different parts that have different jobs in getting those food stuffs through the GI tract and digesting. And the bacteria differ in each section but they're there in all of those sections of the GI tract.

Family Pet Podcast (10:08.992)
Can you talk?

Family Pet Podcast (10:17.344)
They're bacteria in the, I mean, I knew it, bacteria in the mouth because you're like, it's dirty breath. then, but so the esophagus portion has the bacteria that pick up.

Alyssa Sullivant (10:26.609)
Yeah, is what's fascinating. So these bacteria, they serve a role. They are there from really quickly after birth and really mature in the dog to kind of what they'll be in adulthood by even a few months of age. And there they inhabit, they live there, they're good bugs. They determine the health of the whole GI tract, yeah, including the mouth. Encephalus, honestly, I don't know that that's been looked at a lot, but I'm certain there are some good bacteria there.

Lots in the stomach, lots in the intestines, and a ton of them in the colon.

Family Pet Podcast (11:01.536)
think it's really important that our listeners have a basic understanding of what the role of each part of that system plays. if you could, a short little summary, the mouth. What is the function of the mouth in this system?

Alyssa Sullivant (11:18.099)
Yeah, I love that. So the mouth is going to obviously pre-hand or taking the nutrients in and getting it right back to the pharynx so it can be swallowed down. And actually the beginning of digestion happens in the mouth. So the early digestion is gonna start particularly of carbohydrates in the mouth.

Family Pet Podcast (11:34.92)
And I know we talk about saliva, dogs are slobbering stuff. Is that just to help the swallowing process or do we start to introduce enzymes and things in our saliva?

Alyssa Sullivant (11:37.823)
You

Alyssa Sullivant (11:44.028)
Both. Yep, both. The saliva's got some nice digestive enzymes. It kind of keeps things lubricated and helps it get down the pipes, if you will. The esophagus is really kind of just a transient area. It's gonna transport that food into the stomach, and the stomach's gonna hold that food in for sometimes two, three, four more hours, but it's gonna begin a lot of protein digestion. And it's gonna empty at a very coordinated time into the intestines.

There's actually lots of crosstalk between these organs, which is fascinating. And so we'll call these reflexes, but the stomach and the beginning of the intestines, they do communicate and the stomach is going to begin protein digestion, start breaking it down into small parts that can enter into the intestines. And it's really throughout the intestines where the bulk of absorption and digestion are occurring.

Family Pet Podcast (12:35.446)
Okay, so what is the difference between digestion and absorption?

Alyssa Sullivant (12:40.475)
Yeah, so digestion is the term we used talking about breaking down that, let's say a dog bone or a meal of kibble as the process of breaking that down into the smallest pieces possible. If you flash back to high school science where we talk about amino acids and fatty acids and glucose, those small pieces that make up these foods, all the foods that we eat and our pets eat. And so that digestion is taking that

from its whole kibble or dog treat into those tiny pieces and it's those tiny particles that eventually by the end of the intestines are what's left over and can readily be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Family Pet Podcast (13:25.206)
We move from the stomach into the small intestine. And the small intestine is significant. I've seen them do surgery and the small intestine, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago where they just keep pulling and pulling, pulling. How much space in our small intestine or in the pet small intestine versus the... And you mentioned that there was a beginning and an end. is there different things happening?

Alyssa Sullivant (13:38.553)
Yeah, lots of real estate there. Lots of real estate.

Alyssa Sullivant (13:49.923)
it's, yeah.

Family Pet Podcast (13:54.93)
in different sections of the small intestine.

Alyssa Sullivant (13:57.039)
Yeah, the duodenum is the beginning of the small intestine and it's closest to the stomach. So another way to say that is the stomach empties into the duodenum. That's the first stop in the small intestines. There's a lot of digestion there of fats and fats are hard to digest. And that's actually one of the reasons when you have an upset GI tract or your pets do something easily digestible usually means something easy for that GI tract to break down and fats are just a little tricky.

And so fat digestion is occurring in that first part of the intestine, along with proteins and carbohydrates. And then as we cruise along the rest of the intestines, we hit the jejunum and the ileum. And they also, they take smaller and smaller or break down the food into smaller and smaller pieces. And by the time you hit the end of the small intestine, everything is pretty much absorbed into the bloodstream for nutrients. That goes to the rest of the body.

