A good probiotic that doesn't contain animal protein, for a cat with IBD?

My cat Simon has IBD and is on Prednisolone and is being transitioned to a novel protein/carb food.  Our vet wants us to also transition to a non-animal protein based probiotic, and while I will ask her for recommendations, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on this?

Thanks

Stephen

Here he is!

There are a few probiotics that are 'vegan', 'vegetarian', I found this one on Amazon.com.
I'm curious as to why your vet wants a non-animal protein based probiotic.
And just for what it's worth: you don't have to give your cat a probiotic marketed for animals. A human-grade one is fine, as long as it contains at least 10 billion active cell units.

Thank you!  Cats with IBD often can't handle standard animal proteins that come animals they're eaten before like chicken, beef etc, so they go on novel protein diets like venison, or duck.  I'm not expecting to find a novel protein probiotic, just an animal-free one.

I spoke with our vet and she is recommending a protein free probiotic made for cats called Bene-Bac which we're going to try.

Thanks again.

Stephen

We use Culturelle for one of our cats with food allergies. It's 1/2 capsule daily.

stephenq said:

I spoke with our vet and she is recommending a protein free probiotic made for cats called Bene-Bac which we're going to try.

Thanks again.
Stephen

Click to expand...

Bene-Bac is one of the probiotics our vet and animal nutritionist recommended for Mogli (biopsy-confirmed IBD). The big advantage of it was that he loved the taste. I found that it was easier to dose using the small tubes; he simply licked it off my finger. I've rotated it with Fortiflora, Pet Dophilus and Mercola, administering it every day for about a week when he had very soft stools, but otherwise giving a maintenance dose at most 1 - 2 times weekly, though he's gone weeks or months without any supplement. Initially he was on probiotics for about two months. That was following antibiotic treatment of enterohemorraghic E. coli, the presumed trigger of his IBD.

Neither our vet (internist) nor the animal nutritionist is in favor of using human probiotics, as cats' microflora differs from humans'. Another consideration is that even though probiotics aren't regulated properly in the U.S., most brands carry a warning/recommendation not to administer them to children under 12, which makes me very leery of giving them to a small animal like a cat. Some studies have indicated that small doses (fewer CFUs) are better for the treatment of diarrhea in pets, too.

There are also a number of "online vets" who recommend giving species-appropriate probiotics only:
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/06/veterinary-probiotics/ and http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/11/encouraging-studies-on-probiotics-for-canine-diarrhea/

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...cats-tummy-troubles-could-lead-to-cancer.aspx (Mercola produces its own pet probiotic, so a "grain of salt" is advisable)

http://www.bestfriendsvet.com/pdffiles/Probiotics_1-5-10.pdf
The Prostora recommended in the above article cannot be marketed in the EU, and one of the reasons given is a bit alarming:
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2013/12/eu...ejects-prostora-a-probiotic-product-for-dogs/

More interesting to me was the concern raised in the report about the issue of antibiotic resistance. Apparently, the organism in Prostora has shown some resistance to the antibiotic clindamycin. A number of genes that confer antibiotic resistance have been identified, and some of these can be transmitted from one bacterium to another. The specific source of the resistance to clindamycin seen in the Prostora bacterium is not known, so it is not clear if this resistance could be transmitted to other bacteria in animals or people exposed to Prostora.

Because of this uncertainty, and the serious and growing problem of antibiotic resistance in infectious organisms, the EFSA chose not to approve the sale of Prostora in the EU. It has been approved here in the U.S. under the much less strict laws governing dietary supplements.

The EFSA in general has taken a conservative stance on probiotics, which some argue is appropriate based on the currently available evidence, and which others, notably probiotic manufacturers, have claimed ignores relevant science. There is some scientific evidence indicating that antibiotic resistance can be exacerbated by the use of probiotic organisms with such resistance, though the extent of the risk is not well-documented.

Click to expand...

The study cited: http://www.ifrj.upm.edu.my/18 (03) 2011/(1)IFRJ-2011-310.pdf

This is a very good summary of why you don't want to give massive doses of probiotics every day over a prolonged period: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/probiotics/