New look, same great formulations! Dr Mercola's supplements for cats and dogs have been rebranded to Bark & Whiskers™
Net weight: 90 g (3.17 oz) | 45 scoops
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Enjoy exclusive discounts on Bark & Whisker / Dr Mercola products - automatically get 10% off when you buy 3 or 5% off when you buy 2, applied during checkout.
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Supporting your pet’s gastrointestinal (GI) health is a key factor in ensuring they live their best lives possible. And probiotics can help put them on the right path.
Continue taking the lead in your pet’s health with Bark & Whiskers™ Complete Probiotics, which is a veterinarian-formulated and fan-favourite product that supports GI health with 38 billion CFU of beneficial bacteria from 14 carefully selected strains.
These health-promoting strains survive stomach acid to reach your dog’s or cat’s small intestine, unlike some acidophilus-based products.
New look, same great formulations! Dr Mercola's supplements for cats and dogs have been rebranded to Bark & Whiskers™
Net weight: 90 g (3.17 oz) | 45 scoops
Supporting your pet’s gastrointestinal (GI) health is a key factor in ensuring they live their best lives possible. And probiotics can help put them on the right path.
Continue taking the lead in your pet’s health with Bark & Whiskers™ Complete Probiotics, which is a veterinarian-formulated and fan-favourite product that supports GI health with 38 billion CFU of beneficial bacteria from 14 carefully selected strains.
These health-promoting strains survive stomach acid to reach your dog’s or cat’s small intestine, unlike some acidophilus-based products.
For Daily Maintenance, Administer Complete Probiotics orally, once per day.
Cats (2+ lbs) = 1 g (½ scoop)
Toy Breed Dogs (up to 14 lbs) = 2 g (1 scoop)
Small Breed Dogs (15 to 29 lbs) = 3 g (1½ scoops)
Medium Breed Dogs (30 to 49 lbs) = 4 g (2 scoops)
Large Breed Dogs (50 to 79 lbs) = 5 g (2½ scoops)
Giant Breed Dogs (80+ lbs) = 6 g (3 scoops)
For Extra Support, Administer Complete Probiotics orally, once per day.
Cats (2+ lbs) = 2 g (1 scoop)
Toy Breed Dogs (up to 14 lbs) = 4 g (2 scoops)
Small Breed Dogs (15 to 29 lbs) = 6 g (3 scoops)
Medium Breed Dogs (30 to 49 lbs) = 8 g (4 scoops)
Large Breed Dogs (50 to 79 lbs) = 10 g (5 scoops)
Giant Breed Dogs (80+ lbs) = 12 g (6 scoops)
Complete Probiotics for Cats and Dogs has little to no flavour so that all pets, even fussy eaters enjoy it.
Easy to store, these probiotics for pets don’t require refrigeration or other special storage.
A full 80% of your pet’s
immune system resides in
your cat's and dog's gut.
38 billion beneficial bacteria from
14 powerful pet-friendly probiotic
strains in every scoop.
Probiotics are living microorganisms, or gut-friendly beneficial bacteria, that are selected according to their usefulness in either humans or animals.
Interestingly enough, the strains of bacteria that offer benefits for cats and dogs aren’t always the same strains for humans.
Researchers are still learning about how probiotics work. They believe these living microorganisms may replenish and regulate the microflora, or gut bacteria, in your pet's intestinal tract as a source of digestive enzymes – and they’re convinced probiotics have a supportive effect on the immune system.
No matter how they work, probiotics promote a number of health-supporting functions, which have traditionally included digestion and bowel health.
Research confirms that probiotics can support a pet’s healthy digestive processes. A study of 16 Beagles found that adding beneficial bacteria to their diet improved fat and carbohydrate digestibility in the gut, as well as stool quality.
Probiotics have been proven safe and effective for promoting total gastrointestinal (GI) health. A healthy GI system allows your pets to maximise their optimum health and well-being, no matter what life stage they are in.
In fact, supporting your pets' GI health is key to them living their longest and healthiest lives possible.
For all these reasons, traditional veterinarians are finally agreeing that probiotics may offer benefits for cats and dogs.
Aside from probiotics’ recognised benefits for GI health, researchers are confirming the exciting new potential for these living microorganisms.
A growing body of human and animal research suggests probiotics may offer additional benefits for many aspects of health, including:
Dogs and cats need the beneficial bacteria found in probiotics to help maintain healthy levels of friendly bacteria in their guts. When you supplement your pets’ diets with probiotics that flood their systems with the right strains of beneficial bacteria, you’re supporting their total-body health.
