There can or will be times when it will be necessary for your pet to be prescribed antibiotics by your veterinarian, but what about probiotics? Should you stop supplementing your pet(s) with a probiotic (hopefully your pet is already on one!) until after the final round of antibiotics is complete? I used to believe the answer was yes, but after developing my own probiotic during a very difficult time when my dog Matty had to go on antibiotics due to his very severe injury, which completely fried his gut, I now believe that if he were on it while on antibiotics, the side effects of the antibiotic would not have been as severe, or if any. There is more and more research coming out supporting the theory that supplementing pets with probiotics even while on antibiotics can diminish any negative side effects of common antibiotic drugs such as Clavamox. In fact, ‘back in the day’, a doctor would have always prescribed a probiotic with an antibiotic- how that clinical practice got obsolete is beyond me. A Reason To Pair Probiotics and Antibiotics: “This meta-analysis reached a similar conclusion as the 2006 meta-analysis: Probiotics appear to be effective in preventing and treating AAD in children and adults receiving a wide variety of antibiotics for a number of conditions. The results were also consistent with those of a new meta-analysis that looked specifically at one pathogen—and found a reduction of 66% in C difficile-associated diarrhea in patients taking probiotics with their antibiotics.” (Rodgers B, Kirley K, Mounsey A. PURLs: prescribing an antibiotic? Pair it with probiotics. J Fam Pract. 2013 Mar;62(3):148-50. PMID: 23520586; PMCID: PMC3601687.). AAD (antibiotic associated diarrhea) is a severe side effect of antibiotic use. When we were testing out Matty’s Blend probiotic formula way before it was Matty’s Blend, we found that although it did eventually correct the gut in a number of days from the damage of the antibiotics, it could have very possibly prevented the whole problem in the first place. That is why we recommend supplementing Matty’s Blend even while your pet is on an antibiotic, and yes, its great for cats too! Especially because of the gut anti-inflammatory ingredients it contains such as slippery elm bark, licorice root, larch and humic and fulvic acid, with strategically selected probiotic strains at the right dose and amount. “The use of probiotics is a promising approach for manipulating the gut microbiota to promote host health [20,21,22,23]. Studies have shown that probiotics exert prophylactic or therapeutic activities in a variety of diseases such as IBD, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, colon cancer, allergy, type 2 diabetes, and atopic dermatitis in humans [20,21,22,24]. With positive effects such as improving growth performance, promoting intestinal health, and enhancing resistance against infections, probiotics have been explored as promising antibiotic alternatives in animal production [25,26]. An increase in nutrient digestion and absorption, improvement in intestinal morphology, optimization of the gut microbiota and suppressed inflammation have been linked with the health benefits of probiotics in farm animals [23]. Species and strains belonging to Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus, and Saccharomyces are commonly used probiotics in functional foods and dietary supplements.” |(Yang Q, Wu Z. Gut Probiotics and Health of Dogs and Cats: Benefits, Applications, and Underlying Mechanisms. Microorganisms. 2023 Sep 29;11(10):2452. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11102452. PMID: 37894110; PMCID: PMC10609632.) Clinical Pearl:
Combine Matty’s Blend with Missy’s Chance that acts as a prebiotic to fast track your pets’ gut microbiome health!
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AuthorLucy is an avid pet mom; with dogs, cats, goats and horses to keep her busy! All of her pet 'kids' are fed a species appropriate diet with proper supplementation so she can watch them thrive. Her expertise and experience lie in nutraceutical supplementation and is a health advocate for proper diet and nutrition. Her other passions in life are schutzhund and equestrian riding. Archives
July 2024
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