A Quick Rundown on Pet Probiotic Supplements

Unfortunately for pet parents, upset tummies and vomiting are all too common, whether you’re dealing with dog gut health gremlins or cat tummy troubles. Sometimes it’s because our furbabies have been busy being bad and chewing our shoes to pieces. Other times it’s because of an unbalance of stomach flora.

Whatever the case, one way to help prevent stomach problems is by pairing pet probiotics with your pet’s normal diet. Pet probiotics contain good bacteria that help keep your dog or cat's gut health in check.

If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry. We’ll guide you through the science and benefits of probiotics so you can choose the one that best suits your pet’s needs. Plus, we’ll cover a couple of good picks for pet probiotics.

What Are Pet Probiotics?

Pet probiotics are food supplements for pets that contain live microorganisms beneficial to the digestive system. These live microorganisms include bacteria and yeasts that help promote a healthy balance of the intestinal microbiota (special organisms that live in the gut). They play a vital role in the digestion and absorption of nutrients, in the maintenance of the immune system, and in overall pet health.

Pet probiotic products provide an additional source of protection and ensure that everything flows harmoniously in your pet’s gut. Some of these bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, are important in restoring the balance of the intestinal flora, which is why they're called “good bacteria”.

These good bacteria allow your pet to get the most out of their food and synthesize a host of nutrients essential for vital development. Plus, they give your furbaby an extra boost of energy!

It should be noted that probiotics are not considered a pharmacologic treatment. They only prevent intestinal imbalance and help regulate digestion. Their use should always be approved and supervised by a vet, and they shouldn’t replace your pet’s normal diet.

Pet probiotics are usually accompanied by other components, such as prebiotics and other natural and artificial components intended to best supplement our pets' diet.

Benefits of Pet Probiotics for Dogs

When given properly, probiotics can have several health benefits for dogs. These benefits will depend on the strain and dose administered. However, to get you started, we’ve laid out some of the more general perks of giving pet probiotics to dogs.

Do Dogs Need Pet Probiotics?

Not all dogs need probiotics. However, in some cases, adding them to your pup’s diet may be beneficial. Dogs have a natural intestinal microbiota that is composed of beneficial and harmful bacteria. Probiotics can be a great way to get things back in check if this is unbalanced due to factors such as illness or stress.

If, on the other hand, your pet has normal digestive health and stays healthy and well-exercised, you may not need to supplement his diet with dog probiotics. Of course, that’s unless otherwise instructed by your veterinarian—what the doc says always comes first!

When to Give Probiotics to My Pet?

The decision to administer probiotics to your pet may depend on several factors, such as their health status, medical history, diet, and any specific problems they may be experiencing. Just remember—don’t go making any decisions on your own. It’s always best to consult the vet to ensure you’re giving your pets the right type and dose.

Now, while you’ll want to check in with your vet before adding these kinds of supplements into your furbaby’s diet, there are a couple of cases where you might want to think about supplementing your pet’s diet:

1. Your pet struggles with digestive disorders such as diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, or food sensitivity.
2. Your pet has been dealing with changes in diet or stress due to travel, changes, or illnesses.
3. Your pet has been exposed to prolonged use of antibiotics, which can generate an intestinal imbalance
4. Your pet has a weak immune system, and poor absorption of nutrients in the digestive tract directly affects the immune response to infections

If you find your pet fits any of these criteria, you might want to broach the subject of introducing probiotics into your pet’s diet to your vet.

Types of Pet Probiotics

Now that we know what pet probiotics are let’s review the different types of dog and .

The probiotic market offers many products in different forms to suit the preferences of each owner and pet, each varying in the strains included in their ingredients and other factors such as storage, price, and dosage. In other words, it can be tricky to figure out which type of probiotic makes the most sense for your pooch or kitty.

The type of supplement you pick will generally depend on things like vet recommendations, pet preferences, and your pet’s nutritional needs. From there, you’ve got a few different forms of probiotics to choose from, including:

• Capsules
• Liquid Probiotics
• Chews
• Powder
• Probiotic Food

Let’s check out each of these in more detail.

Capsules

Probiotics in capsule form have many advantages, such as long shelf life, ease of storage, and practicality. However, the problem is that they’re very difficult to administer. If your pet is crafty enough, he may refuse to swallow the tablet, so you will have to spend a lot of time trying to get him to do so.

