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One of the Strongest Antimicrobial Herbs For Your Dog's Gut

Writer's picture: Lyndall PinchenLyndall Pinchen



There are certain herbs that I seem to rely on regularly in my dispensary especially when it comes to microbes- but today I wanted to focus on one of the strongest of these that is helpful against a wide range of bacteria, yeasts and parasites. Let’s take a look at this amazing and very powerful herb today and find out how it can help your dog so stay tuned to learn more.


Many of you might be familiar with clove bud as a warming and aromatic spice that goes well in cooking such as a delicious Christmas cake or pudding. But clove is much more than this. Clove bud (Syzygium aromaticum) originated in Indonesia and has had a long history being used in herbal medicine. What makes clove such an appealing herb/spice?? Lets look more closely.


Clove has a number of actions including being an excellent pain killer, antispasmodic, antiseptic and antidepressant. But it is its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial actions that I want to focus on here. When it comes to an overgrowth of bacteria and yeasts in the small or large intestine in our dogs gut, clove certainly can pack a punch. Now most of us would know clove as an essential oil and have probably used it in this way – maybe you have used to help stop  toothache or to clean mould off your bathroom. Clove oils popularity comes from the fact that the clove bud does contain huge levels of essential oil – up to 30% of the bud is made up of essential oil. And of this 30% of essential oil content, up to 85% of this comprises what is known as Eugenol as an active compound. Now while eugenol is the predominant compound there are a number of other compounds and flavonoids that all work together along with that eugenol to make clove so effective.


So what is the link between eugenol that is found in the clove bud and gut microbes?

Eugenol has a number of actions against bacteria in particular that decreases the infectious microbe’s ability to thrive and survive. Enough eugenol winds up killing the microbe. Eugenol has the ability to Disrupting the microbe cell wall and inhibit their enzymes amongst other actions that help disable that particular microbe.


So when it is necessary to use a herb as strong as clove? Some of you may have heard o SIBO or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. If you want to learn more about this you can check out some of my other videos but basically SIBO occurs when large numbers of bacteria colonize your dogs small intestine and this can lead to chronic bloating, diarrhea, or constipation along with other gut issues such as malabsorption. Clove bud is an excellent choice to help treat this chronic condition as it is active against a large variety of common and not so common bacteria such as salmonella, listeria and staphylococcus bacteria. And its other actions also compliment this including cloves anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce inflammation in the gut, which is often a symptom associated with SIBO. Along also with its ability to stimulate the production of digestive enzymes, which can help in improving overall digestive health and reducing symptoms associated with SIBO like bloating and wind.


In addition, clove can be used for a wide range of other infections such as helicobacter pylori, and fungal and parasitic infections in both the large and small bowel. Lets look at fungal or yeast problems?? Once again the active compound Eugenol comes into play although remember that I said that all the compounds found within clove bud have a synergisitic effect and work together for the overall effect. Eugenol helps to break down the cell wall or biofilm of the yeast or fungal cell leading to the destruction of the cell- this process is known as lysis. Clove has been found to be active against candida along with a range of other fungal infections including aspergillus. And once again because of the anitinflammatory and antioxidant properties help reduce swelling, redness, and pain that can be associated with the yeast infection.


And the beauty of a herb like clove bud is that it is difficult for those bacteria to develop resistance against the herb unlike traditional antibiotics- and we know how much is talked about these days about antibiotic resistance.


I typically use cloves in a wide range of my formula including my worming, SIBO and other gut related infections. So how do you use it?? I recommend the fluid extract because it absorbs more readily. But clove bud is extremely strong and also has a strong taste – I have found that while the great majority of dogs tolerate it, some sensitive dogs may need a much lower dose. If you are wanting to use this herb for your dog, make sure you start very low and slow- try 1 drop per kg bodyweight daily and see how your dog tolerates this for any chronic gut issue. I would give for 4 weeks and then reassess but this will depend on each dog. You can add it directly into your dogs food or dilute and syringe into the mouth daily.

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