Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so I was stupid enough to allow my dog to be put on metronidazole for a week and now need to give her something to replace the friendly bacteria, something I can buy locally at health food store. I wish I had not panicked about vet saying she found a little blood in her rectum upon examination (she also thought perhaps some thickening of rectum) because now I realize what a dangerous drug metronidazole is. I am usually cautious and try to do everything holistically. Thanks for any input - anneh

I use Multidophilus Plus from the refrigerator in the health food store to my refrigerator. I have a Standard Poodle and I found out through trial and error that he does a lot better if he has it every day, with food. The powder inside the gel cap tastes great, and once a dog figures that out they tend to smunch it right down as a treat. His stools are perfect, and that is not normal for a Standard Poodle. Also, the belching and passing gas they do so liberally, he doesn't.

I've been using this for 3 years with Worthy, and it has been perfect. It's fairly expensive, but with my previous dogs I only needed to use it for a time after antibiotic treatment. Dogs and cats both, I learned through trial and error, they always needed it. But Worthy needs it all the time, because of his short gastro-intestinal system. For the other dogs and for him, it's been great.

One unknown about probiotics for dogs is that we don't know exactly which bacteria they need. Multidophilus provides a variety of friendly bacteria, and apparently the right ones are in there somewhere!

I suspect that some cases of bowel disorder are due to lack of friendly bacteria in the dog's intestines going on for too long. So kudos to you for looking into this for your dog. It will make a great difference.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

Thanks so much Kathy, will get some of that brand. In the meantime I did buy Mitomax last night which is supposedly a great one for dogs. Yes, it finally dawned on me that a probiotic would be THE best thing for my dog whether she has proctitis or just an irritated rectum. I am temporarily using meat without bone ground in it, just in case her digestive system is not dissolving bone sufficiently although she has always done this licking all her life (12yo)with prior owners on kibble. Also adding well cooked oatmeal, sweet potato. If I give ground chicken or turkey I lightly saute it but the beef I give raw. I give Animal Essentials Calcium as she is not getting the bone. I also use Wholistic Pet Canine Complete daily, salmon oil and once a week cod liver oil plus raw crushed green leafy veggies daily (I use my Greenstar juicer that has an attachment that brings the veggies through crushed without juicing them).

The best probiotic is one that has a large number of live bacteria along with a wide variety of bacteria. I suspect that bacterial growth in the large intestines is greatly influenced by what nutrients are available, which depends on what is eaten. If you drasticly change a diet from one day to another, the stool may be abnormal for a day or two, until enough bacteria can grow to normalize the conditions, so a probiotic with lots of different types of bacteria is seeding the intestines for whatever is coming down the pipe.