Probiotic and IBS

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Daze Duke (yorkie) has IBS, this recent episode the Vet gave me Iams VF Prostora Max.  Within 24 hours her stools were firming up.  I understand that beneficial bacteria helps the digestive system, but to much of a good thing can also cause problems.  I tend to be on the cautious side when it comes to supplements.    Has anyone used a probiatic supplement?  Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

 

Prostora's product overview

http://www.iams.com/dog-food/Iams®-Veterinary-Formula™-Prostora™-Ma...

[Sandra Griffith]

You might also try posting in the food group.  I'll be interested to hear the replies.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tina, you may want to take this discussion to The Food Group. The Iams product is an inferior product for which you are overpaying. We have similar information about Purina's Fortiflora in TFG, which is another Big Dog Food probiotic that the vets sell.

There's nothing wrong with giving probiotics on a regular basis, especially for dogs who have chronic digestive issues, but you would do better with plain fat-free yogurt. Here are the ingredients in the Iams product:

Sucrose, Vegetable Oil, Bifidobacterium animalis, Dried Skim Milk, Dried Reduced Minerals Whey, Cocoa Butter, Artificial Colors, Soy Lecithin (emulsifier), Artificial Vanilla Flavor.

Your dog doesn't need a probiotic in which the most abundant ingredient is sucrose and the second most abundant ingredient is vegetsble oil. And you certainly don't need to be paying Rx prices for it.

Many people gicve their dogs a tablespoon or two of plain yogurt every day, which provides more probiotics than this crap, doesn't contain sugar, etc., is completely harmless, and costs very little. Jack hates yogurt, so I give him some probiotic capsules when he needs them, also very inexpensive and harmless, and very effective.

 

Read Rev

 

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Thanks Karen...I've learned more talking to you regarding nutrition in the last 3 weeks, than researching in 4 months. 

Daze's not a real big fan of yogurt and only weighs 6 lbs.  It makes me nervous adding supplements to her diet.  I'm afraid of giving her to much. How can I determine the right amount?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If you use a good probiotic, there isn't much to worry about, it's only good flora that should be occurring naturally in a healthy stomach anyway. I bought a product called Gentle Digest that has dosage on the label. For such a tiny dog, one capsule a day should do it.

 This is the one i chose for JD. It worked like a charm and has no harmful or questionable ingredients.

Gentle Digest

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Murphy is also on a probiotic capsule daily, and it has been helping his GI issues.  I suspect he will be on this indefinitely.  We also had used plain non-fat yogurt daily, but that just wasn't enough to keep his digestive system in balance.  My other Doodle, Guinness, was diagnosed with IBS about a year ago.  I actually home cook for him because he was not able to tolerate any food that had ingredients that I was comfortable with.

[Bev and WILLY]

After being treated with regular methods for digestive problems, Willy still had diarrhea.

My new holistic Vet put him on probiatics and right away his problems disappeared.

[Rory]

Don't worry about giving probiotics, esepcially if they are working. I also wouldn't switch to plain yogurt - you don't know if the cultures are active, or the count. I am not a supporter of the Iams/Purina probiotics, but the majority of store-bought yogurt just doesn't contain the amount of bacteria necessary to have a serious impact on the digestive system, unless you go with a brand that has a guaranteed live count. A good probiotic from the pharmacy will give you waaaaaay more cfu/g (that is the bacteria count) than a couple of tbsp of yogurt from the grocery.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Probiotics are good for both humans and animals. Jack is on a pretty expensive one but it works well. He is on Petzyme. I give him a tiny little bit every month for one week and as needed for loose stool. It was more expensive but it is very high quality with no fillers or anything. Too much of this will not cause harm...I would imagine if you gave him a million times the dose you should have it may...

 

How is she doing? I am not a fan of anything Iams what so ever and I would switch to a higher quality product. Hope her tummy is doing better.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Sorry I wrote the wrong name it is called Nzymes Back-Pak plus

 

Here is a link

 

http://www.nzymes.com/pc/?gclid=CPjxqfHClacCFZJa2goduBxAdg

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Thanks Jennifer and Jack....Daze is doing good.  I actually put her on Kids Florajen, Daze's doing better than she has in a long time.  I'm going to check into Nzymes Back-Pak though so we have a back up plan if this stops working.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Oh good, I am glad something is working for her.. Now that Jack is stable, I only give it to him for one week a month... I love it.. I should treat myself the way I treat him.. I should be on probiotics and I am to cheap to buy them for myself..

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Isn't it funny how we will spend hundred's of dollars on our pets, but we will not spend the extra money to buy it for ourselves.  Who know's we may need the extra funds for our dogs, lol:)