Family Pet Podcast (14:53.942)
And so once we leave the ilium, we enter into the large intestine or...

Alyssa Sullivant (14:57.401)
The large intestine, affectionately known as the colon, yes, which it probably doesn't get as much, it's not as glamorous, right? But it is an impressive storage area. And from a gut health standpoint, that's really where the majority of the microbiome, where the bacteria are. And they're, yeah, they're doing some magical work. the...

Family Pet Podcast (15:05.43)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Family Pet Podcast (15:17.878)
And what's in there? Yeah.

Alyssa Sullivant (15:22.815)
Not only what I mentioned earlier, the gut health is determined, of controlled and dictated, those movements of nerves and muscles and digestion, what we just talked about, the bacteria in the microbiome, and I'll use that interchangeably, have a role in that. But also what they're doing is creating and promoting and sustaining a very anti-inflammatory state. And it is mostly these colonic bugs. Now,

Most of the microbiome, which is that collection of microorganisms, and I mentioned they're from the mouth all the way down through the GI tract, but most of them are in the colon. And it's 90 % bacteria, but there's 10 % of organisms like fungi, yeast, organisms we don't even really know how to fully characterize. So when we say bacteria, that's the bulk of the microbiome. And I'll just say bacteria the rest of the time, but it's the colonic bacteria.

that are doing most of the anti-inflammatory work. So not only their role in regulating the general functions of the gut, but keeping an anti-inflammatory state. And another way to say that is if the microbiome is a bit out of whack, it creates a pro-inflammatory state. So that there is actually what changed the whole therapeutic angle of GI disease over the last 10 years for us.

Family Pet Podcast (16:45.098)
need to ask one final question before we get into the details of an out of whack microbiome. We discussed the different areas of the digestion tract and I'm thinking of small particles, liquid, sounds like lot of sloshing around and stuff. But in a good day, when your dog or cat uses the bathroom, it comes out solid. So how does it turn from this mix and mash of small particles into a

Alyssa Sullivant (17:06.23)
Family Pet Podcast (17:14.58)
And you go from a small intestine and then suddenly everything gets bigger in the large intestine. What's happening?

Alyssa Sullivant (17:19.962)
Yes. Yeah, don't you remember those old show Magic School Bus where you could kind of take a journey through that? Yeah, you're right. You're right. So and again, we take these things for granted, right? That this is happening in the background and keeping us from just like squirting out this this liquid stuff, right? And so the way it goes, you're right. It's very liquidy by the time it enters the Ilium. And so the

Family Pet Podcast (17:25.142)
That's right. Yeah. We're going to drive through the industry. Don't know that I would want to drive through this part.

Family Pet Podcast (17:38.656)
Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Sullivant (17:46.07)
the doesn't get as much appreciation as it should. It's a storage area, but it's lots of water reabsorption that's happening there. And so the colon again is a lot of real estate and it has a phenomenal ability to absorb all that water in the slimy stuff that's left over from the ileum. And also these really coordinated movements of the colon that kind of contract along it to create these pockets, if you will.

of increasingly drier aspects or particles, if you will, that are formed into the feces. And so the feces are, and this is where, you know, as vets, we can talk about this openly, dog diarrhea and feces. This is regular dinner conversations, but yeah, it's fascinating. The food stuff, the body is going to kind of suck out, if you will, all the goody and the nutrients. And so what's left over by the end of the ileum is just a bunch of watery, slimy,

Family Pet Podcast (18:28.48)
This is regular dinner conversation at our house.

Alyssa Sullivant (18:43.22)
degradation products, how about that? So that's shot on into the colon and then the colon's gonna reabsorb all that water and with the special movements in the colon, they're called hostrations, they actually create these pellet-like, feces-shaped, drier particles.

Family Pet Podcast (19:03.37)
And so that's in a good, healthy, in a good, healthy gut. All right.

Alyssa Sullivant (19:06.461)
That's in a good, healthy, self-respecting gut. Yep, that takes some time and some coordination. So in an inflammatory state, the movements will actually speed up and that's gonna increase the liquid content and it doesn't give the colon the time it needs to do its thing, if you will.

