Saccharomyces Boulardii For A Month. What Next?

Somnamblst

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In one more day, my thrice treated with antibiotics year old rescue cat with chronic diarrhea, will have been getting one capsule of S. boulardii twice a day. Each time, the antibiotic worked immediately, but within 8-10 days, diarrhea returned, which is why I suspected a Clostridium infection he just could not completely clear. His first vet visit included a gram stain and Clostridium was identified. S. boulardii works like a charm, but I got the impression a 30 day course, might be sufficient. Should I do a step down dose of say, one half capsule twice a day?
 
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Somnamblst

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I actually decided to try this based on an article someone here referred me to. It appears raw feeders are into S. boulardii, maybe because raw feeding has unintended bacterial consequences. I figured it probably could not hurt, as at only 1 year old, I really did not suspect IBD (no symptoms other than diarrhea), and because it took exactly 8-10 days for diarrhea to recur. Last night I began the step down. He got 1/2 of a capsule (this is Walgreen's brand human probiotic). Probiotics for Cats - Why and Which Ones
 

1CatOverTheLine

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Somnamblst Somnamblst - You've not noted whether your veterinarian changed antibiotics or wrote scripts for three courses of the same antibacterial / antimicrobial and which antibiotic(s) have been used. Clostridia are gram-positive anærobes, relatively receptive to antibiotics, but their ability to produce spores demands the use of a bacteriostatic in addition to an antibacterial antibiotic to prevent recurrence.
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Somnamblst

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It was the same antibiotic each time, metronidazole. The history that was considered in the bacterial cause probable diagnosis, in addition to the gram stain that I was told showed the highest level of clostridium this vet had ever seen, included at least one instance of just the eyeball of a mouse and a piece of fur being found on the kitchen floor (dead animal consumption of unknown freshness) and a big bunch of catnip I pulled up and threw on the ground being consumed over the course of several days, when there had been a lot of rain (decaying vegetation is a source of clostridium.) The issue with dead animal consuming, is that in our house with an unfinished basement, there could also be unknown instances of dead mouse consumption. This cat was found outside, and will try to eat almost anything, and does eat things we can't even see off the floor.

Does the complete resolution of diarrhea with S. Boulardii suggest anything related to bacterial causes of diarrhea? The biggest reason I thought it was recurring bacteria was because it took 8-10 days each time (bacteria reproducing) as opposed to IBD. So far, decreasing the dose to half a capsule a day, he is still diarrhea free. Just to be clear, this is something I decided to try, after reading a lot about how S. Boulardii works. All the other differential diagnoses for recurring diarrhea just seemed less likely based on his history, symptoms and age.
 

1CatOverTheLine

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Somnamblst Somnamblst - If your kitty seems to have gotten through the three courses of Flagyl and is now diarrhea-free, that's great. I'd have suspected the recurrence owed to spore production, and the typical delayed-resurgence of Clostridium, and another school of thought regarding treatment is to alternate Flagyl with clindamycin hydrochloride, in the same fashion that Amoxicillin / clavulanic acid is prescribed for Human patients. There's an old - but still very pertinent - study here:

Unique Bactericidal Action of Metronidazole Against Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium perfringens

regarding efficacy against C. perfringens which suggests the alternation of antibacterials / bacteriostatics to show excellent results.

Here's wishing you both the best of health!

Edit: "which suggests the alternation," should more properly read, "which implies the alternation...."
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Somnamblst

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Thanks! I am going to continue with half dose S. Boulardii for a couple weeks, and then cease to see what happens. I started the S. Boulardii after the 8-10 day post antibiotic diarrhea recurrence. So he did have diarrhea when I started it. I decided it was worth a try. If diarrhea does not return, after I cease S. Boulardii, I am going to anecdotally consider it to be what "cured" him. As an FYI the Walgreen's brand is much less costly and does not have the ingredient cats can't have (MOS) in the Jarrows brand, so you can just sprinkle it on wet food. Based on my experience, I would say it works as a diarrhea stopper, just as fast as a course of antibiotics. ( one human capsule, twice a day)
 

1CatOverTheLine

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Somnamblst Somnamblst - in this case, against the C. perfringens-induced symptom, it certainly seems so; whether S. Boulardii would prove an effective agent against diarrhea resulting from a norovirus or rotavirus-induced viral gastroenteritis, who can say?
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sweet jane flash

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we had chronic cat diarrhea for months, incarcerated at vets 3 times, each time vet say ok all better but --NOT. Somewhere I found a thread about s boulardii & i desperately tried it and thank whoever it was who posted. We have now been freed of the awful clostridium perf. (evil evil clostridium). It's been now about 3 months on the s boulardii. Not sure when to taper off of it. Any suggestions???
 

white shadow

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Hi sweet jane flash and welcome to the forum !

