Due to the curious nature of our cats, they often suffer from gastrointestinal disorders due to the ingestion of substances that are harmful to them. Also bacteria, viruses, parasites and other causes cause damage to the intestine.
These substances damage the microbiota of your gut and restoring it requires repopulation by means of probiotics and prebiotics. Surely you have already heard of probiotics, but if you want to know more about them, as well as know when probiotics for cats are used, keep reading this article from our site.
What are prebiotics and probiotics for cats?
Probiotics are live microorganisms that must be ingested in sufficient quantities and remain in the gastrointestinal tract for a considerable time to help maintain balance the beneficial microbiota that is part of the cat's intestine.
Prebiotics are complex carbohydrates that feed these bacteria, that is, foods that cannot be digested by the intestine, but are digestible for “good” bacteria, stimulating their growth.
Prebiotics for cats
Example of prebiotics for cats are the fibers found in vegetables, fruit peel, legumes, etc. The most used prebiotics for cats are:
- Beta-glucans.
- Mannan-oligosaccharides.
- Fructo-oligosaccharides.
All of them facilitate the dragging out of pathogenic microorganisms and at the same time serve as a food substrate for the beneficial flora. In addition, we leave you this other informative article on Fruits and vegetables recommended for cats.
Symbiotics for cats
When we hear about synbiotics for cats, it is a nutritional supplement that contains both components (pre and probiotics) and the commercial ones they usually have this presentation to be more complete.
Microbiome or intestinal flora in cats
The microbiome is the microbiological ecosystem found in our cat's digestive tract and includes billions of different microorganisms, including both good and bad bacteria.
Harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella, Clostridium or Shigella, cause damage to the intestinal mucosa and generate toxins that affect systemically. While the beneficial bacteria are the ones that fight against their overgrowth and keep the bacterial population in balanceWithout this balance, nutrients are not well absorbed in the intestine, our cats would suffer from inflammatory diseases and would be more stressed and without energy.
He althy food for cats
Thanks to nutrition, we can balance our cat's microbiome and treat acute or chronic gastrointestinal disease. The adequate diet to keep our cat's microbiota in balance is based on:
- Soluble and insoluble fiber.
- Highly digestible nutrients.
- High-quality, low-fat protein.
In the face of a gastrointestinal process, the ideal is to acquire a commercial diet with an adequate formulation. Homemade diets should be formulated by a veterinary nutritionist (we must not get carried away by the habit of giving chicken/turkey and rice, since there is no balance in this combination) and are more complex to carry out.
For more information, in this other article on our site we explain more about feeding cats.
Causes of gastrointestinal diseases in cats
The main causes of gastrointestinal disease are, among others:
- Food indiscretion (garbage ingestion).
- Alimentary intolerance.
- Intestinal parasites.
- Inflammatory diseases.
In our cats, in addition to the stomach, small and large intestine being affected, the pancreas is rapidly altered due to your connection.
Types of probiotics for cats
Some of the probiotics beneficial for cats, which we present with their scientific name, are:
- Lactobacillus (brevis, rhamnosus, buchneri, casei, acidophilus).
- Enterococcus faecium.
- Bifidobacterium bifidum.
- Saccharomyces Boulardii.
They are all yeasts or bacteria.
Cat Probiotic Brands
Commercial examples of some probiotics in Spain are:
- Pro-enteric triplex from Bioiberica.
- Purina Fortiflora for cats.
- Daforte de Farmadiet.
- Vet Regul de Farmadiet.
Human Probiotics for Cats
We must bear in mind that the only probiotic we can give our feline is one specific for pets, since humans and cats we do not share the same gut microbiota.
When are probiotics prescribed for cats?
There are many reasons to supplement our cat with probiotics, the most obvious being gastrointestinal and immune disorders, such as following:
- Diarrhea: or altered stool consistency due to a viral disease such as feline panleukopenia, a parasitic disease such as giardiasis in cats, or poisoning.
- Antibiotics: after treatment with antibiotics, since they do not discriminate, they eliminate both pathogenic and beneficial bacteria.
- Stress: after a stress episode. To detect it, we leave you this other article on 5 symptoms of stress in the cat.
- Gases: Excessive production of flatulence, which can be a sign of intestinal problems.
- Constipation: another symptom that something is happening in our feline's intestines.
- Immune system booster: for puppies and senile animals, since in both stages of life the immune system needs booster.
- Overweight and obesity: The relationship between a bacterial imbalance in the intestine of our cats and feline obesity is being studied.
- Chronic diseases: such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease or Feline Intestinal Lymphoma.
- Other illnesses: such as hormonal and allergic ones.
- Infections: probiotics are also useful for treating recurrent infections, whether in the urinary tract or conjunctivitis in cats, dermatitis etc.
- Oral disorders: such as gingivitis in cats.
- Tumors: it is also important as an adjuvant in tumor treatment.
Before giving your cat probiotics, consult your veterinarian.
Probiotics for cats - dose and duration
Probiotics for cats are always complements for a treatment, so the primary cause of the pathology must be sought and must be prescribed by our veterinarian, both the quantity and duration of the probiotic treatment.
We can find many types of probiotics for cats, but their presentation is usually powder, gel or capsules. The ideal is to give it with food and they usually like it.
Although they do not present secondary effects, in he althy animals it is not necessary to supplement with probiotics, since their flora is in balance and the diets they currently eat are sufficiently complete.
