Did you try adding plain yogurt to your dog’s dinner because you heard probiotics are good for them; then went Meh! because you didn’t really see any changes or the claimed health benefits and give up on it?
That’s what we did until digging into the details of human vs. canine probiotics a couple of years ago. We learned that probiotics, which work in a dog’s gut are different from the ones that work in a human’s. We’d been on the right track, but using the wrong version, especially since the job of live cultures in most commercial yogurt is to make the yogurt, not fix your gut!
Our main reason for revisiting probiotics was a litter of pups that developed severe intestinal distress after a round of antibiotics. (Intestinal distress is our euphemistic way of saying a dog has the runs, which is a euphemistic way of saying – well, in this case – Puppy Crap-ageddon!) This litter was in dire need of a solution and our natural fallback of canned pumpkin wasn’t working – at all! Our vet suggested giving them probiotics so we gave yogurt another try and a bottle of probiotics we had in the fridge. Still, no fix. “Why not?” we wondered. That’s when we did some serious research and realized the strains of bacteria, which work for dogs, aren’t the same as for humans and that more than one strain can be beneficial. We also learned that probiotics have a short shelf-life and are extremely susceptible to high temperatures. A lesson demonstrated by the one-strain, one-month-shy-of-its-expiration-date bottle on hand.
A brief explanation of probiotics: Probiotics are the white hat version of bacteria. These are the beneficial, symbiotic varieties you want hanging around in your internal flora and fauna, as opposed to the black hat ones, which make the evening news in their attempts to kill people. Because 80% of the immune system resides in your digestive tract, you want the good guys to win the battle of the gut in order to stay healthy. (If you like zombie and vampire movies, you really should do some research on bacteria, such as Vampirococcus and Yersinia pestis. They are just a couple of the micro-sized, horror movie stars of this world.)
What about those tear stains? Well, nutritionists are reporting a beneficial side effect for pets on probiotics – a reduction in tear staining with an 80–90% success rate – according to anecdotal evidence. (See Iam’s rep remark, comment number 10, at PetMD.com.) After hearing this news we realized we had seen a reduction in staining when adding probiotics to the dinners of our lighter-colored dogs. (Never have or want to try the antibiotic-based products.)
Now for the real poop. The stuff that worked for us, err… make that… worked for the puppies.
After getting our facts straight, we found a probiotic by Jarrow called Pet Dolphilus in the refrigerated supplement section of Whole Foods. This fixed the pups and their messy issue in about three days. (Don’t know who was happier, us or the pups!) We like this product and still use it. It contains five strains of probiotics formulated to work together and to work for pets. At around $15 a bottle and a serving size of 1/8–1/4 teaspoon, a bottle lasts a long time and is a good value. While the manufacturer says it doesn’t need refrigeration, we keep it in the fridge. A small sprinkle on the dog’s food and you’re done. The powder has a sweet taste they seem to like.
Update — August: We recently visited Whole Foods to pick up a new bottle and our regional Whole Foods store said they no longer carry it and have no plans to reorder. We are waiting to hear if another local store, Natural Grocers, can place an order for us. No natural foods or supplement store near you? Pet Dolphilus can be bought through Amazon as well. So if we can’t get it locally, that’s what we may have to do, too.
Some Frenchie friends use Purnia’s FortiFlora with similar positive results. The benefit of this product is pre-portioned servings, no refrigeration needed, available at pet stores, online, and from your vet. Around $15–20 per 30-dose pack.
Iams offers Veterinary Formula Prostora Max, available only through a veterinarian. If you read the reviews on Amazon, some of the comments praise the product for how it cleared up tear staining, along with fixing the primary issues of the dog. Somehow, available through Amazon.com.
Here are links to purchase all three products.
If you search your favorite online and local pet stores, you’ll find even more brand names of probiotics.
A word of caution – mixing and matching different species and strains of probiotics can defeat their effectiveness because one strain may cancel out the benefit of another. If you try one brand, and it doesn’t work, move on to another, but don’t feed them both at the same time.
In fact, for the FULL and authoritative scoop on probiotics, listen to the 12-minute AKC CHF podcast The Use of Probiotics with speaker Dr. Gail Czarnecki-Mauldin. She will explain why probiotics work, the best way to administer them, how they can be used for dogs being kenneled, on the road, or being shown, and how growing puppies benefit from adding probiotics to their diet. (Boy-oh-boy do we agree on that one!) Another thing to note, if you are feeding your dog probiotics because he/she is on antibiotics, space the probiotics and antibiotics at least five hours apart so the antibiotics don’t wipe out the probiotics before they can do their job.
How about another podcast on dog nutrition and probiotics? Listen to Dr. Deborah Greco talk about kibble, supplements, and probiotics. She, too, mentions the benefits of probiotics in the diet of puppies. This podcast is a bit longer at 17 minutes. (Just right to fill the your call will be answered in the order received wait time of your next phone call. 
) Listen to AKC CHF podcast Canine Nutrition with speaker Dr. Deborah Greco.
For more on using probiotics to reduce tear staining, visit these links:
