How to give probiotic capsules?

I've been looking into starting my cat on a probiotic regiment to supplement his normal diet. When looking up proper dosages, I noticed that recommendations will say to give fractions of a capsules multiple times per day. How do you split a capsule into pieces like this to put in a cat's food? Isn't the probiotic a powder inside the capsule, and won't it just all spill out when I pop it open? How are you guys dosing 1/4 or 1/2 of a capsule?

The one I'm thinking of trying is Nexabiotic if that helps at all.

I use the PB8 capsules, and yes, it is a powder. You can kind of gently pull apart the 2 ends of the capsule, and the top part is smaller than the bottom part, so if I'm giving half, I can pour out all of the top half and a little extra from the bottom. Then I can pretty easily secure the two parts back together. I leave this pill out rather than putting it back in the bottle so I know which one has half left. Then I open it up again later for the next dose and dump the rest of it into her food. There's a wide range of amounts of active cultures listed on the packaging, minus whatever amount have died since it was packaged, so probiotic dosing is not that precise anyway. It's okay to wing it a little bit.

Oh, clever! I never thought about trying to reassemble the capsules afterwards. Thanks!

I just pull the capsule apart and pour on top of their food. 

I buy probiotics specifically designed for animals. I get it from NWC Naturals & it's a power. easy peezy!

Q: Can I take Nexabiotic[emoji]8482[/emoji] by opening the capsule and consuming the contents?

A: Although the capsule is enteric coated to protect the probiotics inside from stomach acid, you may take it in that manner. Keep in mind that doing so may diminish its effectiveness even though some probiotic strains are acid-resistant.

Dinosnores said:

I've been looking into starting my cat on a probiotic regiment to supplement his normal diet. When looking up proper dosages, I noticed that recommendations will say to give fractions of a capsules multiple times per day. How do you split a capsule into pieces like this to put in a cat's food? Isn't the probiotic a powder inside the capsule, and won't it just all spill out when I pop it open? How are you guys dosing 1/4 or 1/2 of a capsule?

The one I'm thinking of trying is Nexabiotic if that helps at all.

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I've been using Nexabiotic now with one cat for several months, in addition to using another special probiotic for another EPI kitty.

What works for me: Mikey gets 1/4 Nexabiotic in the morn and another 1/4
in the evening. I empty out 1/4 in his dish and then add a little water to disperse or you can use a bit of the moisture from the canned food. I then add his food on top. I don't stir it around, he always licks his bowl clean.

With the other cat, who requires a special probiotic and one full capsule per meal, I do the same as above except I split the powder in thirds, dilute, and split her canned / raw in thirds. It takes a few extra minutes to feed her this way but it works.

So either way with Nexabiotic, split and/or diluted should work out. I asked Nexabiotic about the enteric coating, they said it wasn't an issue. Do keep Nexabiotic refrigerated.

LisaMarie12 said:

. Do keep Nexabiotic refrigerated.

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I don't think it needs to be refrigerated? I don't refrigerate it, and it doesn't say that on the bottle..

When using human probiotics for a cat, it's useful to get a kind with a large cfu count because a cat's stomach is especially acidic, so you have a better chance of viable bacteria making it to the intestine. Giving the probiotics on an empty stomach before a meal also gives them a better chance of survival, but I still notice that the probiotics I use work very well given with food.

Many probiotics do not necessarily need to be refrigerated, but refrigeration can prolong the life of the bacteria, as they do die off over time. And when you're feeding small doses to a cat, you're probably going to be using the bottle longer than if a human was taking 2 pills a day. So I refrigerate them just in case.