Family Pet Podcast (19:27.296)
So really, when you or your pet have diarrhea, it's because the things aren't staying in the gut long enough for that water to be absorbed by your body. It's not staying in the large intestine. Yeah. Your body's not... So when people say, well, I have diarrhea, I'm dehydrated, or your pet, have to watch out for them, they have diarrhea, they're dehydrated. It's not that their body is losing the water, it's that it's not taking it up. Like it's not absorbing it.

Alyssa Sullivant (19:55.235)
Yeah, actually be a little bit of both. Yeah, so they won't absorb that water, which will end up being lost and create dehydration, but sometimes inflammation will actually trigger more secretions and make it even more watery. Yeah, so it's like this vicious cycle that can set up and some forms of diarrhea are mostly just from too fast of movement and some forms of diarrhea are from inflammation and creating more watery substances.

Family Pet Podcast (20:02.08)
Mm-hmm.

Family Pet Podcast (20:07.857)
Okay. Okay.

Alyssa Sullivant (20:22.77)
Yes, so it's a perfect storm if you will that happens and those basic functions that we talked about a lot they they aren't there you know they're impaired and we take it for granted but when they are impaired you end up with diarrhea.

Family Pet Podcast (20:37.928)
And what I had with Maverick is you have a explosive. We described it as explosive because you were talking about the large intestine is kind of squeezing and I'm assuming that at one point it's just squeezing too quickly and literally just squeezes it right out.

Alyssa Sullivant (20:59.299)
Yeah, that's exactly right. Sometimes it can be quite voluminous. And we talk a lot about as clinicians, small bowel, small intestinal diarrhea characteristics versus large bowel. And sometimes that's hard to tease out, but sometimes the problem's coming from the small intestine. Other times it's coming from the colon. And yeah, sometimes it can be either small or large bowel can be quite aggressive or voluminous.

Because again, those areas are holding a lot of water and they're holding the capacity to have a pretty significant contraction.

Family Pet Podcast (21:35.67)
Stephen had an unfortunate Steve. Well, Stephen didn't have to deal with this. His wife did cause he was a, a way out of town when a dog has a or cat has diarrhea and the pet owners like, I don't know what to do. it what should they do? And then how does, how do you, as the veterinarian and the UXC see the extreme cases, I guess, but how do the veterinarians go about deciding what part of this gut journey is out of whack?

Alyssa Sullivant (22:03.043)
Yeah, that's a great question. One of the things, a couple different concepts, diarrhea is so common in dogs and cats and a lot of those common reasons are what we call self-limiting, meaning in a day or two with a little supportive care, it's gone.

Sometimes we're able to identify maybe a different food they got into or something outside or swallowed something they shouldn't. Sometimes that's readily identifiable, but other times it's not. So it's a very common thing in veterinary medicine for pets to come in for diarrhea that again what we call, I call them affectionately the happy squirters. They're eating, they're happy, no pain.

just have developed this onset of diarrhea and within one or two days it'll go away. Now the other category of diarrhea is the chronic refractory relapsing, what I call the sad squirters, which usually are gonna involve a little bit more workup. So back to your question, vets are really keen on how fast did this happen? Was there some inciting trigger? We can put our finger on.

Or is there some other things they're detecting on their exam or the history questions that just allude to maybe a little bit more severe problem? I call these red flags. Not eating, dehydrated, maybe they're painful in their belly when they're palpate, fever, some of those weight loss, those are what we call red flags. And so that's what vets are looking for when they approach these pets with diarrhea. Is it what we call acute, meaning this just came on?

Or is it chronic? Is this a problem that's been ongoing and coming back and forth? And those two subsets are very different in how we approach those therapeutically and diagnostically.

Family Pet Podcast (23:49.95)
Is the initial treatment for a self-limiting case of diarrhea versus a chronic case, is the initial treatment the same or different?

