What probiotic do you like the best?

[shebaa]

I have a almost 2 year old male kitty who has mild diarrhea. Anywhere from a tad bit mushy to liquidy, this month about 8x, with most of the times it was just a tad bit mushy. Vet recommended fortiflora which i started june 1st. i read its low in cfus, and one 1 strain of probiotic. anyone has better recommendations ? i was thinking of vetique labs profivex or nexabiotic
he has no other symptoms, other than that hes normal, diet hasnt changed
vet also suggestion i can try fiber, so im also debating to now try fiber or try a different probiotic. thoughts?

 

[GranolaLouise]

I went to the vet last week with a bout of 'pudding' as the vet called it. She gave me some tiny tabs of Flagyl and just 1 day on them took her back to normal. Not a probiotic, but it worked!

 

[Astragal14]

Has your cat been given an antibiotic? If so, be sure to give the antibiotic and probiotic a few hours apart or the antibiotic will overpower the probiotic and render it ineffective. Also be sure to continue the probiotic for 7-10 days after the antibiotic is finished.

Two good options for mild diarrhea are Proviable Forte and VetriScience Entero Flora Pro. They are only available through veterinary offices; they each have an over the counter version that is half the strength and are available at Chewy and similar stores. I've used both of the vet-only versions and they worked well.

Proviable®-Forte Sprinkle Capsules For Cats - Proviable®
Entero Flora Pro Probiotics for Dogs & Cats

A lot of people use Saccharomyces boulardii for diarrhea (I personally haven't but it's a very popular option). There are some products with S.boulardii made just for cats (like this one from Animal Biome) and you may be able to use human grade products, but don't use human products without *definitely* checking with your vet for a dosing amount that is appropriate for your cat.

Kitty Biome probiotic powder

If the diarrhea doesn't resolve in a week or two, the next step would be to see your vet for a B12 injection and a stronger probiotic. The strongest one available is Visbiome Vet, this is the one I use for my cat with IBD. Hopefully you'll be able to resolve your kitty's diarrhea with some of the more mid-range products mentioned above!

Visbiome® Vet

 

[dustydiamond1]

We started using this about 2 yrs ago after a bout with slightly bloody stools and it works great, nice daily great consistency poopers. I think it's tasteless, you just need to stir it thoroughly. I mix a half a scoop (Gypsy weighs 11 lbs )with a half of a Churu (I use an extra small binder clip to close the unused Churu and refrigerate it. I nuke it in a bowl for 4 sec when I use it the next day). For now It's the only time she gets Churu. It's so funny to watch Gypsy lick it up. It's like watching someone eating corn on the cob, I need to film it
I get it from Chewy if I my order is enough for free shipping or from the fera organic pet store on Amazon if it isn't. Price is about the same, around $25. It lasts a long time and is so totally worth it. Keep us updated

 

[shebaa]

His diarrhea is been happening on and off for 2 months, at least. I noticed it cause he would lay in his litter box. I put a camera facing it. Laying in the litter box has been happening for a year. but always peed good so i ignored it and recently found out it was when he had an upset tummy so he could have been like this for the past year. but his diarrhea is so mild that i never noticed until i put the camera there.
I have read on Visbiome Vet. I believe he doesnt need something that strong since his diarrhea is mild. But maybe stronger than fortiflora. Fera probiotics might be another option too!
B12 and Flagyl are both on the list the vet said we can try. However they're towards the middle of the list. She put them in order of when I should try them. right now im still in the 1/3 of the list which includes probiotics, fiber, fecal test and panucar. So far only tried the probiotic

Really wish i knew probiotics were effective for ibd cats when I had my ibd baby

 

[dustydiamond1]

The one I posted is pro & prebiotic

 

[Astragal14]

I would definitely try one of the vet-only probiotics, like the VetriScience Entero Flora Pro or Proviable Forte since he's been having diarrhea for two months now. Sometimes the intestines become so inflamed and compromised from having diarrhea for a lengthy stretch of time that it perpetuates more diarrhea (even if the original cause has long been resolved).

I also highly recommend B12 injections. Diarrhea (and other GI issues) cause the body to lose B12 but the intestines need B12 to be able to absorb medication and nutrients. They're easy, inexpensive and have virtually no side effects. You'll also need to control the inflammation in his gut, fish oil is the easiest over the counter option but it takes up to 6 weeks to be effective; your vet may have some non-steroid recommendations that are stronger. GI issues can't respond to treatment until you've controlled inflammation and increased their B12 level.