You didn't identify the TCS thread that was helpful to you, so, I'll post the two comprehensive s boulardii threads I know of. The second of those may be of interest to you, particularly it's post #12, where the author speaks to using a specific probiotic containing a small quantity of the yeast as an ongoing preventative after the typical 30-day treatment:
  1. Saccharomyces Boulardii use for diarrhea and GI disease (incl IBD)
  2. Trouble in Raw Paradise - Clostridium perfringens and my cats
Unfortunately, neither ldg nor carolina is active on the forum any longer, so, unless you do advanced searches for "s boulardii" posted by each of them, I don't think you'll know whether/not there was an eventual end to the treatment(s).

Hope something there helps.
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shadowsrescue

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I had a cat who was given clindamycin for UTI infection. He got diarrhea within 5 days. He then was given metronidazole and that only made things worse. I started S. boulardi ( jarrow brand). He was given it 2-3x a day. I also added in Slippery elm powder. The combination of the two finally did the job. Yet it took a full 3 months for the diarrhea, loose, stinky poop to rid his body. I then weaned him off the S. boulardii, but started him on a different daily probiotic. I use Proviable DC. I have continued this regime daily since the beginning of this year.

He now gets slippery elm syrup and the Proviable 1x a day. If I miss for more than a day. His poop gets very stinky and soft again. The antibiotics certainly did a number on his gut. Yet thankfully S. boullardi did the trick.
 

stephanietx

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Has the vet run the PCR diarrhea panel to rule out any other diarrhea causing parasites?
 

Libby.

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My dog Willow suffered from C.diff. infection when she was a puppy. We could not clear it up. It went on for almost a year. I'd take her to the vet, the vet would prescribe Flagyl and all would be good during the treatment and then for a while after and then the diarrhea would start up again in a month or two. I even tried S. Boulardi by Jarrow. It didn't work. What finally cleared it up permanently was oil of oregano. I put 4 drops of the oil of oregano in a capsule from a bottle of oil of oregano (Nature's Answer, if I remember). And dropped it in her food bowl with her meals twice a day. She was on the oil of oregano for about 5 or 6 months too. I wanted to make sure that the C.diff. was completely gone. She never had another c.diff. infection.
 

sweet jane flash

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I like that oil of oregano is another tool in the arsenal (besides s boulardii) We have been on s boulardii for about 3 months now, and no recurrence of the evil clostridium perf. So glad to hear c. difficile is gone! I just have no idea when to wean cat off of s boulardii. Any ideas??? At this point, I think I'll keep her on it a couple more months. Clostridium (I was hospitalized with it about 2 decades ago and it HURTS!!!) But the evil clostridium did not win this time, or last time. Gotta always keep trying. Thanks for post. Good Health to us all!!!
 

mschauer

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@Somnambst - I'm glad the S boulardii helped your kitty. I haven't used it to treat Clostridium but I use it frequently for another purpose and thought my experience with it might help.

First, the reason I use it is because I foster sick cats for a local shelter. The treatment protocol prescribed by the shelter vet frequently includes administering an antibiotic for a suspected bacterial infection. Unfortunately antibiotics don't discriminate between pathogenic bacteria and beneficial bacteria in the cats intestinal tract. A healthy colony of beneficial bacteria is needed for proper digestion so else diarrhea can result. That is why giving antibiotics frequently results in diarrhea.

Since S boulardii is a yeast based probiotic and not bacteria based as most probiotics are, antibiotics don't destroy or degrade it the way they do bacteria based probiotics. With bacteria based probiotics you have to be careful to not administer them within a couple of hours of an antibiotic or else you might not get the full benefit of the probiotic.

My fosters rarely have diarrhea or loose stools if I give them S boulardii. And I only use it for a day or two after the last dose of antibiotics. I don't taper it either.

I help this helps even though I don't use it the same way you do.
 

Libby.

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My dog, Willow, got a c.diff. infection when she was a puppy. The vet treated it several times with metronidazole. And it would always recur. We tried treating it longer than 2 weeks with metronidazole and that didn't work either. This went on for months. I even tried saccharomyces boulardii for a few months -- which did nothing. I then ran across a someone online who said she irradicated a c.diff. infection in herself with a 6 month course of oregano oil. So I immediately started her on oregano oil. I bought a bottle of oregano oil from the health food store, I think it was Nature's Answer brand. I put 4 drops into an empty capsule and dropped it in her bowl with her food twice a day. The diarrhea stopped and didn't return after being on the oregano oil for 6 months. She never had anothe c.diff outbreak for the rest of her life.

Oregano oil is diluted with olive oil and is not to be confused with essential oil of oregano which is concentrated and pure oregano oil. They are completely 2 different products. It must be diluted before taking internally. My mother caused bleeding in her intestinal tract by taking oil of oregano undiluted. I spent 5 hours in the ER with her and she spent 3 days in the hospital for the doctors not to find any bleeding or cause. Her body had a chance to heal since she hadn't been taking it for a while. I finally put two and two together when I started asking her what was she ingesting, supplement wise.

OregaPet Oil of Oregano 30ml
 
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