I Have Good Bacteria!

When you hear "Bacteria" you probably think, "oh my Dog I have to go wash my paws!" Everywhere you look people have added those anti-bacterial waterless soap dispensers. Mom has three on her floor at work alone.

One of the places you really need the good bacteria is in your digestion tract. I know you have probably seen the commercials for Activa Yogurt that Jamie Lee Curtis does. Mom found out recently that those are just a FEW of the probiotics that help humans digest better.

Heartland Pet Care gave me some of their Pro Active Balance supplement and asked me to add it to my food for a month and tell you what I thought about it. It comes in a little packet and dad sprinkles it on my food every day (or every day I get more food because I am a picky eater). I was already a healthy dog with hardly any tummy troubles so I didn't think we would be able to tell much difference. But dad, who is in charge of my daily walks, reports he COULD tell a difference.

Okay, here comes poopy talk so if you don't want to read anymore, I will understand. Well, in the last month I have not had a single bout of diarrhea. I never had much, but I did have some. You do remember that I eat my stuffies right? Dad says at first my poop was fairly dry and kind of yellow but eventually that wore off.

Probiotics are particularly helpful if your dog has been sick (particularly if he/she has been on antibiotics), you have changed food, you are traveling around with your pet, or your pet has a sensitive stomach. We read one article that says that probiotics help control excessive flatulence. I haven't really been able to tell if it has helped in that area because I don't have a real bad problem there. Mom says that antibiotics mess with humans too since they kill the good bacteria when they are killing the bad. So for sure, that's a good time to use the pre and probiotics. Now, more than ever, the world is full of bad stuff and probiotics really help provide a good bacteria balance in our digestive systems.


For my friends that don't like pills, Pro Active Balance is good because it is just sprinkled on your wet or dry food.

Mom and I did some research on probiotics in general - we just didn't take these folks word for it (or Jaimie Lee Curtis for that matter). We found a lot of information but it was hard to make sure that the information was independent. We found this article which made us feel it was safe to try the supplement. But, I recommend you check with your V-E-T before adding any supplements to your diet. Good news, pals - your folks can CALL the V-E-T to ask so you don't have to make an extra visit!


Here is some information from the Pro Active Balance folks that explain what the benefit of their product is to different pets including dogs and cats. I recommend you read it and the specific links. It is very interesting.

The Pro Active Balance people gave me the supplements to try but my opinions here are my own and if the stuff had been nasty and made me sick I certainly would tell you!