I completely understand not wanting to resort to an antibiotic yet. Flagyl (metronidazole) is a strong one! Another option that helps us during bouts with diarrhea is prescription GI food (and for the record, I generally hate prescription foods because I think the ingredients are rubbish, but they are helpful to us in short-term situations). We've previously used Hill's GI Biome dry and currently use Hill's W/D dry when necessary - the fiber is great for stopping diarrhea and the other ingredients don't agitate my boy's IBD. Something like that could be a good short term option for you while you begin supporting his digestive system with a probiotic, B12 and something for inflammation.

As a side note, we buy a small bag of Hill's W/D and keep it in the freezer to preserve it. The only time we've needed it in the past year was when one of our cats became extra stressed while boarding and he developed major diarrhea. A few days of W/D and he was fine! And it doesn't take much either - my cats eat mostly wet food and only need 1-2 spoonfuls of W/D for it to be effective.

To summarize, I think a good course of action to discuss with your vet is to start a stronger probiotic, administer B12, give him something to control the inflammation and I also think the panacur would also be okay right now. It's not as tough on the GI system as an antibiotic so I myself would feel fine giving it to my cats. I'd also consider a prescription GI food as well. Give this routine a few weeks to take effect and see if there is any improvement. If not, then it may be time for an antibiotic in addition to a probiotic, B12 and inflammation control. Good luck!

 

[shebaa]

What's the price range for the b12 shots? Vet mentioned weekly for 4 weeks then monthly. Would a blood test show low b12? He had a pre blood work done in March for a eye surgery he had.
I also don't like prescription foods. I would try everything else before resorting to that. My heaven cat had food sensitivities and severe constipation. She couldn't have fiber food as it triggered her throwing up but it helped her go potty. So I did vetasyl pills (fiber) while keeping her on a venison diet. A different vet actually didn't recommend those pills but what she prescribed wasn't working and i had to take her to the er cause my cat was miserable. At that point I bought some and she pooped everyday until she went to heaven. Now the opposite is happening to my other cat. I believe there's alternatives to prescription foods. Just so many things, I don't know what to try next. B12, stronger prebiotic, panucur, fiber, flagyl.. I did email my vet for advice

 

[Astragal14]

B12 injections are inexpensive (for a vet's office). Our vet is on the expensive side in a large city and the appointment is $14 with a vet tech. We also started weekly and now go monthly. Our vet also offers the option to give the injections at home and I think it's $30 for a year's worth of B12.

The Importance of B12 – IBDKitties

Because a healthy liver is able to store many years worth of B12, signs of deficiency may not be obvious for a long time

I'm glad your vet is already recommending B12 because a deficiency can be in place long before it shows up on a blood test.

Vetasyl is a great option for fiber! Another fiber that we occasionally use is Vet's Best Hairball Relief tablets. Like the Vetasyl it contains psyllium, but it also has several other gut soothing ingredients like slippery elm and marshmallow root. It likely doesn't have the same amount of fiber as Vetasyl, but your vet can recommend how much fiber is needed right now. Two important attributes of the Vet's Best tablets - they need A LOT of liquid, more than is available in wet food (we dissolve the tablet in ~1 tablespoon of broth and mix that into wet food), and don't give it within 2 hours of other supplements or medications.
https://www.chewy.com/vets-best-chewable-tablets-hairball/dp/45135

I think you have a few good options to try before you get to the antibiotic but you will need to combine a few of them, you'll need several methods of support to equal the strength of one antibiotic. My recommendation is a combination of the B12 injections, fiber (discuss how much with your vet and if Vetasyl or something else would supply enough), a good probiotic, an anti inflammatory, and maybe panacur.

 

[Alldara]

I just bought human grade probiotics for our cats and give them that. It's cheap ones. I've tried a couple brands and it's went well so far. I give them every other day or so.

There's loads of threads here so I checked out what people were saying about probiotics and tried to find something with similar strains discussed.

Probiotics

 

[shebaa]

Astragal14
$14 for vet tech visit? my last vet charged me $19 for a shot visit I did see on Chewy a bottle of b12 for only $5.50!

Differently eagerly waiting for the vet to reply, hopefully tomorrow. I am now leaning towards trying the proviable forte since it's more in my budget than the others that were mentioned. And then plus whatever she suggest, b12 or whatever. Vet did mentioned on the list of things to try, for the fiber, she put down benefiber. I am 2nd guessing it cause the only kind of fiber im familiar with is psyllium husk, what vetasyl is made from. not familiar with anything in benefiber

My cat had mushy/liquid diarrhea today. I noticed even when he does have it, he still only does it 1x day, so theres that at least.

