Efficacy of a Probiotic‐Prebiotic Supplement on Incidence of Diarrhea in a Dog Shelter: A Randomized, Double‐Blind, Placebo‐Controlled Trial

Abstract

BackgroundDiarrhea is the most frequent morbidity affecting kenneled dogs in animal shelters. Diarrhea impacts animal welfare and the finances of the shelter as they must treat, clean, and house affected animals until recovered.Hypothesis/ObjectivesSupplementing dogs entering an animal shelter with a probiotic‐prebiotic, known as a synbiotic, will decrease the incidence of diarrhea.AnimalsSeven hundred and seventy‐three dogs entering an animal shelter in the United Kingdom.MethodsA prospective double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled trial.ResultsStatistical difference was found between the groups across 3 measures of diarrhea incidence. First, the mean percentage of scored days per dog that were scored as diarrhea throughout their stay was 2.0% in the synbiotic group and 3.2% in the placebo group (P = .0022). Second, the occurrence of diarrhea within the first 14 days' stay was 18.8% in the synbiotic product group and 27.2% in the placebo group (P = .0008). Third, the occurrence of ≥2 consecutive days of diarrhea within the first 14 days' stay was 4.6% in the synbiotic product group and 8.0% in the placebo group (P = .0300).Conclusions and clinical importanceSupplementing healthy dogs entering an animal shelter with a synbiotic supplement significantly decreased the incidence of diarrhea in this trial. Animal shelters can use synbiotic supplements to improve animal welfare and decrease costs involved in cleaning and housing animals as well as potentially decreasing veterinary intervention.

Effect of probiotic treatment on the clinical course, intestinal microbiome, and toxigenic Clostridium perfringens in dogs with acute hemorrhagic diarrhea

“…A previous study for instance showed varying microbial changes in kenneled dogs depending on the dosage of the probiotic treatment [ 17 ]. Several studies showed an improvement in clinical signs by probiotic treatment such as causing significant decreased incidence of diarrhea in sheltered dogs and a significant reduction in duration of uncomplicated acute diarrhea in dogs [ 18 – 20 ]. Dogs with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease treated with probiotics in addition to standard therapy showed an enhancement of regulatory T-cell markers, normalization of dysbiosis, and up-regulated expression of tight junction proteins [ 21 , 22 ].…”

Study of faecal parameters and body condition in dogs with a diet supplemented with Lactobacillus acidophilus D2/CSL (CECT 4529)

“…Given these premises, to maintain the correct equilibrium in the GI microbiota, human and animal medicine have increased the use of prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic (the combination of the two) and faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) (Rose et al 2017;Pilla and Suchodolski 2019;Whittemore et al 2019). The higher short chain fatty acids production due to an increasing fermentation activity in large intestine of dogs (Musco et al 2018) and cats (Calabr o et al 2020), affects energy balance (Deng and Swanson 2015;Fluitman et al 2017).…”

Gut microbes in healthy dogs have individualized responses to synbiotic supplementation that lead to increased abundances of probiotic strains: A randomized controlled trial

“…These dogs did not have reported clinical symptoms of GI diseases, so the clinical impact of this change by SN is unknown. It is intriguing to speculate that the presence of these pathogens may indicate increased susceptibility or predisposition to developing GI disorders or diseases, and that SN treatment may have a prophylactic effect by reducing their abundances as previously reported [60][61][62] . Consistent with this was our finding that the PL group had a non-significant trend toward higher incidence of diarrhea than SN.…”