What Are Probiotics

A Guide To Probiotics for Dogs

You often hear people recommend probiotics for dogs. But, you may wonder, exactly what are probiotics?

The word "probiotic" literally means "for life." And the term "probiotics" refers to living microorganisms which, when used in adequate amounts, confer a beneficial effect on the health of the host organism by improving its intestinal microbial balance.

What Are Probiotics Benefits For Your Dog?

Probiotics work to improve the health of dogs the same way probiotics help humans.

Your dog's digestive tract hosts a complex ecosystem filled with diverse microorganisms, most of which are bacteria. Some of these bacteria are "friendly" in that they provide direct benefits to the host, i.e., to your dog. Others are potentially harmful but kept in check by the "friendly" ones.

A healthy dog's intestinal tract consists of the correct balance of these organisms. Many causes, including stress, illness, injury and antibiotics, can upset this delicate balance. Therefore probiotics are particularly useful if your dog has been subjected to a stressful situation or antibiotic treatment.

Probiotics stimulate the body's own production of beneficial microorganisms in the intestinal tract, thereby maintaining the optimal balance for overall health. And no, probiotics don't increase the growth of "bad" microorganisms, nor do probiotics overstimulate the growth of "good" ones.

In fact, once they achieve sufficient numbers, the "friendly" bacteria and organisms in the intestine tend to automatically perpetuate the desired overall balance on their own, so it's practically impossible to upset your dogs's intestinal ecosystem by giving probiotics.

The healthy intestinal tract produced by probiotics leads to better absorption of nutrients, from vitamins and minerals to electrolytes and even plain water.

Probiotics also help convert many food items otherwise useless to canine health into a form which dogs can assimilate.

By improving your dogs nutrient uptake, probiotics may lead to everything from improved immune response and superior health and vitality, to a more attractive coat and smaller stool sizes.

What Are Probiotics - Scientific Evidence

Numerous scientific studies support the efficacy of probiotic supplementation, though more trials have been conducted for humans than for dogs. However, based on conditions where duplicate work has been done, there is reason to believe the results for humans and dogs will be similar

While research has only been completed for a limited number of areas thus far, studies have already proven probiotics effective for treating and preventing the following conditions:

• Diarrhea
• Flatulence
• Colon cancer
• Irritable Bowel Disorder
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Constipation
• Urinary Tract Infections
• Yeast Overgrowth

Studies have also shown that probiotics are helpful for the following:

• Reducing the recurrence of bladder cancer
• Improved immune function in young dogs
• Improving overall health and preventing problems in the female genital tract
• Synthesizing B vitamins and Vitamin K
• Lowering blood pressure
• Lowering cholesterol levels (not a great problem in dogs)

Anecdotal evidence supports the use of probiotics for a variety of other conditions, and further studies that could validate the prescription of probiotics for a broad spectrum of uses are currently underway.

How to Administer Probiotics

Probiotics can be administered to your dog either through direct supplementation, or by feeding dog food or yogurt containing probiotics. If giving probiotic supplements, the probiotic supplements should be given either with food or right after food. The easiest and best time to give probiotics is with your dog's regular meal.

While feeding yogurt can produce side effects (i.e., flatulence) for dogs that are lactose intolerant, lactose intolerance is less of a problem with probiotic-enhanced yogurt than with other dairy products.

Reason: The probiotics themselves help your dog's digestive process cope with the lactose better than it normally would.

As mentioned above, probiotics actually may be prescribed to help humans or dogs with lactose intolerance.

If giving probiotics with antibiotics, important to give the probiotics and antibiotics at least 4-5 hours apart from each other. Otherwise, the antibiotics will kill the probiotics.

Potential Probiotics Side Effects

What are probiotics side effects? The good news is that so far, very few actual side effects have been reported, most of them both rare and extremely minor.

For example, the most common side effect is increased flatulence. And even that very minor problem is uncommon. In fact, flatulence is one of the problems probiotics are most effective in treating, so that they are far more likely to help than harm in this regard.

While scientists have theorized the possibility of other side effects, neither studies nor anecdotal reporting have yet indicated these conditions exist in reality for dogs. Essentially, probiotics appear to be nearly side effect free.

Because the two circumstances in which probiotics have been found to be potentially counterproductive in humans involve patients with acute pancreatitis and children under six months of age, you may wish to avoid giving probiotics to dogs with pancreatitis or very young puppies without first consulting your own veterinarian.

What Are Probiotics - Where to Find Them

Yogurt containing probiotics may be found in most grocery and health food stores. In addition, many super premium dog foods contain stabilized probiotics that can survive more than a year on the store shelves.

These super premium dog foods can be found online, through independent retailers, or in veterinarian offices.

Probiotic supplements can be purchased online, in health food stores, and some grocery stores.

So, you now have an answer to the question of "what are probiotics?"

Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that, properly administered, can greatly improve the health of your dog. They are easy to find and are almost entirely without side effects. If you wish to improve your dog's immune response, digestive function or overall health, probiotic supplementation is certainly a good place to start.