Veterinarians often recommend a multi-strain probiotic for their canine patients.  Many high-quality multi-strain probiotics contain from five to six strains.  If five or six is good, is ten to twenty better?

It doesn’t necessarily follow that more is better when it comes to the number of strains in a probiotic supplement.  A key factor in the efficacy of probiotic strains is survival rates.  The more strains the less chance that they will survive to the expiration date.  (At DiarRice we can’t speak for other probiotic companies that make probiotics for dogs, but we know through our extensive testing that acceptable survival rates for more than ten strains in one formulation are quite difficult to achieve.)

Another factor you should also take into consideration when selecting a probiotic for your dog is that there are specific probiotic strains that will address specific gut conditions.  We have formulated DiarRice with only the strains that address the symptoms and discomfort that accompany diarrhea in dogs such as runny stools, smell, gas and eliminating toxins.  Many dog probiotics have more than 15 strains in them and are designed to be a one-size-fits-all solution to any gut condition a dog might have.

When selecting a probiotic for your dog, you should choose one that is specific for the condition you want to treat at that time.  Choosing one that has too many strains may not yield the results you are looking for and may do nothing at all if the strains don’t survive until the expiration date.