Best Probiotic for Dogs, Get the necessary information

What are the best probiotic for dogs?

The term “probiotic” is a blending on the Latin word for pro, meaning “for” and the Greek term for biotic, meaning “life”.

R. B. Parker wrote in 1974 in “Animal Nutrition and Health” that “Probiotics are organisms and substances that have a beneficial effect on the host animal by contributing to its intestinal microbial balance.”  This definition was considered an expansion of the technical meaning but one that has hardly been challenged since then as properly describing the role of probiotics in digestion.

Probiotics beneficially affect the host digestion by augmenting the bacterial population and thereby increasing digestive action and intensity and also by reducing the number of pathogens in the digestive tract.  It also increases the immune response as most immune action takes place in the digestive system.

What are yeast cultures and probiotics?  Yeast cultures are specific strains of live yeast plus the medium on which they are grown.  The difference between yeast cultures and brewer’s yeast is that yeast cultures contain live yeast cells that are able to establish themselves in the intestinal microflora of the dog’s gut.  Probiotics are specific strains of beneficial live bacteria that are able to establish themselves in the dog’s intestines and improve the overall health of the dog intestine.

How do yeast cultures improve digestion in the dog’s intestine?  In your dog’s intestine are thousands of different types of bacteria; some of these bacteria are very beneficial while other such as salmonella can actually make your dog very sick.  Yeast cultures help the beneficial bacteria to grow and increase in numbers.  Likewise, they also help to reduce the chances of the pathogenic bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli from increasing in number to make your dog ill.

How do probiotics work?   Probiotics are the actual bactreria that you would like to find in your dog’s intestine.  Unfortunately, these bacterial strains are not able to compete successfully with all the other bacteria species that normally exist in the dog’s intestine.  It is therefore necessary that they must be fed on a regular basis if they are to remain established in the dog’s intestine.  Probiotics are able to improve digestion in the horses intestine and thereby reduce the opportunity for pathogenic bacteria species to become established.  In some areas of the world, probiotics have almost replaced antibiotics (drugs) in the feed of certain livestock species such as poultry and swine.

Is there anything else you should also look for in a digestive supplement?  Yes, there is.  For a complete, effective, and safe approach for digestive support, digestive enzymes such as amylase, betaglucanase, hemicellulase, and protease should be included along with the ingredients such as streptococcus faecium, lactobacillus casei, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus plantarum, and saccharomyces cerevisiae.  There is also an additional ingredient that would probably not be found in most digestive aids and that is mannan oligosacharrides or MOS which reduces and inhibits the colinization of pathogens like salmonella and also can bind up mycotoxins which can be deadly for your dog.

 

Is this good for older dogs?  Yes, it is particularly healthy and effective for dogs that have reached or passed around eight years of age.  When dogs pass that age, they start losing bacterial population because their gut has basically lost its effectiveness as an ideal environment for the bacteria to florish.  The bacteria that is present in the gut is dying out a little faster and is being replaced at a slightly slower pace thus, overall population starts to go down.