Alyssa Sullivant (24:00.191)
It's different, the initial treatment for what I would call the happy squirters, their first time offense, know, often we're doing things to just support that GI tract. Usually we're giving them a blander diet, so something easily to digest. And nowadays with all the knowledge we have of how important the microbiome is for the gut health, we're often doing something to support that. Because again, remember those create a very...

anti-inflammatory state. So if we can do something to boost or encourage that microbiome kind of back to its status quo, and we do that with things like probiotics, prebiotics, fibers. So those are often in 2024, a very common move for a bland diet, something easily digestible, as well as something to help that microbiome. Now, as we cruise into the chronic forms, we still use some of those principles for the acute,

but obviously lots of other therapies and diagnostics for those.

Family Pet Podcast (24:58.718)
I have my favorite item from my... I have it in my house. have four boxes.

Alyssa Sullivant (25:00.811)
You keep it on hand.

Alyssa Sullivant (25:06.429)
in my refrigerator I have some probiotics and in my shelves I also have some NutriMax products like that. Yep.

Family Pet Podcast (25:14.294)
For those that are not watching the video feed, Stephen, describe what is in your hand. have a box, it's pink, it's Proviable Forte, digestive health supplement. I have it for the primary reason is if Maverick ever has diarrhea, in this box there's this little syringe of Proviable KP is what it's labeled. It's just a little paste like toothpaste and you...

You select how much you're going to give and you just put it on the food. it, I, the way I describe it to clients who call with, who have pets who have diarrhea, said, Hey, we're going to get you this, but until we can get you seen, I just kind of describes it's a pace that absorbs the water or helps absorb the water in the gut to help firm up the stool. Is he correct? good job.

Alyssa Sullivant (25:54.174)
Yep.

Yep, that's that's spot on. you know, we talked about look at this. This is someone who has clearly suffered from a pet diarrhea. And isn't it funny how it always happens after midnight, very frequently after midnight? No, that's spot on the

Family Pet Podcast (26:09.628)
Way to go, Stephen. Where's the sound effect clapping? He doesn't know which one it is. it works.

Family Pet Podcast (26:24.351)
Right.

Alyssa Sullivant (26:28.906)
And what we've seen therapeutically after all of the amazing research and very impactful research of the microbiome, again, you've seen a shift in veterinary products and the we treat things with those products like you described that are probiotics or prebiotics. And in that product you're speaking about proviable, Neutromax makes it, it's a kit. And in that kit has

some of the probiotics, those natural organisms and some prebiotic fibers, but the KP, it's a kaolin paste. And kaolin is a long, I mean, it's been used for centuries. And it absorbs actually some of that extra watery stuff that is accumulating in these diarrhea patients. So it will actually work pretty fast within usually 24 hours to kind of slow down some of that watery diarrhea.

So it's attractive for pet owners to have that in almost as the quickest way possible to stop some of this diarrhea. Because it's going to take a day or two for some of the probiotic organisms to kind of colonize and dig into the GI tract and start being beneficial. So in that lag time between when the probiotics can really kick in, that kaolin is an adsorbent that's a nice addition in there to slow down, like you said, some of that watery component.

Family Pet Podcast (27:46.806)
I mentioned it and I'm going to say it again to all of our listeners. I recommend this to our clients who call. Pick up and have a box of this at home. Don't get in a situation where it's 10 o'clock at night and your dog starts developing diarrhea and you have nothing to do until your clinic opens at seven until you can get it.

Alyssa Sullivant (28:08.687)
Yeah, it's a desperate feeling. I've been there. Yeah, I've been like a wild animal in the trash in my cupboard looking for something. And it's cheaper than an ER visit too.

Family Pet Podcast (28:16.36)
at four bucks. What about for our cat owner cat families out there? Was there something like this for them?

Alyssa Sullivant (28:23.803)
Yeah, absolutely. There are probiotic products. There's proviable for cats. There are several products out there through veterinary companies that are for both dog and cat. So we know almost as much about the cat microbiome as the dog. They seem very similar and there seems to be applications very similar in our cat friends as in our dogs.

Family Pet Podcast (28:45.866)
And are the causes for chronic GI issues similar to cat for cats as we've talked about with dogs?

Alyssa Sullivant (28:51.778)
Yeah, they are really similar. Now, for all my cat people out there, always say that cats have a little more self-respect than dogs, and so they're not so bad at getting into really ridiculous things as much as dogs are. So the self-limiting, because they got into something, is a little bit less common in cats because they're just not as bad as dogs about getting into things. But yeah, overall pretty similar.

