Right now, humans are having a massive cultural awakening about gut health. Recently, this has been sparked in many ways by the miraculous technological development of GLP-1's.

The conversation around the GLP-1 movement helps to shine a light on something that we at Get Joy have known for a long time: the gut is the most important driver of overall well-being. When it’s out of balance, everything else can suffer. For our dogs, the insight is the same and the solution is just as simple.

Insights Revealed by GLP-1: Us and Our Dogs

GLP-1 is a hormone that helps regulate appetite, blood sugar, and satiety. Its popularity has less to do with the science itself and more to do with what people have been desperately seeking: healthy digestion, balance, less cravings and better regulation. A feeling that the body is finally working with them, not against them. 

Beneath all of that there is growing understanding that health doesn’t start with willpower, restriction, or hacks. It starts with how the gut communicates with the rest of the body. This isn't a new insight, but it's just becoming newly understood.

Our Dog's Gut Drives Everything

Like us humans, a dog's gut doesn’t just simply process food. It’s a communication hub that is constantly sending signals which affect our energy, immunity, mood, behavior and brain function.

When it's working well, the entire body tends to feel calmer and more balanced. When it’s struggling, things feel off in ways that don’t seem digestive at all. In dogs, that might look like: excessive scratching or licking with no clear cause, anxious pacing and poor sleep, inconsistent energy and trouble with achieving a healthy weight.
     
Since our dogs can't talk to us (although we wish they could), these are often the best indicators that their gut isn’t getting what it needs. We've established the gut-to-body connection widely in human wellness, and now it's time for our dogs.

Simpler than Pharmaceutical Intervention

Unlike humans, dogs aren’t navigating a world of ultra-processed snacks, emotional eating, or cultural pressure around body image. What they are navigating, along with their humans, is a pet food system built largely on processed foods and not optimal gut health. For dogs, the answer to gut health isn’t medication for everyday balance. It’s food designed to work with their biology: functional gut-healthy food that makes it easier to digest and absorb, supports a thriving gut microbiome, and helps the body regulate naturally.

Food First

The GLP-1 moment has shown us something important: people don’t want suppression or override. They want regulation. Balance. A body that feels like it’s working the way it should. The same applies to our dogs.

Functional nutrition doesn’t aim to restrict appetite or trick the system. It aims to support the gut so the body can do what it’s designed to do—digest efficiently, absorb what it needs, and send the right signals to the rest of the system.

Often, the earliest signs of this working are simple and visible: cleaner, more consistent poops, more consistent energy, an improved immune system. A dog who seems content after eating. These are the signals that food is working for them, not against them.

How Get Joy Supports This

That’s why every Get Joy recipe is built around gut health as the foundation.
We prioritize and lead with Belly Biotics(TM) to nourish the microbiome, only whole food ingredients your dog’s system can absorb and enzymes that help to maintain the nutrients of our food.

We’re not chasing trends. We’re building food the way we believe it should have been built all along: joy starts from within.

What Does this Mean for the Future?

GLP-1 didn’t create the gut-health movement. It only confirmed what biology has always known. As science and culture continue to catch up, the future of nutrition for both humans and canines alike will keep moving toward. We’ll continue to prioritize whole foods over heavy processing, functional nutrition outcomes over marketing claims, and foundational gut health over quick fixes.

The world is finally having the gut-health conversation. For dogs, the answer has been in the bowl all along.