Join Our Probiotics Trial | Studying Dogs with Diarrhea

In this new study the Nom Nom R&D team recruited dogs that suffered from chronic diarrhea.

Probiotics & Diarrhea

When it comes to probiotics and GI issues in dogs, there’s a lot of evidence out there to support supplementation. Trust us — the Nom Nom R&D team has read it all, and we’ve found that probiotics can help relieve several different types of diarrhea by reducing the duration, frequency and severity of the bouts. Not to mention improve stool shape and quality.

We’ve also seen from first-hand research that our Full Spectrum probiotics can reduce the risk of future diarrhea incidences in dogs with low-to-moderate risk of diarrhea and enrich the beneficial bacteria in your dog’s gut. 

From time to time, every dog experiences some loose motions, but some dogs are constantly battling the trots. So we want to know: Can our probiotics help dogs with chronic diarrhea? 

This time around we’re interested in testing our GI targeted probiotics, a blend of select probiotic bacteria chosen by our experts specifically for their abilities to benefit the canine GI system. Additionally, they contain Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii), a strain of yeast, which has been found to be effective in managing both antibiotic-induced and chronic diarrhea in dogs. 

Fiber & Diarrhea

When it comes to chronic diarrhea, probiotics weren’t our only area of interest. We were also curious about fiber, which can promote a healthy gut by supporting beneficial bacteria populations and digestive health in dogs. 

So again, we took a good hard look at the literature supporting fiber and diarrhea in dogs (and there’s a lot of it). We were particularly captivated by psyllium, a non-fermentable gel-forming soluble fiber, which basically means its unique structure and properties gives it a high water holding capacity that allows it to both soften hard stool and firm up loose ones. Pretty amazing, no?

The literature of this stool-normalizing effect is pretty solid (pun… somewhat intended) in humans, and emerging evidence also supports psyllium for chronic diarrhea management in dogs. 

Our probiotics actually already contain fiber: inulin, a gut benefiting fermentable fiber known as prebiotic that helps fuel the healthy bacteria in the gut. So while inulin supports your dog’s GI system helping our probiotics to thrive, it does not have the same stool-normalizing properties as psyllium. 

This study will set us apart

While S. boulardii (the yeast we mentioned earlier) alone and likewise select probiotic bacteria have been shown to benefit chronic diarrhea in dogs, this study will be the first time the combination of S. boulardii with probiotic bacteria is explored in dogs with chronic diarrhea.

Additionally, studying psyllium alongside our GI targeted probiotics means that this will be the first study in dogs to look at two different types of fiber in combination with probiotics and yeast for their ability to improve diarrhea symptoms.

Oh, and one more first — this will also be among the first studies to look at the effect of probiotics on the gut microbiome in dogs with chronic diarrhea using shotgun sequencing (the fancy way we measure your pet’s microbiome). Sorry we’re just geeking out now.

About this study

We want to explore how our GI targeted probiotics work both alone and in combination with select gut-benefiting fibers on diarrhea symptoms in dogs that chronically suffer from diarrhea.

Enrollment for this study is closed at this time, but thank you to all those interested in our research. We’re looking forward to diving into the results of this trial and sharing what we found with you!

The Nom Nom R&D team is always up to something, follow our research opportunities on this page or contact us at [email protected]. There may be an additional study opportunity in the future that your dog qualifies for.