Question,

Are Probios and yogurt/keifer with active cultures the same? I was thinking they were, I have been giving probios that they sell here at Leerburg to my dogs everyday but I guess I'm not for sure (or else I wouldnt be asking If someone could clarify this for me I would appreciate it. Thanks
FYI- I give them since one dog has bad allergies, one dog has alittle problem with loose stools and it seems to help one dog is fine but just gets a tiny sprinkle once in awhile.

Hi Kathy,

That is a good question. I was just in to see my holistic vet and asked that same question. He told me that while good yogurt and kefir have live and active cultures, he said that the powder has way more in it than the yogurt/kefir.
I actually use both. In the morning I give my dog a couple spoonfuls of a good quality yogurt or kefir first thing.
Then, later when I feed her, I add the powder to her ground meat, along with her other supplements. Hope this helps you.
BTW, your dogs are just gorgeous!

 Quote: kathy west

Question,

Are Probios and yogurt/keifer with active cultures the same?

Short answer: No.

The longer answer: First, you can search this forum for "probiotics" and read what's been posted over the last year or so. I haven't used Probios (and don't want to get on the wrong side of Ed/Cindy ) but after reading the description on the web page here, it sounds like it's general use is aimed at treating general appetite loss, diarrhea/intestinal problems, stress-induced health problems and such. There is no regulatory or industry oversight of probiotic supplements as to their potency at time of manufacture, time of use or actual shelf life. You're at the mercy of manufacturer as to truth of labeling and product claims. Powders/capsules may indeed have "way more" in them, but that doesn't mean the specific included probiotic strains are (1) viable when you give them or (2) even if viable, they happen to be strains that are beneficial for the specific problem you are treating.

Yogurt/kefir labeling and claims are only slightly better, in that there is the National Yogurt Association, which just happens to include only a few big yogurt producers - so it's not "independent." Yogurt and kefir have various "live" and "active" active cultures in them, but there's still the issue of whether the strains you've giving are having a beneficial effect.

There has been a lot of research studies (many funded by the yogurt producers) of a relatively small number of the hundreds of probiotic strains and their benefits. I'm not clear if your post indicated they were helping with both dogs or just one.

Unfortunately, I've acquired many years of experience with a couple GSDs with bad inhalant/environmental allergies and (finally) a year of very positive results from treatment with probiotics. Be glad to give more info for any other questions you have. Bottom line, though, if you are getting good results, just stick with what works.

Mike

i give my 6 month old cane corso plane yogurt every morning with his b-fast he loves it and it has helped him with his digestion and stress levels, he also has a problem with loose stools from time to time. he is on wellness core and from time to time i give him raw meaty bones, fish, and chicken (could be the cause of tyhe loose stools) but since i started him on the yogurt he has had less problems with the loose stool.

it is also good when you are making a change in his her diet, to help them digest and make the switch to the new food.

mike..

We were never able to eliminate loose stools when feeding Shabbado kibble, no matter what we added to the diet - fresh food, probiotics, RMB's. Tried Orijen (she looked best on that food!), Evo, Go Natural, Wellness Core. Since switching to 100% Raw she has only had one loose movement, and that was after getting too much organ meat yesterday. She had liver in the morning and my better half gave her a portion of lung in the evening, having forgotten about the morning liver.

We supplement with Immune Blend and Green Blend from B-Naturals. The Immune blend contains probiotics and all of the extra vitamins she needs. We also give her fish oil in the morning. We do add cottage cheese or plain yogurt from time to time too.

have you tried natures variety frozen raw foods? i like it, its all 100% natural, and unlike going to the market and getting raw meat, and meaty bones then adding supps, or veggies, this has everything added to it already. the calcium the vitamins the veggies all mixed into the raw food, and they come in little frozen tablets that you thaw.

its a little pricey but it save alot of time with measuring and adding supps, and keeping track of what and when you fed them. it tells you on the back of the package hoe much to feed to weight ratio and they have different flavers like chiken, lamd, duck, and beef.

my guy isnt on 100% raw but that stuff deff made my life alot easier as it has everything already ground and mixed into the raw meat..

look it up and tell me what you think

mike..

Probiotics and live milk cultures (yogurt and keifer) are not the same, but it's debatable which is better.

Both only guarantee the number of live cultures at the time of manufacture.

Live milk cultures are regulated as food, and must be kept cold on their way to you. Probiotics are considered supplements and are not regulated the same way, and may or may not have been shipped or stored cold.

Probiotics have more live cells per gram, but we generally feed more of the live milk culture.

Most nutrients are best absorbed in a liquid or in food. This has not been proven with probiotics.

Personally, I think yogurt is more effective at getting live bacteria into the system, and has additional nutritional benefits, but I feed the powder for convenience. (I'm mostly convinced it's the enzymes in the culture and not the bacteria itself that does the work.)

Live milk cultures would fall under most definitions of probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus being the best known, probably) as live beneficial microbes.

The form (the medium) is indeed different.

Mike Armstrong is seeing similar results to my own, and in fact recommended a couple of good books to me, which started me on my own probiotics-for-allergic-dogs experiments a year or so ago.

I am giving live-culture yogurt every day to all the dogs and am about to add to that a second-party lab-tested probiotic powder.

As Mike says, the research is not advanced enough at this point to pinpoint which cultures are best suited to what the individual's challenges/needs are. My own response has been to give as many proven-viable strains as I can.

 Quote: Denise Skidmore

... Most nutrients are best absorbed in a liquid or in food.
Personally, I think yogurt is more effective at getting live bacteria into the system ...

I lean this way too. Hence my plan now to supplement (by stirring it into the yogurt) excellent live-culture yogurt with tested probiotics powder.

Thanks for the info....I am using probios and a few days ago I purchased some plain yogurt too and have been mixing them together - since it sounds like its best to get as many live cultures, enzymes as possible. There is not alot to choose from as far as yogurt around here- only found one plain and it has 5 live cultures so that is why I was leaning towards Probios but it sounds like that is not necessarily better. So I'm going to try both for awhile, shouldn't hurt anything and if it can help alleviate the allergy problem with Sampson it will be worth it