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What Probiotics do you use?

painesgrey

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Over the last few months, I've noticed an increase in the stankiness of Cake's poops. He has the awful habit of holding in his poop, which combined with his penchant for soup-making has made for some odorous cage papers. No change in diet or habits that I could attribute to the change in smell.

I took multiple stool samples (collected over the last 36 hours) to the vet today, and they couldn't find anything. No abnormal bacterial growth, no fungus, no parasites. They had done a fecal on him last May and saw no issues then either, but I worried that perhaps something was developing and wanted to get it checked out just in case. Yes, I'm a worrier.

Since he is behaving 100% normally, they recommend against putting him on an antibiotic (he'd go on an empirical/cultured antibiotic) because they feel that may do more harm than good, especially since the only complaint is "smell."

They did recommend that we try putting him on a different probiotic. He's been on Bene-bac for years now (vet recommendation since he has typically loose stools), and want to know what other probiotics are available. As per their recommendation, I'll also be trying out some unsweetened probiotic yogurt.

So, AA'rs - what probiotics do you use for your birds?
 

Ripshod

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The problem I see with probiotic yoghurt is the flora is for the human gut. Birds have different gut bacteria from us.
My flock has been eating a seed mix with a probiotics built in since day one. But I'm currently moving them over to a lower fat mix that doesn't include any probiotics. The choices for me are either Bioplus or Avipro. I'm leaning toward the Bioplus because the Avipro doesn't actually seem to include any bacteria on the ingredients list.
 

sunnysmom

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I always got mine directly from my vet and it came in a prescription bottle but I'm pretty sure it was Avitech.
 

Mizzely

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I don't use one currently but I've seen good things about this one, and it's available on Chewy and Amazon:


Morning Bird also has one that seems promising (Avitech copycat)
 

painesgrey

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Thanks guys! I was a little unsure about the yogurt as well, but she said it was worth a shot since bene-bac might not be working. She said it's more palatable for birds, anyway. Cake likes to dunk his food so it's hard to get food supplements into him without most of it washing off in the food bowl. :I
 

Jesse_EG

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@painesgrey Did switching probiotics work for you and your birdy or did you end up going with antibiotics? I’m having a very similar situation with my Grey and his poops being smelly.
 

Mizzely

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@painesgrey Did switching probiotics work for you and your birdy or did you end up going with antibiotics? I’m having a very similar situation with my Grey and his poops being smelly.
Unfortunately they haven't signed in since April 2021 so you are unlikely to receive a response. I would encourage you to start your own thread for the best chance at getting answers for your situation :)
 
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