Liquid Probiotic

Liquid or paste probiotics are usually easier to administer, as you can add them to your pet's solid food or water. Alternatively, they can be administered with a syringe. The disadvantage of these probiotics is that they’re more likely to spill or give a bad taste to the food your pet doesn't like.

Pet Probiotic Chews

These types of pet supplements will not only benefit your pet's health but will also give them a good reason to entertain themselves by chewing for a long time. That means you can keep your pet occupied and keep their gut healthy!

However, some pet probiotic chews may contain fillers, artificial sweeteners, colorings, and flavorings as main ingredients that don’t provide nutritional content to our pets. All those additives can actually take away from their nutritional value and can do less of a good thing than we’d like them to.

Pet Probiotic Powder

One of the types of probiotics preferred by paw-rents are powdered probiotics, as they’re easy to transport, dose, and camouflage very well with the taste of food or water. They’re also less likely to contain additives that are harmful to health.

The benefit is that you can mix the pet probiotic powder with wet or dry dog food or cat food. That means no matter what it is your pet likes to chow down on, you can camouflage this probiotic as just part of their regular dinner.

Probiotic Pet Food

Last but not least, there are also some types of pet foods that include probiotics in them. This helps get the right amount of probiotics in your pet’s diet. Just remember that this type of probiotic is usually lower quality and the dose isn’t as accurate. As a result, it may not be the best pick for getting probiotics to your pet.

Choosing Between Probiotic Pet Chews and Pet Probiotic Powder

In terms of the two best types of probiotics, powders, and chews tend to be top of the list. We've put together the table below to showcase why that’s the case and give a better breakdown of these two kinds of pet probiotics.

Why Integricare Chooses Powder Form Over Chews

While Integricare doesn’t create probiotics, they do offer other supplementary cat and dog supplements, with a focus on mobility and joint health.

Integricare’s TRI-ACTA and TRI-ACTA H.A supplements are both created in powdered form. This is so there are only 100% active ingredients that don’t require any additives or flavors to create a chew. This makes for a healthier pet product with the most therapeutic value, without the need to pay for fillers (who doesn’t like some bang for their buck?)

On top of that, Integricare’s powdered supplements are completely flavorless. That means you can easily mix them with your pet’s favorite wet or dry food and fool your furbaby into eating his nutrients.

Finally, the powdered form makes dosing super easy. You can use the included scoop to easily measure and adjust dosage for your pet’s specific needs, rather than having to rely on pre-dosed measurements, which may not always be accurate for the exact weight of your pet.

TRI-ACTA H.A. for Pets

Our maximum strength formula is optimally designed to accelerate the formation of cartilage, minimize inflammation, expedite the healing process, and improve joint conditions.

Learn More

Is it Necessary to Pair Prebiotics and Probiotics?

Combining prebiotics and probiotics’s not strictly necessary, but doing so may provide additional benefits to your pet's digestive health and gut microbiota balance.

But wait a minute, aren’t probiotics and prebiotics the same? Not quite.

Prebiotics are non-digestible substances that act as food for beneficial bacteria in the gut. In contrast, probiotics are live microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed adequately. Both have distinct but important functions and together, they’re more effective.

Prebiotics can help enhance the survival and effect of probiotics while promoting the growth of endogenous beneficial bacteria. This can lead to greater diversity and balance of the gut microbiota, thereby improving digestive health and boosting the immune system.

Of course, combining pre and probiotics is something you want to discuss with your vet. If your pet already enjoys stable intestinal health and has no digestive problems, he may only need one of the two. Your vet can help advise you as to whether you need one or the other or both.

5 Best Pet Probiotics

When it comes to choosing a good pet probiotic, there are tons of options on the market. That can make it a bit daunting trying to find one that works for your fur baby!

To make things easier, we’ve put together a few of the top pet probiotic options out there and gone over their pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision.

Without further ado, let’s get into a couple of the best pet probiotic options out there.

Native Pet Probiotic

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Native Pet is a brand dedicated to the wellness of pups that deal with various intestinal problems. Different product lines are dedicated to other areas, such as allergies, liver wellness, nutritional oils, and coat enhancement.

