Should my cat take probiotics for digestive issues or gut health?

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. It is possible that sweetie has a sensitivity to this particular probiotic. I would recommend using a probiotic such as Purina fortiflora. I have used this product many times and have not seen many cases that vomited from this probiotic. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I would consider adding in a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora, which can be found online or at your local pet store and see if this helps in addition to the new food. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!

There's no evidence at all that these kind of supplements work, but if it does help with one of your cat's issues with vomiting, it's no harm to keep using it. Probiotics I only recommend when an animal is ill, such as with intestinal issues.

Hi there. Any antibiotic will cause some transient changes in gut flora. In some patients, this may cause some symptoms of GI upset such as vomiting or diarrhea. If you're concerned, you can certainly give Bailey a probiotic such as Forti-Flora in his food each day while he's taking the doxycycline - this won't hurt anything, and might help to keep his intestinal bacteria from being disrupted as much.

This answer partially depends on what the problem is. However, the most common thing we will recommend for GI health is probiotics (often in conjunction with pre-biotics). Probiotics are the good bacteria in the GI tract that help it stay healthy. There are a number of products on the market. Some are more complete than others. One good product is called Entero TruBenefits. You can find that here. http://www.vrshealth.com/canine-products/?petcoach=1977957 Nutramax makes a good formula called ProViable. And VetriScience makes a nice probiotic formula that is comes in a chewable tablet. I hope that was helpful and answered your question. Thanks for using PetCoach.

It's pretty odd that a cat won't eat food sprinkled with Fortiflora! In addition to probiotics, it is used as a flavor enhancer for cats with poor appetites. You may need to try a couple different foods to see what she is more interested in. Or discuss this development with your vet, as her poor appetite might not be caused by the Fortiflora and could be related to the upset stomach.

Since cats are obligate carnivores, they do not need the carbohydrates in dry food. Even grain-free dry food have carbohydrates since they are necessary to make a dry food. This is the best website I have found about cat nutrition. http://catinfo.org Merrick is a great food, so you might try stopping the dry food before you make any other diet changes, but my cats have been doing well on Wellness as another option for you. I have not had a chance to try it yet, but since you are in CA, Just Food For Dogs has started making food for cats as well. https://www.justfoodfordogs.com For a probiotic suggestion, I would consider VetriScience probiotics. https://www.vetriscience.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=900714120 Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using PetCoach.