Are these probiotic chews good?

[ChunkyNaomBaby]

So my cats have been having diarrhea, and I picked up some probiotic chews from Petco today. Here is the link: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...MIx7PO8a_h6gIVGR6tBh05pwvBEAQYASABEgJsePD_BwE
One of my cats had the worst of the diarrhea and I took him to the vet for it. He is on medication, but I asked the vet if I could give these to him and his sisters and he said yes. I was just wondering if anyone has tried these before and if they worked. I also want to know if these are even a good probiotic to be giving my cats. Also should I give them these just until the diarrhea clears up or keep giving it to them every day? Will it harm them if I give it every day for a long period of time?

 

[daftcat75]

You could try them. But there's a lot of red flag ingredients like corn starch, lecithin (could make matters worse), and vegetable oil. I understand those ingredients are necessary to create a shelf-stable "chew". But maybe you'd do better to cut out a lot of the nonsense. I'd ask your vet about Proviable. Or you could try saccharomyces boulardii which you can purchase from Amazon, Sprouts, Whole Foods, or anywhere else you would buy vitamins and supplements.

More on s. boulardii
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

And the gold standard brand of s. boulardii:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NXPJ2TQ/?tag=thecatsite

 

[LTS3]

You can just buy Human probiotics from a pharmacy and give that to your cat. Open a capsule and sprinkle the powder into food. Cats won't notice the taste or smell of the probiotic. I wouldn't start with an entire capsule, though. A suggested starting dose is half a capsule twice a day. The capsule halves can be put back together to save the remaining powder. Just don't put the capsule in the bottle because you won't know which one it is. Put it in a labeled baggie or small container.

Here's some info on using probiotics:

Prebiotics & Probiotics for Cats: Healing Inflammation and gut dysbiosis

How to restore gut health, not just manage symptoms, in feline IBD

www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org

Probiotics Search - Human Grade and CFUs

I've been trying to find a good probiotic. All my research has results in some questions: Human probiotics - Have heard different stories on whether or not to give to a cat. Have heard that you shouldn't give them to a cat because some human strains could irritate them. Have also heard that you...

thecatsite.com

Pet probiotic products don't undergo any sort of quality control like Human probiotics do and they often contain a bunch of unnecessary stuff. The CFU count is often low and the number of bacteria strains few.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If your cat is on an antibiotic, then it's best to give the probiotic at a different time of day than you give the antibiotic, say at least two hours before or after the medication. But I agree that using something other than the chew would be best.

Also, giving probiotics every day is never a bad idea, at least in MY mind. I do it for my guys.

 

[BuddhaCat]

Proviable is amazing, cured my 5 year old cat of chronic lifelong diarrhea in 3 doses sprinkled in food and never came back. It has prebiotics that work to establish the good bacteria. After years of giving the human otc probiotic culturelle (recommended by a vet) which cleared up the diarrhea after it started but didn’t prevent recurrence- I wish I’d known about proviable years before.

 

[BuddhaCat]

Keep in mind though, If your cat has something else going on likeworms causing the diarrhea they need to be treated or the probiotics won’t work.