This probiotic creates a thriving environment for healthy microbiota and fosters the development of a good bacterial population. It contains 4 very important probiotic strains for pet gut health:

1. Enterococcus faecium (an essential bacteria for gut health)
2. Bifidobacterium animalis (helps maintain adequate colonization of gut microorganisms)
3. Bifidobacterium bifidum (helps prevent and treat gastrointestinal disorders)
4. Bacillus coagulans (helps treat constipation and irritable bowel syndrome)

Native Pet also has added prebiotics, which are nutrients that selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. This high-quality supplement is widely used in sensitive tummies, pets facing a new diet, or with irritated stomachs by stressful situations such as travel or territory changes.

You only need 1 scoop (1/2 tbsp) for every 50 lb. of body weight, and it’s recommended to sprinkle it on the food for the time prescribed by the vet.

Price starts at CAD$ 18.10 as of June 2023

Pet Labs Probiotic Chews

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Pet Lab Co is dedicated to producing the most nutritious combinations of products related to intestinal wellness, coat improvement, dental care, and mobility care. and much more. It uses only high-quality natural ingredients, such as salmon oil and potent healthy gut microbiota stimulants.

This particular chew contains 8 different probiotic strains designed to improve gut health, boost the immune system, and fight seasonal and environmental allergies. These strains include:

• Bacillus coagulans (helps treat constipation and irritable bowel syndrome)

• Lactobacillus reuteri (generally improves digestive health and helps restore normal flora)

• Bifidobacterium bifidum (helps prevent and treat gastrointestinal disorders)

• Bifidobacterium longum (helps break down sugars in food, such as lactose)

• Lactobacillus brevis (helps protect against food-borne pathogens)

• Lactobacillus casei (a lactic acid bacteria that may help prevent or treat diarrhea)

• Lactobacillus plantarum (helps maintain balance in the digestive system)
• Streptococcus thermophilus (helps the gut break down food and absorb nutrients)

Pets worldwide will love its pork flavor and benefit from its 3 billion CFU. Plus it contains other natural ingredients, such as pumpkin, to help optimize stool consistency and honey to promote natural intestinal bacteria.

It also contains mildly absorbed antioxidants to support gentle digestion and optimal intestinal health. And it also boosts yeast production needed to keep everything flowing smoothly. These chews are pre-dosed, and the number of chews you give your pet depends on weight.

Price starts at CAD$ 40.19 as of June 2023

Only Natural Pet Probiotic Blend

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Only Natural Pet probiotics are meant to help improve the absorption of nutrients in your pet’s gut. This flagship product offers 4.09 billion CFU/gram and has a complete component of a wide diversity of bioavailable strains in a high-quality prebiotic base. These are:

• Lactobacillus acidophilus (promotes the growth of good bacteria in the gut)

• Lactobacillus casei (a lactic acid bacteria that may help prevent or treat diarrhea)

• Lactobacillus bulgaricus (helps to calm skin inflammation)

• Streptococcus thermophilus (helps the gut break down food and absorb nutrients)

• Bifidobacterium bifidum (helps prevent and treat gastrointestinal disorders)

• Bifidobacterium longum (helps break down sugars in food, such as lactose)
• Bifidobacterium infantis (can help with gas and bloating)

One of its greatest advantages is that it doesn’t contain fillers or unnecessary additives, so you will be supplementing the diet of your furbaby without adding extra ingredients that can cause tummy problems.

For dogs, you should give 1 capsule daily to dogs up to 40 lbs and 2 capsules daily to dogs over 40 lbs, preferably mixed with food. For cats, you should give ½ capsule daily, preferably mixed with food. Also, if your pet takes antibiotics, you can add an additional daily dose at least 2 hours before and after administering antibiotics.

Although these are capsules, the capsules contain unflavored powder inside, which avoids discomfort and encourages pets to enjoy the benefits regardless of taste.

Price starts at CAD$ 29.51 as of June 2023

Pet Naturals Daily Probiotic

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Pet Naturals offers natural duck-flavored yummy bites designed to maintain intestinal health while maintaining the balance of the microbiota. They combine the power of probiotics with prebiotic fibers to strengthen other factors, such as the immune system and regular bowel movements.

Contains 120 million CFU/mastic of the Bacillus coagulans strain and other natural ingredients designed to improve your pets' quality of life. You should only give 1 chew per 25 lbs of body weight daily.

