Disclosure: In any review for a product or service, products or compensation may have been provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” and "Terms of Use" tabs for more information.
The rising popularity of probiotics in the past two decades has raised a question, can your cat or other pets get benefits from it? You may have seen so many varieties of probiotic supplement jars in the mart stacked one over the other in the mart shelves. That clearly indicates there are so many people across the world that use probiotics for better health and well-being.
We always want to think about our cats perceiving human habits. That being said, it is rational to think cats being mammals also might be benefitted from probiotics. The short answer is, yes, probiotics can help cats. But probiotics for cats are different than that for humans. I’ll tell you everything you will need to know about cat probiotic supplements.
What Are Cat Probiotics?
Like humans, cats have a bacterial environment in intestines, also known as, flora. This environment has a good balance between good bacteria and bad bacteria. This balance is crucial for your cat to remain healthy.
When there’s an imbalance, your cat might suffer from diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues and also alleviate the immunity. That said, it is important to maintain the balance of flora.
Probiotics are a combination of one or more strains of bacteria present in the guts which when ingested creates a favorable environment for good bacteria and benefits the host. This microorganism can treat a variety of diseases, especially gastrointestinal ones.
Generally, choosing the right supplement for your cat is important while there are too many available. Well, scientists suggest that the probiotics containing the strain of the bacteria that reside in a cat’s intestine are good ones. You can always check the label of the product and check the strains present in the supplement. In any case of confusion, you can seek your vet’s help.
Benefits of Probiotics
There’s been some research done on human probiotics that proves the benefits of probiotics. But for cats, there are some studies which suggest, probiotics also work for cats.
Probiotics improve digestive health which often eases up some clinical signs like low appetite, stomach upset, diarrhea, vomiting, and it makes bowel movements consistent. As we all know, better gut health keeps away many other diseases, probiotics, in general, give your cat’s immune system a boost. All in all, probiotics contribute massively to your cat’s health and well-being.
One of the diseases, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), is caused if the balance of flora is thrown out. Probiotics can maintain a healthy balance of bacteria and can save your kitty form IBD. The disease is common in cats and can be seen in adult and senior cats often.
However, sometimes the cause of IBD becomes a mystery for us. We feed kibbles to our cats and in fact, kibbles are the form of food that’s unnatural. Eating kibbles for a long period of time may cause certain gastrointestinal problems, including IBD. That said, probiotics also may help to keep away some other GI diseases.
One veterinarian has also claimed that probiotics can reduce the duration or shorten the reoccurrence of gastroenteritis.
Can You Give Your Cat Human Probiotics?
Veterinarians and feline nutritional experts suggest going with probiotics specially tailored for cats. As I said, good probiotics for cats contain the strains of bacteria present in the guts of a cat. So when you consider human probiotics, that won’t contain those strains.
Moreover, there is no research available that proves how human probiotics can affect a cat. It may be beneficial but also can be dangerous. In a nutshell, only use probiotics available for cats.
Risks Associated With Cat Probiotics
There are no evident side effects of probiotics in cats. Also, it’s rare to see any adverse effects in felines. But you should always be selective when choosing the right probiotic supplement for cats. Most supplements or food industries work on meager regulations. So it is important that you know how to read the label of the product.
Moreover, there are no institutions that require manufacturers to prove the presence of the amount of CFUs (Colony Forming Units) of bacteria and their strain as mentioned on the label. Considering this, there is one institution that has oversight on cat probiotics, National Animal Supplement Council. So always prefer to buy the product which has the NASC label.
Nevertheless, there is not enough research available to see how exactly probiotics can improve the flora environment. So it is better to go with ‘common sense’. Not all probiotics work for all cats. If you see significant improvement in your cat’s overall health, that’s the right probiotic for your kitty.
The EndNote
Like human probiotics, there’s a rise in popularity and trend to provide your cat with probiotic supplements. As we have discussed, probiotics in humans are different than those for cats. There are many benefits of probiotics but in a nutshell, they boost immunity and make health better. Studies have shown that probiotics are helping your cat but there is a lot of research yet to be done that can say how exactly it works.
Speak Your Mind