Probiotic -- Florentero

[NS]

Our puppy has had Giardia since we got him. I have had him on 3 rounds of meds and recently switched vets.

Our Vet suggested giving him Florentero a probiotic -- of course I asked for iFlora since many have written about it on DK. She said she recommends Florentero. She also said that she thinks we might need to feed him a high fiber diet versus Fromm Gold Puppy food. She mentioned Prescription Formula dog food.  Per DK this isn't an ideal food. What do you think? I told her I preferred sticking with Fromm or something similiar and was thinking if he needs more fiber to give him pumpkin or sweet potato. 

What do you think? As always I welcome your input!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Do you mean that your pup has been on three rounds of meds for giardia and is still testing positive? What meds have you used for the giardia? Are you also disinfecting all areas where he has pooped with bleach, both indoors and out, washing his bottom, bedding, etc.? Is he supervised every second that he is outside? 

If he still has giardia, neither food, fiber, nor probiotics of any kind are going to solve the problem. If the giardia is gone but he has diarrhea, that's from the meds. Antibiotics destroy the good flora in the gut along with the bad, and imparis normal digestion and stool formation. Probiotics would help with that. Were you giving him any yogurt or other probiotics while he was on the meds? 

I am not familiar with Florentero, which seems to be a Canadian product sold through vets. It does not contain as many live cultures as iFlora...in fact, it contains one third the number of live cultures per dose that iFlora contains. It's not a bad product, it's much better than the Fortiflora the vets here sell, but it's not as good as iFlora IMO. 

You definitely do not want to feed your puppy any Rx foods. There is nothing therapeutic in them, no medicine, and the ingredients are pure garbage. If you give me the exact product your vet recommends, I can do an analysis of the ingredients. But the bottom line is that it won't get rid of the giardia, and if it's simply a matter of fiber, you can give him pumpkin or mashed sweet potatoes. 

The main thing is to get rid of the giardia. Once the giardia is gone, the probiotics and fiber will help get his digestive tract functioning properly and the diarrhea should resolve. 

What meds is he getting now?

[NS]

Thanks Karen. Well his test came back NEGATIVE. So, he is finally rid of the Giardia. We did not feed him any yogurt or probiotic when he was on the meds. His stools in the am/during the day are formed and are quite mushy in the evening. My vet was saying she felt the RX food would be good because it was high fiber versus the Fromm. I didn't encourage the discussion and said I preferred to keep him on Fromm. How much sweet potato can I give him a day? He loves it! He doesn't love the canned pumpkin very much. 

Regarding the probiotic - Florentero (she said it was an Italian product?!?) and told me to give him 2 tablets for 10 days. I think I will continue the Florentero then order the iFlora and give that to him daily for awhile.

Why do vets try and push the RX food? Why dont they suggest alternative ways to get fiber? I am baffled by this...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can be pretty liberal with the sweet potato if he likes it. 

There is no required nutrition curriculum in vet school. What education vets do get on nutrition comes in the form of voluntary seminars presented by Hills and Purina, and material given out by the company salesmen to the vet practices. They really don't know anything other than "dog has symptom A, recommend Rx Food B". "This Rx food is good for (name of disease)". Makes it easy, lol. No need to read, study, figure anything out.  And of course, the profit on Rx foods is huge. According to Marion Nestle, PhD, many vet practices make more from the sale of Rx foods than they do from their medical practices. 

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Just like some people doctors, they may not know much about nutrition.  I don't want to sound terribly cynical, but there may also be a profit motive involved with some vets.