In a study to evaluate the effects of probiotics on feline gut health, researchers selected 10 healthy adult Maine Coon cats and gave half of them Lactobacillus acidophilus.
During the five-week trial, faecal firmness and moisture levels were evaluated – assessments considered a good measure of an animal’s gut health. The cats in the probiotic group showed higher-quality stools with greater levels of L. acidophilus, an indication that the probiotic supplement was having the desired effect.
Probiotics can help support your pets’ digestion, nutrient absorption, immune function, overall health and possibly, even their emotional well-being.
Of course, they do.
When probiotics, the good bacteria eat fibre, they produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Acetate, butyrate and propionate are the three key SCFAs in your pet’s body.
SCFAs can remain in your pet’s large intestine, or they can travel throughout the body, where they play important roles in immune and overall health, including:
A full 80% of your pets’ immune systems reside in their guts, so a bacteria population that is both diverse and rich in beneficial organisms is of prime importance for not only their immune health but also their total body health.
Plentiful diverse bacteria in your pet’s gut can act almost like a security blanket against insults from stress, poor diet, ageing and environmental toxins. The more beneficial bacteria they have, and of many different strains, the better for your pets.
Yes, they do.
Just like humans, our pets encounter emotional and physiological stresses every day – and every one of these stresses can potentially affect their GI tract.
Your pets’ GI tracts are the largest immune organ in their bodies and home to an extremely large population of bacteria. In fact, these microorganisms greatly outnumber the other cells in their bodies.
Because your pets’ guts, or microbiomes, are their largest immune barriers, they also bear the brunt of all the stress our pets encounter, whether real or perceived.
And it doesn’t take much to upset the delicate balance of good bacteria in your pets’ microbiomes. Stress and emotional upset certainly affect it. Plus, everything from eating sticks and grass to changes in diet when you’re apart can, too.
Add to that the highly processed pet food diet, and you can quickly understand why supporting your pets' immune systems, healthy digestion and overall good health is so important.
In one study, researchers evaluated the value of probiotic supplements for stress-related digestive and bowel issues in 134 healthy dogs who were moved from their homes to a kennel. Relocation and kenneling are both very stressful events for dogs and can affect a dog’s physiology and behaviour.
Groups of dogs received either a placebo containing no probiotic or varying levels of an oral probiotic supplement containing Bifidobacterium animalis once a day for five weeks prior to relocation to the kennel and then, for the first three weeks following relocation.
Researchers looked at faecal scores, the number of stools per day, microbial populations in the stool and serum cortisol levels, which measure the impact of stress on the body.
With the groups receiving Bifidobacterium animalis, there were positive effects seen with all variables, including optimal stool production and improved quality of stools. The higher the dose of probiotics, the better the results.
Studies and research say yes.
The gut-brain connection, often referred to as the "gut-brain axis," is a communication system between the GI tract and the central nervous system.
Emerging research suggests that the gut microbiota (the community of microorganisms residing in the gut) could influence brain function, mood, and behaviour of both pets and humans.
A study of 24 Labrador Retrievers looked at how beneficial bacteria can help with emotional and behavioural changes. Healthy dogs exhibiting stressed and anxious behaviours were divided into two groups: a placebo group and a study group that received the supplemental probiotic strain Bifidobacterium longum.
For the first six weeks of the study, half of the dogs received the probiotic supplement and the other half received the placebo with no probiotics. During weeks seven through nine, none of the dogs received probiotics. Then the original group receiving Bifidobacterium longum resumed supplementation for the final six weeks of the study.
Researchers evaluated behaviours such as barking, spinning, pacing, panting and trembling, as well as the dogs’ cortisol levels and heart rate to determine stress levels.
An astonishing 90% of the dogs receiving the probiotic supplement showed a reduction in troubling behaviours and other signs of stress.
An integrative veterinarian, Dr Karen Becker, writes that she believes the results from this study and others confirm the value of probiotics for pets, especially those coming from a shelter or rescue.
This probiotic strain may also be particularly helpful for animals who experience or are overly sensitive to stressful events in their lives and display behaviours related to noise phobias, separation anxiety, excessive vocalization and house soiling.
How can probiotics help make such a difference in psychological well-being and behaviour, you might wonder?
Experts believe the all-important gut-brain axis may be involved – the two-way connection between your pet’s GI tract and brain. When you nourish your pet’s microbiota, or gut flora, with beneficial bacteria, that can also support his mood.
All of these studies looked at the effects of only one strain of beneficial bacteria. What if you combined them and offered multiple strains of dog- and cat-friendly probiotics – at the same time?
Yes, and there are multiple factors to consider if you're looking for a high-quality probiotic for your pet.
If you're like other pet owners, you may have wondered how many different probiotic strains your pet really needs.
