Gut Health Is Behaviour Health
5 cards · about a minute
The line between them
The vagus nerve runs from gut to brain and carries far more traffic upward than down, which is why a sore gut turns up as a mood before it turns up as a symptom.
Serotonin lives downstairs
Most of the body’s serotonin is made in the lining of the gut rather than in the brain, one reason gut trouble and mood trouble so rarely arrive separately.
What it looks like at home
A dog who has turned snappy over the bowl, restless at night, or suddenly desperate for grass is often telling you about digestion, not temperament.
Change the bowl first
Before you change the training, hold the food steady and clean for three weeks, a surprising number of behaviour problems resolve when digestion does.
Then look again
If the gut settles and the behaviour stays, you have learned something useful: it really is a behaviour question, and now it is worth a professional’s eyes.