 

[tabbytom]

anyone has better recommendations ?

My boy had chronic diarrhea for a month and a half early this year and I read this article My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do? and followed the instructions on administering the S. Boulardii to my boy. The product did help my boy and his diarrhea was resolved.

Now, he's given around a quarter dose in the morning and a quarter dose in the evening for maintenance.

 

[shebaa]

I just jinxed myself by saying even with diarrhea, he goes once a day

tabbytom I heard good things about S. Boulardii too. what product did you use?

 

[tabbytom]

I just jinxed myself by saying even with diarrhea, he goes once a day

tabbytom I heard good things about S. Boulardii too. what product did you use?

I guess their gut is somewhat same as us. Once something not agreeable enters the system, the party begins.

I'm using this product for my boy and I'm also taking it personally and both of us have it daily. The same one recommended in the article. I find this product very good as I've tried many brands for myself which is not effective.

 

[Astragal14]

I did see on Chewy a bottle of b12 for only $5.50!

Cats can't absorb oral B12 so it needs to be given through injections. I saw the same thing at Chewy and got my hopes up, but it just doesn't work.

I would expect soluble fiber to be recommended for diarrhea, which is what you find in psyllium (like in Vetasyl, Vet's Best Hairball Relief, or the plain Metamucil capsules - definitely not the orange flavored stuff). Benefiber is insoluble, if your vet recommends that then I would ask if he would perhaps benefit from both types of fiber.

 

[daftcat75]

I would skip on most probiotics because they are either too few CFU's or too few strains. Another thing to consider with probiotics is that a lot of them are grown on a dairy substrate. If your cat has a lactose intolerance or sensitivity, and many do, then dairy-grown probiotics could be problematic.

Skip the Forti-Flora. It's really just a flavoring since it's not strong enough (too few CFU's) to be a good probiotic.

If you want to go with a vet product, I have had some success with Proviable.

For diarrhea specifically and if you suspect IBD or a food-borne virus (have you had a diarrhea PCR yet?), skip all of these recommendations and go straight to that Jarrow s. boulardii product that tabbytom posted.
What probiotic do you like the best?

Here's more background and rationale behind using s. boulardii for diarrhea:
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

For a quality pet probiotic, you might want to look at Vitality Science's Pet Flora. You can get it even cheaper with their Finnicky Cat Trial Pack
Pet Flora "the ultimate probiotic" ™ | Cat Probiotics

And for something innovative that seemed to help my Betty a lot even if the testing still shows a lot of imbalances, this is what I fondly call "poo-biotics", or fecal microbiota transplant. It is dried poop from carefully screened healthy donor cats and it is meant to transplant a healthy microbiome into an unhealthy one. I think if Betty did a month at two a day, this might actually change her test results. But even taking one every other day has kept her appetite and her poop healthy. Perhaps when Betty is done with our pred weaning (however far that goes), we can revisit once a day and maybe twice a day for a month. But I don't want to do too many changes at once. If she gets an upset tummy, was it the pred reduction or the poobiotic increase?
The Cat Gut Microbiome

 

[fionasmom]

Just going to add here that Purina also makes a product called Calming Care which I would put in the same category as Forti-Flora. It seems to be mostly a flavoring.

 

[maggie101]

I just started using Adored Beast Feline Gut Soothe. My cats like it. The pre pro biotic is supposed to help with diaheria, inflammation,lethargy. Too early to tell but so far no diahrea,lethargy,or throwing up

 

[shebaa]

Thank you too everyone for advice and suggestions! So waiting to hear back from the vet.
Question... one thing mentioned was fiber. If I'm reading correctly, a prebiotic has fiber, right? Maybe he'll benefit something like Fera prebiotic/prebiotic as someone here mentioned

 

[Astragal14]

Just going to add here that Purina also makes a product called Calming Care which I would put in the same category as Forti-Flora. It seems to be mostly a flavoring.

I don't have a high opinion of Forti Flora but I have to admit Calming Care is pretty effective as a moderate calming product. It says full effectiveness takes up to 6 weeks and we noticed a difference after one week. It isn't strong enough to fix any major issues by itself but I definitely think this, along with a few other non-medicated options, has helped us keep things calm during chaos. And also without resorting to stronger options, like prescriptions or anti-anxiety meds.