Family Pet Podcast (29:00.233)
Yeah.

Family Pet Podcast (29:14.89)
His cats are. Yeah, my wife's cats. They're not my cats. They're my wife's cats. Dr. Shirley's cats are notorious for getting into everything. Yes, they love when we bring home the groceries. like they hide. And then as soon as I go out to get the next bags, they're in the groceries looking for bell peppers. I mean, it's just random. The things that they like to eat. It's potatoes. They love potatoes. Yeah, it's very strange.

Alyssa Sullivant (29:25.563)
Mm.

Alyssa Sullivant (29:36.581)
yeah, cats. Wow, I had a cat one time that loved blueberry muffins. Very random, very random. Yeah, Cats are ninjas though, know, cats are ninjas. They do a lot of covert ops.

Family Pet Podcast (29:45.59)
There you go. mean, who doesn't love blueberry muffins?

We've talked a lot, I think we've done a really great job of educating people about the gut and the different functions and areas. Is there anything that we haven't touched on that you would want our pet owners to know, our curious pet parents at home?

Alyssa Sullivant (30:11.236)
Yeah, I think a question I get a lot when I do CE talks and I love this question because I think it's just, people's wills are turning about the role of the microbiome and again, how therapeutically we approach this in our pets and our patients. And so the question I always get is, you know, where's this headed in the future? And I think it's going to head in some amazing directions as far as the use of probiotics in continual release of improved

products that help our patients. And people always ask too, you know, can you give too much of this stuff? How much should you give? And a lot of this is still being worked out. We know this is a very beneficial and necessary means to treat gut health. And I think we're really only in the beginning therapeutically. So I would encourage owners to kind of embrace the changes in GI medicine and use the probiotics and

try to minimize over antibiotic use, over use of antibiotics, and just kind of stay tuned for where the research leads and what their veterinarian, how it guides them on the newest, latest, greatest approach to the microbiome and the good health.

Family Pet Podcast (31:21.364)
When the next development comes out and we ask that you reach out to us and let us know, we will give you a platform to share that with our curious pet parents out there.

Alyssa Sullivant (31:28.994)
Perfect. Yeah, I think that would be great. Yeah, it's exciting. think I think it's coming. I know where the knowledge is coming out literally on almost a daily basis basis. So very exciting.

Family Pet Podcast (31:39.388)
He'll be setting up your Google alert searches for things such as this. What's the next latest? Well, we appreciate you joining. Before we let you go. I said don't go yet. That's right. Wait, there's more. We asked our guests to provide a fun fact for our listeners at home. This is something that will help them win trivia night or at least impress their friends and family at family dinner. So, all right, Dr. Sullivan, what is your fun fact?

Alyssa Sullivant (32:02.958)
yeah, I got you, I got you. So I had to make it GI. Yeah, I had to make it GI and I had to make it nerdy. So the GI tract actually has more nerve fibers than the brain and spinal cord combined. Yeah, it's a snazzy organ.

Family Pet Podcast (32:17.257)
Really?

That's why you're like, my stomach hurts. I can now I can tell my mom. I wasn't being dramatic. have very sensitive. I have very sensitive, very nervous. It's very full of nerves. More. So again, it was more nerve fibers.

Alyssa Sullivant (32:34.241)
fibers, then the brain and spinal cord combine because embedded in that beautiful wall is tons of different types of nerves.

Family Pet Podcast (32:39.734)
Think about it.

I wonder how much longer your gut is than your spine.

Alyssa Sullivant (32:48.297)
Ooh, I would say, potentially.

Family Pet Podcast (32:52.374)
Many. That would be a lot. Yeah. I guess it depends on the animal, but for sure that's a lot. Yeah. It's wrapped around. I was going to say a horse, man. Yeah. That's crazy. Now I have a fun fact question for you. I was told on my journey to Starkville that the only escalator in the county is in the student union at Mississippi State University's bookstore. Is that right?

Alyssa Sullivant (32:53.249)
Mini, mini, mini, yeah. Yeah, in a horse. Yeah, in a horse it would be multiple feet. Yeah, pretty fascinating.