Research suggests that 10 or more strains are recommended for promoting optimal health.
Why is that? The more beneficial strains the probiotic contains, the better able the formula is to help your pet handle the wide variety of stressors that can affect your pet's GI system.
In the studies, Dr Karen Becker talks about certain strains that worked better than others for specific circumstances. So, by combining them, your pet can receive all the potential benefits of probiotics.
The potency of the probiotic – or the CFU (Colony Forming Units) – is very important, too. Knowing how many viable organisms per scoop provides a useful guide as to its potential.
So, even if your probiotic contains numerous strains of beneficial bacteria, you need to make sure it also contains a sufficient number of bacteria, or CFU, per scoop.
It’s not uncommon for products today to contain between one and three million beneficial bacteria per scoop. Any amount of probiotics can be helpful, but if you really want to make sure you're promoting optimal health and well-being, Dr Becker recommends much higher levels.
Dr Karen Becker states that she believes that ideally, you’ll want to find a probiotic formula with more than 30 billion CFU per scoop.
If a product manufacturer doesn’t tell you how many CFUs their product provides, be very suspicious. And if they do make a CFU claim, ask if it is guaranteed – and for how long. Anyone can make a claim, but they must be able to back it up.
Indeed, a recent study revealed that probiotics don’t always live up to their claims. Testing more than 20 types of probiotics, researchers found numerous instances of inconsistencies:
While some of the above issues are clearly more serious than others, they all indicate a problem with the manufacturer’s quality control.
With something as important as probiotics, you want to make sure you are getting the real thing – and not contaminated with something you don’t want. You need to be able to trust what's inside the bottle. For that, you must be able to trust the manufacturer.
To summarise, here’s how Bark & Whiskers™ Complete Probiotics compares to other pet probiotic supplements on the market:
Good question.
Some conventional commercial pet foods 'claim' that they contain probiotics. But do they really?
The good bacteria in a probiotic supplement must be live and able to reproduce in your pet’s gut to be effective.
However, commercial pet foods (dry and canned pet foods) are processed using very high heat temperatures, so it only makes sense that most, if not all, of the probiotic bacteria added to such foods, will be destroyed/killed off during the manufacturing process.
We recommend the following five criteria when selecting a probiotic product for your cat or dog. The probiotics should:
Because researchers have identified the microbial makeup of a healthy dog’s intestinal tract, we know exactly what’s needed in a probiotic product – and where it provides optimal benefits. Total microbial load is low in the stomach and increases along the path of the gastrointestinal tract.
The greatest diversity and number of bacteria are found in the small and large intestines, especially your pet’s colon. This is why it’s so important for a probiotic supplement to be able to pass through your pet’s stomach and upper intestine, unharmed by harsh stomach and bile acids or salts.
If the strains used in a formula aren’t resistant to low pH conditions and bile salts, your pet may not receive the benefits you’re hoping for.
This great product - Complete Probiotics for Cats and Dogs is provided via our exclusive partner, Bark & Whiskers, where Dr Karen Becker, one of the most followed wellness and integrative veterinarians in the world, shares the most up-to-date information on species-appropriate nutrition and care.
Just like Furchild, she believes that the food and lifestyle choices you make for your pets form the foundation of their health and longevity.
Moreover, Dr Becker is also the first veterinarian to give a TEDx Talk on species-appropriate nutrition.
She enjoys empowering pet parents and helping them become knowledgeable advocates for their pets’ well-being. Instead of simply addressing the symptoms, Dr Becker promotes the use of functional medicine, which involves making dietary and lifestyle choices to help pets thrive and prevent illness.
And in 2021, she also co-authored with pet influencer, Rodney Habib, to publish their book - The Forever Dog, which became the first-ever No.1 New York Times best-selling book about intentionally creating canine well-being.
Including probiotics in your pet's diet can help maintain a healthy gut microbiome. Here are some excellent sources of natural probiotics found in our Furchild menu.
A potent probiotic-rich option for cats and dogs. Kefir is a fermented dairy product that contains a diverse range of beneficial bacteria. These bacteria can help support your pet's gut health and digestion. This also includes our Golden Raw Goat Milk Kefir.
Raw goat milk, similar to kefir, is also a source of beneficial bacteria and nutrients for cats and dogs. Raw goat milk also provides hydration, essential nutrients, and a dose of probiotics that can contribute to a balanced gut microbiome.
Green tripe is the nutrient-rich stomach lining of grazing animals like cows and sheep. It's a natural source of probiotics and digestive enzymes and is loved by dogs of all sizes, breeds and ages. Most cats do not like the taste, but some do.