Probiotic Question

[Ditexas]

Oh y'all....y'all weren't kidding about this being a roller coaster at times. Houston was doing so well. Gaining weight just doing fantastic. I asked vet if I should add probiotic (had some left over from initial treating before dx). Oh my gosh - yesterday Houston's poop was just awful. She had two probiotic capsules on Friday and her stools yesterday were not good. I of course ceased dispensing anymore. Her diet is being followed strictly and she is loving the extra meal.

I feel so guilty and bad. Do probiotics have this effect? When she was on them with antibiotic pre EPI dx she was having stool issues from the EPI so I didn't see any difference. She goes and gets regulated and I go and do this to her...I feel so bad. Is this common with probiotics?

Thank y'all
Diane

[Eddiespaghetti]

It is pretty common when first starting probiotics to have horrible poopies. It's one of the many reasons we recommend to start with a lower dose and work your way up. You can see if a lower dose helps, or just power through. It should only last a couple days at the most. Most of the time, at least with "healthy" pups, the probiotic is introduced when they are already having GI issues. You don't notice the initial poops because they already have diarrhea.
Another issue it could be is; this particular probiotic doesn't agree with your puppos. You could try a different brand and see how that goes.

[Olesia711]

Hi Diane

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

hahaha... this can and does happen . a long time ago when probiotics became all the rage... and my gal Izzy had EPI.... (she was stable at the time) i thought... hmm... makes sense, these dogs NEED more good bacteria... so this much be a good thing for all dogs, especially an EPI dog ... yes??? wrong.....

i went thru 5 different brands of probiotics....not one worked well and every single one gave my Izzy loose stools... finally, while chatting with one of the researchers i wanted to know what was i doing wrong... and he wanted to know if her poos were good before i started the probiotics, and i said yes, so then he asked me why was i trying to fix something that wasn't broken..... lesson learned.

However, since then i have had other dogs that have truly benefited from taking a probiotics.... and some that did not..... i have one now that did indeed benefit from a probiotic... but it took me 3 different ones before i found one that finally agreed with him.... but now i have learned....give a probiotic for a reason.

I do think they are very beneficial (most of the time) especially when finishing an antibiotic regimen.... or when trying to help better regulate gut flora if there is a problem....however.... it really is a guessing game which probiotic will benefit a dog ... if they need one.

SOOOOOOooooooo please don't feel too bad... you tried... and that is the best way to figure something out with many of these precious EPI pups.

[Olesia711]

oh... and YES!!! what Jeremy posted above is absolutely correct... ALWAYS start with less than half the dose.... sometimes it is just too much/too potent all at once and the way the body reacts is via loose stools.... however... i should have been more specific... all the probiotics that i tried...if after 2 weeks at the most... if the stools are still loose... then that probiotic is NOT going to work........ (this is what i ran into with my little Izzy....her body just didn't benefit from any of the 5 products i tried)

[Ditexas]

Thank y'all sooooo much. I was like oh my gosh, I broke my dog! I mean she was really doing great and I had that train of thought and the vet was like....sure....and my poor girl looked at me like, "are you kidding me?"

Thank y'all once again for so graciously sharing your knowledge.

Diane