Alyssa Sullivant (33:19.36)
Mmm. I know there's one in Barnes and Noble as well. Yeah. Yeah now Barnes and Noble has only been there Maybe how Barnes and Noble isn't hasn't been there maybe maybe ten or fifteen years But I know there's an escalator because when my daughter was young, that's what she'd want to do. Just ride the Barnes and Me Two escalators. Yeah, we've doubled we've doubled

Family Pet Podcast (33:21.883)
Okay, I don't know if that existed when I visited last.

Family Pet Podcast (33:30.858)
Yeah, I think it was probably longer.

Do want to do? know that's fun. My kids like to ride. They love riding escalators. Well, good. there's now two escalators in Starkville. So that's right. A hundred percent increase. Well, we appreciate you giving us a hundred percent increase in our knowledge of gut health today. so if you have any, listeners out there, if you have a follow-up question that this has kind of spurred, reach out to us.

Alyssa Sullivant (33:52.605)
Absolutely.

Family Pet Podcast (34:01.926)
at the, what is it? The Family Pet Podcast? The Family Pet Podcast at gmail.com. That's right. Or just find us and message us. It's all good. And always if you have questions or concerns, talk to your veterinarian. Yes. That's the, that is your primary number one source. And go ahead and get your proviable on standby. Yes. Get two or three boxes to keep at home, ready to go. Dr. Sullivan, thank you so much for joining us and for all you listeners out there, stay curious.

Alyssa Sullivant (34:23.339)
Yeah, you won't regret it. Thank you.

Family Pet Podcast (34:33.642)
Perfect. All right. That's fantastic. Wait, we're going to, we're going to do our top three. Yeah. I was trying to hit record and there's not a disc. There's not a, it's in there. Why didn't it work?

Alyssa Sullivant (34:37.695)
We're gonna do our TikTok.

Family Pet Podcast (34:48.33)
there and don't worry it was recording on Riverside Riverside recording here is it full it's surely not well there's something going on surely all right here we go

Alyssa Sullivant (34:52.687)
You

Family Pet Podcast (35:02.475)
Hmm.

Family Pet Podcast (35:07.08)
If your pet has diarrhea, watch this video. This is Dr. Sullivan from Mississippi State University. Dr. Sullivan, what does every pet owner need to know if their pet has diarrhea?

Alyssa Sullivant (35:15.717)
Okay, a few things. Number one, brainstorm possible causes. The causes are often simple and self-limiting. Did they get into something? Was it a new food? Have they eaten something they shouldn't? And number two, be prepared. Go ahead and call your vet and just ask to have some probiotics or a fiber product or both on hand in case of those middle of the night incidences.

And number three, look for red flags. And these red flags are things like weight loss, feeling unwell, continued diarrhea for more than one or two episodes. So just something that tells you, hey, this is just beyond a simple diarrhea. We actually don't feel good. And in those cases, I think get into your veterinarian sooner than later is very important. Very common issue, but I think those one, two, three, brainstorm what maybe the cause was and know that usually these cases can be self-limiting.

Number two, be prepared. Have something on hand from your veterinarian and don't forget about possible red flags and this maybe being a more serious issue.

Family Pet Podcast (36:15.7)
If you want to learn more from Dr. Sullivan about helping your pet with diarrhea, check out the familypetpodcast.com.

perfect. That was great. That's good. Once one take we're done. Hey, thank you so much. And we'll let you, we'll let you know. Did we get the headshot? Not out. I, if you could please send a headshot, back to that email. Okay.

Alyssa Sullivant (36:30.223)
Yes, yeah.

Alyssa Sullivant (36:35.151)
Yes, absolutely. I'll do that right now. Yep. Awesome. Well, thanks guys. This was fun.

Family Pet Podcast (36:40.778)
I'm not talking. Yeah, there it is. Anyway, that's do have one, one button on here that works. I still work that in for Steven. So, all right. Thanks so much. Have a great day. Bye bye.

Alyssa Sullivant (36:43.387)
I'm sorry.

Alyssa Sullivant (36:49.019)
Cool. Yeah, you too. Bye.

Family Pet Podcast (36:55.39)
wait, wait, wait, but wait. so Stephen's hitting stop.

Alyssa Sullivant (36:58.127)
That's right, I do have to wait, don't I?