Probiotics: Good or Bad?

[JBun]

I've used probiotics with my rabbits in the past when they've had various digestive issues, and I encountered a few problems with using it. So I feel a little reluctant recommending it to people, yet I know that it can also be helpful, so I just would like to gather some more information from others that have also used it to help their rabbits, to maybe see if one brand or type proves to be more beneficial or safer for rabbits.

So the negative experiences that I had were with the Probios gel, when I gave about a pea sized amount and had two rabbits experience digestive slowdown and small poops(which could be a real problem if you already had a bun in stasis), and another rabbit that I gave it to caused him to not feel well for a couple of hours when he had been feeling fine before it. I have given it to my megacolon bun, but I very slowly introduced it and though he LOVED it and seemed to not have any negative reactions at first, I did notice over time(as I was giving it longterm) that his fecal poop wasn't looking as good as it sometimes had looked. It was very irregular sized and shaped. Once I took him off of the Probios, his poop improved a lot and now looks relatively normal, which is a good thing to be seeing in a megacolon bun. One thing to also note is that when I first got him, he developed mushy poop due to the stress of a new home, so I gave him a pea sized amount of Probios and the next day he was in stasis. I don't know if this is a coincidence or if it had to do with the probiotic though. But it's also another reason I'm reluctant to advise using it. So I don't know if it's just this particular brand or if it's the gel form that is causing issues. I do have some bene bac now, but have not tried using it yet. I hear such good things about Fiberplex in the UK that I'm really wishing that we had it available here in the US.

I would really like to hear of anyone elses experiences with probiotics. If you could mention what you were using it for(stasis, antibiotic use, mushy poop, etc). What brand, form(gel, powder), and amount were used. Then any positive or negative things you encountered when using it with your rabbits.

I don't want to discourage anyone from using probiotics. I've read of studies where they have seemed to prove beneficial for rabbits, and I know that with antibiotic use they can be very important. I'm just hoping to sort out if negative effects from them are common, or if it's just maybe what I had been using that was the issue.

Thanks everyone

 

[Imbrium]

I've never heard anything bad about probiotics before now... I haven't used them much with my rabbits but have used them quite a bit with my gliders. I always use BeneBac Plus and generally steer people towards that one, based on personal experience, research and the fact that - unlike most - it also has prebiotics. I know that from all I've read about pet probiotics, it seems like BeneBac Plus is better than Probios.

I used it with my rabbits pre and post spays - BeneBac "one time" dosing is 2 doses, 3 days apart; "maintenance" dosing is one dose a week (which I don't think is necessary for the vast majority of animals). I use the gel because powder is trickier to get into a rabbit . I give 1g doses to my rabbits, which is the dosage for animals "up to 10 lbs". I also dosed Gazzle once when she was displaying a lack of appetite (which was easy to catch, since she's normally a little piggy) - I'd tried simethicone and metacam with no luck, but a dose of BeneBac got her eating normally again.

With gliders, I've used it for two reasons - when antibiotics were being given and when I've brought home a new glider. Through trial, error and vet trips over the span of numerous new gliders, I learned all about the common issue of stress-induced diarrhea in gliders when they get re-homed... and eventually discovered that it could be thwarted entirely with preemptive probiotics or treated without the need for a vet trip if the case was mild and caught very early. I've also sold BeneBac gel to a few glider owners through my website and never had anyone report an issue with it. For gliders, I give about 1/4 gram of the gel per glider, mixed into their dinner. The times I gave antibiotics were related to stress-induced diarrhea; I didn't know to give probiotics the first time and learned the hard way that antibiotics can cause diarrhea in gliders themselves even as they treat the cause - when I gave probiotics in addition to the antibiotics, recovery was MUCH faster.

BeneBac Plus gel:
Ingredients
Sunflower Oil, Silicon Dioxide, Sucrose, Fructooligosaccharide, Dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus fermentum fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophils fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Bifidobacterium bifidum fermentation product, Dried Pediococcus acidilactici fermentation product.
Guaranteed Analysis
Total live (viable) lactic acid producing bacteria: 20 million Colony Forming Units (CFU) per gram (Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Pediococcus acidilactici)


Probios:
Gel: Vegetable oil, corn starch, sucrose, silicon dioxide, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, polysorbate 80, sodium silico aluminate, mixed tocopherols.


10 million CFUs per gram of lactic acid producing bacteria




The ingredients for the two brands differ significantly... however, both have some sort of oil as the first ingredient and contain sucrose. If a rabbit were particularly sensitive to sugars, I could see that being a potential issue. The oil is another potential culprit for side-effects in bunnies.

 

[missyscove]

I've been to quite a few talks lately on probiotics in dogs where we talk studies they've done on probiotics on the market and how there were only 2 that actually had the species of bacteria they said they had in the quantities they said they had. Being present is the first step, next they have to actually survive to the right portion of the gut. Additionally, many probiotics contain species of bacteria that aren't typically found in that animal species so we don't really even know if they're helping. That's part of the reason critical care no longer includes probiotics. Nutrimax used to have a rabbit specific probiotic, but they pulled that off the market and I don't know why.

When Cricket was on antibiotics for ~ 6 months, I added in some bene bac, either the gel or powder, and saw no ill effects.
I've never had any negative issues with using it, but I'm not convinced it's helpful in a rabbit.

For dogs though, I've learned that Purina's Fortiflora and Iams' Prostora are both good choices and have personally used Fortiflora in our house with our foster dogs.

 

[JBun]

Thanks! I really appreciate you both commenting.

I was a bit surprised myself, to see this trend of the probiotics causing problems instead of helping. I'm almost starting to think it could possibly be the brand. I've gone through several tubes, so it's not just one bad batch. The ingredients between the benebac and probios are pretty similar. I had wondered about the oil causing problems as well as the sugar, but with both brands having them in the ingredients, then I'm not sure if they would be causing the issues or not. There's corn starch in the probios and not in the benebac, so maybe that could be at the root of the problems I've seen.

I don't know that probiotics are helpful either, but I'm willing to give it a try if I can be sure that it isn't going to cause problems for my rabbits, and may potentially help. I've got a couple tubes of benebac, so I think I'll probably ditch the probios and possibly give the benebac a try next time.

 

[Imbrium]

There may also be some difference between sunflower oil and vegetable oil where bunns are concerned

Let us know how it goes with the BeneBac - I recommend that stuff left and right on the premise that it can't hurt and might help, so I'd definitely like to know if there's any potential for side-effects!

 

[majorv]

We've used both brands, though Benebac more than Probios with our rabbits. We learned about probiotics when my daughter had goats and lambs in FFA. It worked well if her goat went off feed or started getting loose stool. Probios is marketed toward livestock but, as you said, the ingredients are very similar. If we have to give them meds that affect the bacteria in the gut we give probiotics at the same time. At the first sign of soft poop we give extra hay and if it continues we add probiotics. We also keep it on hand if we're going to a show, since stress can cause loose stool. We've used both brands but I usually use the Benebac, just because it's marketed towards small animals. We've always used the squeeze tube or the tube with the knurled ring. I think it helps and we've see no adverse side effects.