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What probiotics should you give your dog when they are on antibiotics?
Did you know there are more bacteria and microorganisms in your dog's body than the cells in their body? The same applies to the human body!
Most people think of bacteria as an opportunist or a pathogen in the body, but the reality is much more interesting.
Most of the information available on bacteria is either on the topic of disease-causing pathogens or probiotics, the helpful allies that keep our body and the immune system healthy. However, that is just a very small portion of what is really going on in the body.
In the last several decades, there have been huge advances in the research of so-called microbial profiles, which are the bacterial 'fingerprint' of humans, dogs and all living organisms.
Science has confirmed that each microbial profile varies dramatically and can be assigned to a particular person or animal with 90 percent accuracy.
Bacteria does much more than we originally thought.
Most people understand that probiotic bacteria helps digestion and the immune system, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Scientists have confirmed that bacteria influences most of the functions of the body, including the propensity for weight gain, longevity, the tendency for depression and behavior in general.
Most of these connections are yet to be discovered, but it is very clear that the science of the past gave bacteria and other microorganisms much less credit than it deserves.
The part that I find the most intriguing is that individuals from the same species may have dramatically different microbian. Also, scientists can recognize what geographical area the individual is from by their microbial profile. In other words, the microbian of living things is different in New York, Paris or Bangkok.
Biggest mysteries yet to be revealed
The science of studying microbial profiles is very exciting because it has the potential to be used for studying health and disease, happiness and even longevity. It can also be used to study the health of newborns and children. One of the fascinating findings is that children that are born by caesarean section have a much different, and generally less healthy, microbial profile because they do not pass through the birth canal. It also seems that the female body's microbial profile changes dramatically before the birth, as if the bacteria know what is going on.
Antibiotics may have a severe impact on our dog's microbial profile
Antibiotic prescriptions are the everyday reality of most veterinary practices. Sometimes they are needed, but in my experience, antibiotic use can be reduced in practice by 90 percent or more.
Consider clearcutting in the Amazon rainforest. The loggers arrive at a thriving and diverse ecosystem that is healthy and supports life. When they leave the ecosystem is thrown off balance and it takes decades to restore.
The body's microbial profile are the rainforest of the body and the antibiotics are the loggers. This is why it is crucial that we reduce the use of antibiotics in medicine to a minimum.
At the same time, there is no need to panic if an antibiotic prescription is needed.
Here are 5 steps to follow when your dog is prescribed antibiotics:
- Put your dog on a raw or cooked diet as a form of disease prevention.
- Start him or her on double the regular dose of a non-dairy certified organic probiotic that is specifically formulated for dogs. If your dog has been given probiotics during the antibiotic treatment, ensure that you continue the double dose for two weeks afterward. Giving human probiotics is not ideal because it will cause an unnatural shift in your dog's microbial profile.
- If your vet's intention is to prescribe 'an antibiotic cocktail,' express your wish to have a good explanation why such a measure is needed. I have seen internal medicine and dermatology specialists in particular overprescribing antibiotics.
- If you are curious about how to treat, for example, diarrhea or skin disease and hotspots click on the links to find natural remedies. It may be an eye-opening experience about how much we can solve without the use of drugs.
- The healthier the body, the healthier the microbial profile is, but the opposite is also true. That is why more people are starting to put emphasis on giving good quality, non-dairy, certified-organic probiotics.
When it comes to bacteria, we must not underestimate the role of these minute guards in the health and longevity of your dog.
© Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM


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An earlier version of this story misstated the period covered by air traffic figures for Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport. This version has been corrected.
BWI fares among nation's cheapest; Dulles ranks as seventh most costly
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
A new government tally of average airfares at the nation's largest airports shows that Dulles International Airport is one of the most expensive for passengers, while Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport ranks among the cheapest.
The fares seemed to be luring travelers increasingly to BWI and its low-cost carriers, as the airport on Monday announced that June was the second-busiest month in its history.
Only six of the 100 busiest airports had steeper average fares than Dulles, where the average fare was $413, while BWI ranked 16th-cheapest, with an average fare of $277. Huntsville, Ala., topped the most-expensive list, with an average fare of about $500, followed by airports in Charleston, S.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Memphis.
Atlantic City is the nation's cheapest airport, with the average ticket costing about $188, followed by Long Beach, Calif.; Burbank, Calif.; and Orlando. The rankings, released last week by the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, looked at data for the first quarter of 2010.
The nearly 2.1 million commercial passengers flying through BWI's terminals in June represented a 9 percent increase over the same period last year and marked the airport's second-busiest month; August 2001 maintains the top spot. Southwest Airlines accounts for more than half of the airport's market share, and the airline saw a nearly 15 percent increase in flights in and out of BWI from the previous year.
BWI's other low-fare carriers, AirTran and JetBlue, have also recorded year-to-year increases, fueled in part by families and leisure travelers taking advantage of summertime deals, said Rick Seaney, chief executive of the airline price Web site FareCompare.com. "There's no doubt that the . . . low-cost airlines at BWI are bringing in families who are willing to drive to get the savings," Seaney said.
Debby McElroy, executive vice president of the Airports Council International-North America, also noted that business travelers are more price-conscious in down economies.
Nationwide, flights were 5 percent cheaper than they were at the beginning of 2001, though slightly higher than a year ago. And while rates at Dulles remained high, they've fallen 20 percent since that year.
About 17.5 million commercial passengers flew in and out of National from June 2009 through May of this year, a 1 percent decrease. The figure at Dulles remained steady at about 23 million.

subset: commoncrawl