Probiotic - not sure which one to pick!

[hzlrane]

Hi guys! I am new to this site so hope I'm posting in the correct place. I adopted an 6-8 wk old kitten two weeks ago. His first night home he had some anal prolapsing. I took him to the vet were we have been constantly for 2 weeks. she put him on kitten formula which started the most watery diarrhea I've ever seen. Which has lasted well over a week now. Almost the full two weeks. 3 dewormings, antibiotics and steroids later, the poor little guy still has diarrhea. We put him on Sheba pate' food and I started yesterday introducing like, 10 pieces of dry food in with it. Well this morning he had his first formed poop since the first night I got him. I was so excited but an hr ago he pooped again and it was diarrhea. Again I've been reading about probiotics for gut health and digestion so I just ordered Nexabiotic 20 strain from Amazon for him. A few questions, does this sound like it will help settle his stomach? According to the vet he just has unexplained diarrhea as "some kittens just have and grow out of". And if this may help settle his tummy, how much of the pill do I give him? He's so little! 2 lbs. Thx in advance to anyone who tries to help me. I've been very discouraged trying to keep him clean and his bottom clean with all this diarrhea.

 

[ldg]

Oh I am so sorry. Such a little baby to have had so many meds thrown at him, poor thing!!!!

Having been given the antibiotics, the Nexabiotic is a great choice in my opinion. It has many important strains of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium in it. It additionally has S boulardii which has so many benefits for his GI healing. It is a small dose within the probiotic, not technically a "therapeutic" dose of S boualrdii. This file may help you with doses: http://www.ibdkitties.net/Probiotics.html

An appropriate dose is 1/4 pill 2x a day, though if you don't see results, you can increase that to 1/2 capsule 2x a day. Start small, work up.

FYI, I keep my cats on probiotics for life. My theory is that in the wild, they eat the entire animal - including the GI tract, which is packed with the "probiotic" bacteria. When we feed them, we cover their nutrition - but not their GI health. We have to supply that separately. Of course we don't know what they naturally get, but there's enough research to know these strains to confer benefit, and quite a few of them naturally occur in the GI tract of a cat.

What I usually recommend in situations like that is a bland diet for a week. Yes, he is at a crucial growth period - but with the diarrhea, he's not getting much nutrition from his food anyway. So the bland diet is not balanced, but it is easy to digest, is just meat (and cats are obligate carnivores, so plain old meat is kind of like chicken soup for us), and often provides a kind of "system reset." And especially as he seemed to respond to the change in diet, I'd lean towards giving him the unbalanced just plain meat and see if that helps along with the probiotic. I HIGHLY recommend trying Beech Nut (not Gerber's, it contains corn starch) chicken or turkey baby food. Feed him small frequent meals. If this helps resolve his tummy problems, you need to find an all-stages cat food that has very simple ingredients and has lots of protein, moderate fat, and low carbs - or you may want to try commercial raw or homemade. Fancy Feast classics, not made of the best ingredients and with food coloring (and I think perservatives?) does fit the bill, and guar gum is the only thickener. But many IBD kitties do very well with it.

Nutritional information from a vet: http://www.catinfo.org

TCS official thoughts on anyone recommending a homemade diet, which I am - if you're not familiar, it's a least nice to know about it. Wish someone had mentioned it to me when my cats were kittens! (I feed my cats homemade raw food now): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/282314/recommending-a-homemade-diet-hold-your-horses

 

[hzlrane]

Oh I am so sorry. Such a little baby to have had so many meds thrown at him, poor thing!!!!

Having been given the antibiotics, the Nexabiotic is a great choice in my opinion. It has many important strains of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium in it. It additionally has S boulardii which has so many benefits for his GI healing. It is a small dose within the probiotic, not technically a "therapeutic" dose of S boualrdii. This file may help you with doses: http://www.ibdkitties.net/Probiotics.html

An appropriate dose is 1/4 pill 2x a day, though if you don't see results, you can increase that to 1/2 capsule 2x a day. Start small, work up.

FYI, I keep my cats on probiotics for life. My theory is that in the wild, they eat the entire animal - including the GI tract, which is packed with the "probiotic" bacteria. When we feed them, we cover their nutrition - but not their GI health. We have to supply that separately. Of course we don't know what they naturally get, but there's enough research to know these strains to confer benefit, and quite a few of them naturally occur in the GI tract of a cat.

What I usually recommend in situations like that is a bland diet for a week. Yes, he is at a crucial growth period - but with the diarrhea, he's not getting much nutrition from his food anyway. So the bland diet is not balanced, but it is easy to digest, is just meat (and cats are obligate carnivores, so plain old meat is kind of like chicken soup for us), and often provides a kind of "system reset." And especially as he seemed to respond to the change in diet, I'd lean towards giving him the unbalanced just plain meat and see if that helps along with the probiotic. I HIGHLY recommend trying Beech Nut (not Gerber's, it contains corn starch) chicken or turkey baby food. Feed him small frequent meals. If this helps resolve his tummy problems, you need to find an all-stages cat food that has very simple ingredients and has lots of protein, moderate fat, and low carbs - or you may want to try commercial raw or homemade. Fancy Feast classics, not made of the best ingredients and with food coloring (and I think perservatives?) does fit the bill, and guar gum is the only thickener. But many IBD kitties do very well with it.

