Your cat hasn’t been its usual self lately. Cats sleep a lot and can be a little lazy, but yours isn’t being active at all. On top of not being active, it also has diarrhea.
You decide to take your cat to the vet. There, they tell you that your kitty just needs a few more probiotics in their diet. Probiotics are important in cats because they promote healthy gut health.
You shouldn’t wait on your cat’s digestive system to get so damaged that it has diarrhea before you give them a supplement. To help get your cat back in good health, here is all you need to know about probiotics for cats with diarrhea.
1. What are Probiotics
Probiotics are good bacteria that gather in the digestive tract to promote good gut health. They allow your cat to break down the nutrients in its food and digest it.
Your cat will have many of these helpful bacteria, but problems arise when your cat gets older, it’s immune system drops, it isn’t getting the right vitamins and minerals in its diet, or it’s under a high amount of stress.
All these things skew the balance of good bacteria which will cause your cat to have diarrhea and other digestive problems.
2. Benefits of Probiotics
Again, probiotics keep your cat’s digestive tract nice and healthy. It also helps with other conditions besides diarrhea such as hairballs, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, flatulence, inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies, and skin allergies.
On top of doing all this, it will also keep your cat’s immune system going strong. It’s important to note that if your cat is taking antibiotics for any reason you will want to talk to their vet about adding probiotics into the mix.
Antibiotics have this habit of destroying healthy gut bacteria so your cat will need the probiotics on top of it to bring balance. This will keep your cat’s antibiotics from making them sick.
3. Types of Probiotics
There are two different types of probiotics that do different jobs. The Enterococcus usually stays in the large intestine and aids in forming normal feces and helps with their colonic health. The Bifidobacterium stays in the small intestine and promotes digestion.
In terms of what form these probiotics come in, you can get them as a powder, pill, or infused in tasty cat treats. It all depends on what your cat prefers.
Note that whatever you get needs to have a healthy balance of both types of probiotics. You can’t go wrong with having 5 of each type.
4. Finding a Great Probiotic
Not every single probiotic is the same. You’ll have to hunt around to find one that will be good for your pet while also being one that they will accept. It needs to be pure in probiotics and digestive enzymes.
Make sure that whatever you’re buying doesn’t have any harmful additives such as animal digest. animal digest makes their food taste amazing to them, but it isn’t necessarily good for them.
If you’re worried about your cat taking their probiotic you can get a pure, tasteless powder that you can mix in with their wet food.
Getting Your Cat to Take it
Speaking of getting your cat to take in probiotics, cats can be a bit picky so it’s hard. You can go with the powder in the wet food trick. You can also bury the probiotic pill in their wet food. They’ll eat it right up without even realizing that it’s there.
Whatever you do, only make sure you talk to their vet first to get the proper dosage and follow the directions on the package. You don’t want to accidentally give them too much or too less.
Adding Probiotics to Your Cat’s Diet
The more processed your cat’s diet is, the more nutrients they’ll lose. The problem is that it’s a little difficult to find foods that aren’t at least a tad bit processed. That’s why it’s recommended that you give your cat a dose of probiotic with each meal.
This will ensure that they get the proper nutrients that they need no matter how processed the food may be. Again, talk to your cat’s vet before you start this routine to make sure it’s right for your furry friend.
5. Can You Give them Human Probiotics
Your cat’s intestines are quite different than yours so it goes without saying that it’s not a good idea to give them human probiotics. There hasn’t been much research on how human probiotics would affect a cat. This means that there is no telling if doing this would kill your cat or not.
It’s a much better idea to give them pet probiotics that are specially designed for kitties.
6. Can You Give them the Same Probiotic You Give Your Dog
If you want to try and save money by giving both your dog and cat the same probiotic, don’t. Dogs and cats have very different digestive systems. Your cat’s small intestine, for one, is way shorter than your dogs.
Also, your cat is a carnivore and your dog is an omnivore. Their bodies evolved to work with these specific diets. This is why they can’t use the same probiotic.
All the Benefits of Probiotics for Cats with Diarrhea
Does your cat have diarrhea or other digestive problems? You may need to talk to their vet about putting them on probiotics. It can balance their digestive tract, and is super easy to incorporate into your cat’s diet.
Use these tips on using probiotics for cats with diarrhea to balance your cat’s nutrition in the right way.
Vomiting and Diarrhea are two symptoms that you should never ignore. Keep reading for a few more kitty emergency symptoms that you’ll want to act on right away.