Yogurt vs FortiFlora

[Carol and Banjo]

Banjo went for his 1st vet check yesterday.  He arrived here Saturday evening and by Sunday night he started with diarrhea and vomiting.  I started feeding him boiled chicken and rice with a bit of pumpkin.  Things have improved.  The vet recommended putting FortiFLora in his food once a day for a few days. When I asked him if yogurt would have the same effect he told me that studies have shown that dogs do not get the same intestinal benefit as people.  Naturally I bought the FortiFlora but I can't help wondering if this is just another pet industry marketing "scam".  Does anyone have any info on this?

[Suzanne & Jack]

I give my boys honey flavored Greek yogurt (Three Greek Gods brand). We all stand in the kitchen in the evening and they each get a couple of spoonfuls. They think it is a treat. When their stools are a little loose I give them a couple of spoons and everything seems to firm up. I told my vet that I was giving it to them and he said it was fine. The greek style has the probiotics that are in the Activia. A lot of the dog food manufacturers are hyping probiotics in their food now.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I will have to compare the sugars and corn starch in the Activia and just regular plain yogurt, haven;t done so yet.

[Cheri & Bonny]

Have any of you used Kefir instead of plain or greek yogurt? It is a cultured milk drink, similar to yogurt, but it contains much more probiotics and beneficial cultures than yogurt does. When my older lab began to have problems with loose stools and vomiting, my vet recommended Kefir instead of the fortiflora (because it was more natural and inexpensive). It really helped the problem. I started making smoothies for myself with it as well! It's what I used with my doodle when she was recovering from coccidia when I got her. She loves it! Don't know if you can find it all over the country, but here near San Francisco, it's in all the grocery stores...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Kefir contains alcohol. The commercial products don't have as much as the homemade kind, but it's there.

[Cheri & Bonny]

Seriously??? Since it doesn't list it as an ingredient on the label, is it a byproduct of the cultures?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It results from the fermentation process. All kefirs are fermented. In fact, they were originally considered alcoholic beverages. We do have another discussion here in TFG about it, but the search feature is still on the fritz, so can't link it right now.
The commercial products contain very little alcohol, as low as 1% in many cases, so there is probably no harm, but it would be nice to know for sure; the homemade kind is not recommended for dogs or kids.

[Cheri & Bonny]

Thanks! I just emailed the company to see what they say about their product's alcohol content and what process they use to remove (or prevent) it. I surely don't want to give any kids (or my dog) something containing alcohol.

I was wondering about the search feature... I've been looking through the past discussions, but at 30+ pages of discussions it was taking a long time!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adina is aware of it, I know it's a "ning thing"; it sure will be nice when they get it working again!

[Cheri & Bonny]

Here is the response from Clover Stornetta regarding their Kefir:

Hi Cheri,
Our kefir does not have any alcohol in it. The fermentation of the milk
with the bacteria that we use does not produce alcohol.

Some kefirs are fermented with yeast and they might have a very small
quantity of alcohol, probably close to the 0.06%, which is probably less
than if you added a little vanilla extract to a dessert. I am sure that
there are no kefirs on the shelf that have anywhere close to 3% alcohol. The
dairies would be required to sell them as an alcoholic beverage and pay AFT
taxes on them. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,
Marcia Mc Glochlin
Director of Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs

Just thought you'd all like to know!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks for checking and letting us know! This is how we get at the truth of what we read on the internet!

[Cheri & Bonny]

It's also very possible that what everyone now is calling "kefir" is a cultured milk drink that uses the same bacteria as yogurt instead of the traditional fermentation process. I just like the fact that it has more of the probiotics than traditional yogurt and it tastes better to me when I use it -- it's much less sour than yogurt.