Probiotics are really interesting - There seem to be quite a few studies on the effects of probiotics in dogs. Effects on lipids, immunologic indicators, and more. I haven’t seen one on poop eating behaviour though .. The articles linked above might help, and we also have our very own Poo Poll - which may offer some comfort, if only to discover how common this is!
Crikey you would think before you basically accuse someone of making things up, that you might check up on my claims with a quick google. If you had spent about 5 seconds typing in fecal transplantation in humans, you will get copious amounts of factual information. It's true!!! That's very dismissive. Vets are now using probiotics instead of antibiotics for dogs upset stomach. A good probiotics is important , some can be useless.
This article may be of interest regarding probiotics in dogs, although I've not found any studies which link it with stopping poo eating. http://www.vettimes.co.uk/article/probiotic-use-in-dogs-and-cats-issues-and-studies-into-benefits/ Many pet foods include pro/prebiotics in the ingredients, although there is doubt as to how effective they are after processing, but I would check ingredients before adding more to the diet as a supplement.
The thing is , there's not a lot of money to be made from organising clinical trials or studies for probiotics helping dogs, or poo eating dogs. So there may not be much proof out there, yet anyway. Probiotics definitely stopped my dog from eating her poo, that's a fact. I'm not saying it will work for every dog. Some dogs will eat poo for different reasons. Boredom and simply liking the taste can be a reason in some cases. Probiotics can only benefit a dog anyway so surely it's worth a try for some people. But I can't emphasise enough that you need a very good dog specific probiotic, as there are many poor ones out there.
Yes most probiotics included in food are almost destroyed by the processing process which , especially for dry food, exposes the food to extremely high temperatures. As are a lot of other added supplements, gloucosamine, fish oils etc....Cold pressed foods or high quality tinned foods are always a better option as the cooking process in more forgiving. Home cooked or raw better again. I would take the efficiency of any probiotics added , to dry food especially , as being worthless.
My apologies @Pipp , reading that back it did sound a bit dismissive. I have only heard about "faecal transplantation" being used as an option in seriously unwell patients with C. diff. infection. And similarly probiotics, helpful in conditions such as acute diarrhoea including antibiotic-related diarrhoea (which would include C. diff.) It sounded like you were relating the poop-eating and faecal transplantation (the same thing ) and probiotics and wondering how they were all linked and if there was any evidence. In dogs, of course, since most humans don't knowingly eat poop - I think (I am sure it will turn out to be some little known delicacy somewhere in the world)
Thank you! I was just throwing out there that good healthy bacteria in a dogs gut CAN stop dogs from craving poo. Because fecal transplantation is happening in humans, the basic aim of that is to grow healthy bacteria in the human gut by using a healthy persons poo, and so cure the human. This is of course a complicated medical procedure which can not be accomplished by simply consuming poo.! Maybe , just maybe, the reason some dogs crave poo is a primal urge to ingest good bacteria from other dogs digestive systems. So using probiotics may do the job. I swear that probiotics stopped my dogs poo eating (and incidently cured her dodgy tummy). I have read other people claiming similar too.
Jac isn’t accusing you of making things up, she is just asking you to link to evidence in support of your claims that probiotics can alter poop eating behaviour - In general, it is the responsibility of the member posting information about remedies to do the googling and provide the links we do encourage members to link out to studies here - this is an excerpt from the rules So no offence is intended when someone asks you to provide a link. Generally, we like to link to research that involves dogs rather than people as it isn’t usually possible to make assumptions about the findings from a study of one species and apply that to another species There are studies involving probiotics in dogs, but as I said in my earlier post, I can’t see any related to coprophagia. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any of course, there may well be. I'll have a dig about later
I feel mean being 'nit picky' to a new member, and I do hope you won't be offended, but sadly, anecdotal evidence can be very misleading. It might be the probiotics that stopped your dogs poo eating, but on the other hand it could be some other totally coincidental factor. I found poop eating reduced in my dogs when I switched to a raw diet, and my personal feeling is that poop eating is probably a combination of a dog's natural inclination to clean up after puppies (more female dogs seem to do it than male dogs) and the fact that most dog poop is heavily flavoured by the kibble they eat, so dogs like the taste. No proof I am right but its an explanation I lean towards The only way to know for sure that probiotics were effective in altering poop eating behaviour would be to carry out a trial on a reasonable sample of dogs. It wouldn't be that difficult to set up actually, and bearing in mind how common poop eating is, I would think that sales of probiotics would soar if the trial were a success!
Or its simply a top up meal, as poo contains nutrients, even if of poor quality. Dogs fed on high quality fresh diets do it as do dogs fed on kibble. My dog was quite partial to a snack of rabbit poo, cow poo, horse poo if found on a walk but has never been attracted to dog poo, hers or any other dogs, and never had an upset tummy afterwards. She stopped doing it through training not through a change of diet and added prebiotic. When/if she has an upset I just give her a couple of licks of Pro-Kolin+from the syringe. From what I have read of the studies performed to date with probiotics and dogs it would seem that there is a benefit in a dog being given a prebiotic when suffering with diarrhoea or other gastro-intestinal condition, but it is also suggested that it might be due to the clay added to prebiotic as much as the additional bacteria
I would have thought that too, but this study showed that L Acidopholus survived being incorporated into dry food and was able to populate the guts of the dogs in the study. At first I assumed it had been sprinkled onto the food, but this suggests otherwise
