Does your pet suffer from a sensitive tummy? Or maybe they’re prone to skin irritations or allergies?
Although it can be handy to blame foul smells on them, or allow them to ‘clean up’ spills off the floor, you need to be mindful of the health of their gut.
Just like us hoomans, pets often show signs of ill health when their immune system is compromised. If your canine companion or feline friend is experiencing symptoms such as: diarrhoea, gas, cramping, bloating, bad breath, allergies, and general ill health, it could be an imbalance in their gut.
They say the gut is the body’s second brain, controlling your overall health and well-being. It’s the same for our furry friends too.
This is where probiotics for dogs and cats can help!
What are probiotics for dogs and cats?
Put simply, probiotic supplements offer up a dose of friendly bacteria.
Probiotics contain healthy microflora (good bacteria) which is essential for healthy digestion. When there’s an imbalance of microflora, pets can experience symptoms such as: diarrhoea, gas, cramping, bloating, bad breath, allergies, and general ill health.
Microflora levels can be disrupted due to a number of things – if your pet has an ear infection or yeast infection, if they’re experiencing skin irritations or allergies, or if they’re on antibiotics.
Natural supplements like the Petz Park range of probiotics, for example, help restore the balance of good bacteria and regulate the acidity of their digestive tract.
When your fur friend has a healthy and balanced gut, they will be able to digest food well, absorb vitamins and minerals better, and maintain a strong immune system.
How do pet probiotics work?
Pets who show signs of an unsettled tummy, allergies, or even stress can mean their body is lacking in the good bacterias that help them maintain a healthy immune system.
Pets that are particularly picky eaters, or eat foods that maybe they shouldn’t (cue the crumbs of chocolate from the ground, or onions leftover from the dinner plate) are more likely to show signs of an unbalanced gut. Although it may seem insignificant at the time, these habits may translate into not-so-fun conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), digestive problems, immune system reactions, allergies, diabetes, and even stress and anxiety.
Even changing their food source can aggravate their digestive tract while their body is getting used to new ingredients. This is an especially handy time to aid their digestion with probiotics.
Pets on antibiotics can also be susceptible to digestive unbalance, so keeping pet-friendly probiotics on hand will help keep their good bacteria topped up while the antibiotics fight the bad bacteria.
Studies have shown that probiotic supplements not only balance their digestive system, but they improve the overall health and immunity of pets. And, with 70% of a cat’s immunity reliant on their digestive tract, ensuring optimal gut health is vital for our beloved fur friends.
Probiotics are a way to regulate your pet’s gut. The bonus is that the benefits of probiotics go far beyond just digestive health – there are a number of other advantages:
- Strengthens their immune system: meaning they’re less likely to catch any nasties while out on adventures.
- Helps ease allergies: You’ll notice less scratching, chewing their paws, excessive licking, rashes and sores.
- Reduces stress and anxiety: A healthy and happy tummy equals a more energetic and playful pet.
- Encourages oral health: Eliminating bad bacteria helps transform your pet’s bad breath into a fresh and healthy mouth.
Where there may be a stressful situation coming up, like moving house or dog boarding while you’re on vacation, probiotics can help to prepare their gastrointestinal tract and reduce the symptoms of any mild stress or anxiety.
Probiotics for dogs and cats can be given daily as part of their long term health care.
Probiotics also provide significant benefits to your back pocket too! A healthy and happy pet means the likelihood of you having to claim on your pet insurance is reduced. Prevention is always better than cure, right?
How to choose the right probiotic supplement for your pet
Among the many brands in the market, it’s important to choose a pet probiotic that offers the most amount of goodness.
Not all pet probiotics are created equally, so choosing the right one will mean the difference between your pet getting the good stuff their bodies need and you simply wasting your money!
What to look for in probiotics for dogs
- Formulated by Vets: With many brands to choose from, finding one that’s made by a Vet means it’s been made with one thing in mind – your pet’s health. Also be sure to look for the official ‘Australian made’ registered logo so you know it has locally sourced ingredients.
- Tailored to your pet: It’s important to choose the best probiotic for dogs, depending on their size, weight and overall health. The beauty of Petz Park probiotics is that it comes with clear dosage instructions, including tips for first time users.
- Check the ingredients: Choose a probiotic that’s transparent about their ingredients. Listing what the probiotic is made with, and the proportions, means there’s nothing to hide. And, look for one that features both prebiotics and probiotics – prebiotics are nutrients that feed the good bacteria and help them grow!
- Pet probiotic in powder form: the easiest type of probiotic to administer as it can be mixed into their food with little fuss.. It also means there aren’t any nasties such as vegetable oils, soy flour or preservatives that are included in chews.
- Great reviews from real customers: To navigate through the many options available, find a probiotic that has a heap of high star ratings and stellar product reviews by fellow fur parents who have found the best probiotic for dogs in Australia.
Our recommendation: Petz Park Probiotic for Dogs
The best probiotics for cats
When it comes to probiotics for cats, many brands will try to simply re-package the dog formulation and just change the concentration. Top quality brands like Petz Park, on the other hand, create an entirely separate formula tailored to the needs of our feline friends. Cats have shorter digestive tracts and altered liver enzyme capacity, which means they have different requirements to dogs in this respect.
The benefits of probiotics for cats is similar to that of dogs, with the addition of reducing hair balls too!
As probiotics help improve cat digestion, it also helps to pass any undigested food attached to the hair sitting on the digestive tract before it forms as a hairball.
Our recommendation: Petz Park Probiotic for Cats
How to administer probiotics for your dogs or cats
When it comes to administering probiotics to your pet, powder form is the easiest method and allows you to be used in many different ways – sprinkle it on top of their food or mix it into food. You can also serve it up within their favourite treat, like yoghurt or peanut butter!
The Petz Park range of probiotics for dogs and cats includes super clear dosage instructions on the back of every pouch, according to the pet’s weight. No having to calculate it yourself – phew!
How long does it take for a pet probiotic to work?
Results will depend heavily on the size of your pet and severity of their condition.
In some cases, you could expect to see results within days. In other cases changes can be seen in your pet within 6 weeks, so it’s important to monitor their progress.
It’s always important to understand why your pet may be showing signs of imbalance. They could be experiencing anxiety or stress, they may be showing signs of an infection, or perhaps they have an aversion to a certain food.
Finding the best probiotic for dogs and cats can help improve their overall health & wellbeing.
Our pets are our family, and we want them around fur-ever! So, prioritising their health & wellbeing will help to do just that. Petz Park’s vision is to keep families and their pets together for a longer time. Couple this with Mad Paws’ promise of putting pets first, with all they need to live their best life, and you can rest assured that your fur friend is in good hands!
