Thursday, June 30, 2016

The kittens are now on Purina's Fortiflora probiotics thanks to #chewyinfluencer



Diarrhea continues to be an issue with the kittens. Things are starting to 'firm up', if you will, but we still have some inappropriate elimination which is incredibly frustrating. I know they don't have any concept of why I'm ripping my hair out, and it is not just because I'm sick and tired of cleaning up poop. I know that they are pooping out of the box because they aren't feeling well and that is sad.

Diarrhea happens. The stress of being captured, or moving to a new place, or from being taken away from mom, or drinking different water than you were used to, or eating new foods than you were used to all can lead to digestive upset... well that and the fact that most kittens have parasites of one kind or another (or several) can lead to one very unhappy digestive system.

Probiotics help in that regard. The gut is populated by hundreds of thousands of bacteria that all work to help you digest food properly. One reason why antibiotics cause diarrhea is because they kill off the good bacteria in your gut. Your body assumes that without the good bacteria to help there must be an abundance of bad bacteria and it starts 'cleaning house' if you will, getting rid of everything so it can start over.

Providing sources of good bacteria can help with that. There are a lot of different sources. Some people prefer to use yogurt or other fermented products, some prefer to go with probiotics you can find at your local health food store for humans because they have multiple strains of bacteria (the more the better) and vets tend to recommend FortiFloria because it is made by Purina.

I first heard of FortiFloria years ago, coincidentally enough through my vet. The boxes were much bigger back then and the powder was white and the dose contained much more powder, so when I saw the small box and the tiny packages that Chewy sent me, I was a bit surprised.


But having a more concentrated product is a good thing, it makes it easier to get it into the cat. Fortunately, the kittens were more than happy to eat the food (the Whole Earth Farm canned duck that I blogged about yesterday) and I feel better about them having a little bit of help on board.

FortiFloria is made by Purina, so it is generally recommended by veterinarians because they understand products made for pets. There are a lot of options out there and researching them all would take a great deal of time. It is also easy. Purina packages them individually, makes palatable, and it generally works. The bacteria is microencapsulated which they say helps ensure that it will make it to the gut.  It also contains vitamin C, which I'm also a huge fan of.

A couple of reasons why I'm not a huge fan are because of its ingredient list. There is only one strain of bacteria, Enterococcus faecium SF68. One helps, more would be better. The other ingredient I have a problem with is "animal digest" because as the regulations stand this product is basically unregulated and could contain any number of unsavory things in it. Does it? Maybe not, but we can't know because there is no one stopping it from happening. Like a lot of products "big pet food" makes it could be better, but it is what it is.

I'm giving it to the kittens along with some digestive enzymes and fingers crossed by the time you read this, things will be much better for them and (selfishly) for me.

17 comments:

  1. I'm glad our kitten hasn't had any bad poops so far. A tad stinky, but hey it is poop after all. I guess I haven't seen what Forti Flora looks like these days. The vets did used to prescribe fairly often.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope this works for your babies! Diarrhea is no fun for anybody!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm going to have to look into this, thanks for sharing! I hope the kittens feel better <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. The head peep's first thought when she saw the first photo was "they changed the packaging." Humans. We hope this gets the kittens feeling (and doing their business) better!

    ReplyDelete
  5. We hope the fortiflora helps the kittens. Diarrhea is no fun for anyone. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. We have used Fortiflora in the past with success and Clove ate it mixed in to her food with no problems. Our paws are crossed it helps the kittens and gives you some relief of stress too- runny poos are no fun for anyone!

    ReplyDelete
  7. hope the kittens are back to "normal" post haste

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can't hurt; might help. I use FF as a "topper" these days to entice someone to eat their food.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chuck is getting probiotics from the holistic vet, but he seems to fly back and forth between diarrhea and constipation in a flash...but that's better than just constipation all the time. Here's hoping your wee ones tummy troubles settle down quickly now.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Diarrhea is the bane of my fostering existence. I use a probiotic with multiple strains of bacteria, but keep Forti-Flora on hand because kittens so love the taste of it. I used to have to put Sugarbutt's Forti-Flora on the side because he preferred to eat it on its own, then eat his food afterward! Fingers crossed that the Forti-Flora helps!

    ReplyDelete
  11. My trio had horrific diarrhea until I got them wormed. I used a multi-strain probiotic to finish the job. It seemed like it took forever to get things firm, but it happened. Hang in there!

    Jean from Welcome to the Menagerie

    ReplyDelete
  12. We hope it works for the kittens ! Licking a small spoon of bifidus yoghurt several times a day helped me a lot when I had diarrhea, but it was not as hard as the kittens. Purrs, Pixie

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hope this works. Little Carla is better now and released to her colony thanks to your help.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I hope this makes them feel better. When Mudpie moved in with me last summer she had terrible diarrhea for awhile (I believe because of all the stressful changes in her life) until I got her some probiotics...they worked great!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sure hope the Fortiflora helps the issue. We were advised to try slippery elm when Rufus had problems.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I hope the kittens are doing better for their sakes and yours :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I hope the FortiFlora helps some and that they feel better.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...