In addition to its probiotic properties, Naturals Daily includes the following natural ingredients:

• Fruits & veggies (Like kale or pumpkin)
• Oats & seeds (Like oatmeal or chia)
• Land & sea (Like mushrooms and spirulina)
• Vitamins & minerals (Like Vitamin C or E)
• Herbs & spices (Like castor oil or parsley)
• Amino Acids & Omega Fatty Acids (Like Omega 3 or 6)

Price starts at CAD$ 14.75 as of June 2023

Probiotic Miracle Nusentia

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Nusentia is a brand recognized for its wide range of products for the health of dogs, cats, and horses. Probiotic Miracle is specially designed and formulated to help support the immune system and intestinal function, so it also helps with seasonal allergies, diarrhea, and loose stools.

Also perfect for dogs and cats of all ages, just add 1 scoop (approximately 1/8 teaspoon) per day to your pet’s diet for every 50 pounds of pet weight. Use 1-2 times daily. Nusentia offers 2 billion CFU/serving of strains such as:

• Bifidobacterium animalis lactis (helps maintain microorganism balance in the gut)
• Lactobacillus acidophilus (promotes the growth of good bacteria in the gut)
• Lactobacillus rhamnosus (helps reduce occurrences of diarrhea)
• Lactobacillus salivarius (helps treat chronic digestive problems, diseases, and infections)
• Lactobacillus plantarum (helps maintain balance in the digestive system)
• Lactobacillus reuteri (generally improves digestive health and helps restore normal flora)

This product is able to detoxify the digestive system of existing pathogens. What’s more, this probiotic powder doesn’t contain any unnecessary fillers or sweeteners, it’s also tasteless, so it will work well for those picky pets. It also has other beneficial properties, such as improving skin conditions and behavioral conduct.

Price starts at CAD$ 34.82 as of June 2023

Reading Probiotics Labels: What CFU Means

Now that you know about some of the best pet probiotics on the market, let’s talk about how you can read supplement labels to find other good probiotic options on your own. In general, what you’ll want to look for on the supplement label is something called CFU.

CFU stands for Colony Forming Units. This term is used to quantify the number of live microorganisms, such as bacteria or yeasts, present in a probiotic supplement.

When the CFU number is listed on a supplement label, it refers to the estimated number of viable microorganisms found in each product dose. It represents the minimum number of organisms expected to be able to colonize and reproduce in the gastrointestinal tract actually to help your pet.

The amount of these varies depending on the probiotic type and the product formulation. Some may contain millions or even billions of CFUs per dose. However, it’s important to note that more CFUs don’t always mean a more effective probiotic.

Their efficacy is determined by several factors, such as the strains used in their components, the ability to survive stomach acid and reach the intestine, and the interaction with the existing microbiota.

Additional Pet Health Considerations

The combination of probiotics and mobility aid supplements may benefit some pets, especially those suffering from joint or mobility concerns.

Mobility-specific supplements, such as those containing glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), and omega-3 fatty acids, can provide joint benefits and help reduce inflammation. These supplements can improve joint lubrication, strengthen cartilage and decrease stiffness and pain.

On the other hand, probiotics can help improve digestion and absorption of the nutrients present in joint supplements like TRI ACTA H.A, which may increase their effectiveness. In addition, probiotics may help reduce inflammation in the body, complementing mobility supplements' anti-inflammatory effects.

TRI-ACTA H.A. for Pets

Our maximum strength formula is optimally designed to accelerate the formation of cartilage, minimize inflammation, expedite the healing process, and improve joint conditions.

Learn More

The best joint supplements should have the necessary natural ingredients, without fillers, and perfectly complement the work of probiotics. A couple of key ingredients to look for in these types of supplements include:

1. Glucosamine
2. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)
3. Chondroitin Sulfate
4. Hyaluronic Acid

If you’re considering blending the capabilities of probiotics and mobility aids for your pet, it is important to speak with a veterinarian, who will evaluate your pet's specific situation and determine if these supplements are appropriate with their proper dosage. That way, you can ensure you’re pairing up the right supplements and probiotics for a win-win combo!

Conclusion

Keeping your furry friend's tummy happy isn’t a matter you can take lightly. In fact, probiotics may be a key way to prevent many health problems in pets. Using a pet probiotic ensures that your pet’s gut is healthy and happy and can help you avoid tummy upsets.

Moreover, it can help improve the absorption of other supplements, such as TRI-ACTA. TRI-ACTA helps keep your pet’s joints smooth and limber so your pooch or kitty can romp and roam around.

Check out our dog resources page for more information on how to best care for your pet. Or, get in touch with our team to ask any more specific questions you might have!