Nutritional information from a vet: http://www.catinfo.org

TCS official thoughts on anyone recommending a homemade diet, which I am - if you're not familiar, it's a least nice to know about it. Wish someone had mentioned it to me when my cats were kittens! (I feed my cats homemade raw food now): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/282314/recommending-a-homemade-diet-hold-your-horses

Oh dear. I feel so in over my head lol. I will try these suggestions. So by plain ole meat do you mean just raw chicken breast from the store? Or boil it? How do I prepare the meat for him since he's so small? Cut it up tiny or try to blend it? I will go tomorrow and look for the baby food... Would that be at walmart? I haven't heard of that brand. Thank you SO much for trying to help me. I have spent many hrs in my bathroom crying from just being lost in how to help him. Other than the diarrhea from the milk of dewormer, he has never acted sick or ran a fever. He has such heart. And his little bottom just makes me so sad for him. I pray when the diarrhea stops his bottom will go back to normal. That's what the vet suggests anyways.

Thank you so much for helping me! I have been so lost on how to help him.

 

[ldg]

Yes, Walmart carries Beech Nut. Goya is the same thing, it is now owned by Beech Nut. Every grocery store around here carries Gerber, Goya, and Beech Nut. :lol3: You're looking for the "stage 1" just plain meat (well, the ingredients will read "chicken and chicken broth.")

If you want to make it yourself, you can just boil chicken breast in a little water. If he'll eat it shredded with the water (include that water - save it, it has valuable nutrition in it), that works too. It costs less to do that than use baby food for the week - but many cats find the baby food irresistible. I believe this is because it includes the "bone broth." This has nothing added to it - but it has more flavor and minerals than just plain water, because it is the water the meat/bones were cooked in.

See how he does, and maybe spend a little time learning about a homemade diet IF this bland diet helps him. :rub: It can be done raw or cooked, whatever you're comfortable with. Or commercial raw is very easy. The highest quality is Rad Cat (http://www.radfood.com), but it's expensive to use as the sole food, and can be difficult to locate depending on where you live. No reason to stick to just one brand though. Nature's Variety and Primal have balanced foods and are usually pretty easy to find.

Here are the resources threads stickied at the top of the Raw & Homecooked forum.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263955/helpful-resources-raw-home-cooked-cat-food-forum

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources

We're kind of diverging from the probiotic thread here. You might want to consider starting a thread in the health forum about his diarrhea. (I'd appreciate that, because then we can help track his progress. :heart2: ). Or consider a thread in the raw & homecooked forum if you have questions and want to explore the option!

 

[hzlrane]

This helped answer my probiotics question. Sorry I got off topic. That brand should be good like you said for replacing what he lost during his treatment with the antibiotics. Thank you again for all the helpful information. Wit kitten dosing and such. I really think the probiotics will help regulate him. Thanks again

 

[ldg]

:lol3: I'm the one that took it off-topic I think. And I found your post in the health forum.

 

[cats5]

I give my cats a Probiotic Blend that I order from www.onlynaturalpet.com Plus they have a lot of other great supplements as well.

 

[myrnafaye]

I give mine Proviable.

 

[ldg]

Proviable DC is a very good probiotic, but it costs less to use a human equivalent with similar strains.

 

[myrnafaye]

....such as?  and how much would I use, the Proviable is in capsules..

 

[beaverlaker]

Our vet told us that canned pumpkin or yogurt with the cultures in it are a fine probiotic. Since I can't give my cats that eat dry food the pumpkin (no cat likes it alone), I can give it to the 2 that eat wet food, mixing it in. But I'd never get through a can before it went bad, so I  just go with the yogurt and smear yogurt on everybody's front leg. You can even use fruit flavored yogurt. One of my cats like the fruit yogurt so much, he licks the lid and as far into the empty yogurt container he can reach his tongue that is clinging to the sides after I eat the balance of the yogurt. I am sure to leave a good layer of yogurt on the bottom of the lid and on the insides of the container enough for him so he gets about a good teaspoon full.

 

[myrnafaye]

my Obi threw up pumpkin, and that is more for hairballs than it is for GI health, I believe.  He likes plain yogurt but that can also cause loose stools, because not all cats can digest milk...like some people..

 

[cats5]

Some of my cats like yogurt so I usually use plain greek yogurt & mix it in their food, just a spoonful

 

[kaysy]

Eagle Pack Holistic Solution...my cat has been on it for years.  he has IBD>

 

[detmut]

any thoughts on hyperbiotics pro-15? it's the top seller on amazon:

 

[chromium blues]

Our veterinarian suggested JuvitaB for some kittens with chronic loose stool and it worked nicely. She said that there isn't much regulation with regards to supplements and a lot of the ones on the market (human and cat) may contain little or none of the listed ingredient. The JuvitaB was also easy to hide, as it had no taste and could easily mix with a bit of canned food, and cost the same as the probiotics I was looking at in the pet store.

 

[cats5]

I give all my cats Ultimate Probiotic by  Pet Wellbeing plus occasionally I give the cats that do like yogurt, some plain greek yogurt mixed in with their food. so far so good for my family.

 

[psychomama]

Any opinions on Dr Mercola probiotics good or bad?