Okay to keep giving Benebac every other day?

[Binkles]

For the last week I’ve been giving Little-Bit Benebac Plus following a GI upset due to excessive shedding. It’s working great so far! The directions are to give a dose once a day every other day for the first week (days 1, 3, 5, and 7), and after that to give one dose a week as maintenance after the first week.

Yesterday was day 7, so she’s completed her first week. What I want to find out is if it would do any harm to keep giving it to her every other day now that she’s finished the first week instead of dropping down to one dose per week as instructed on the package. I realize it might be overkill, but all I know is that when I’ve taken a full course of probiotics in the past and backed off after that, my GI issues returned when I backed off. So I want to be super certain that Little-Bit keeps her good gut flora, especially because she is still shedding.

[tobyluv]

Have you asked for your vet’s opinion? I wonder if instead of cutting back to just one dose a week right away, if you could gradually cut back, and give it to her every 3 or 4 days, then every 5 or 6 days, then finally give it to her every 7 days?

[Binkles]

That would make sense. Haven’t asked the vet, but it’s Saturday now so that’s not an option.

[StachesMommy]

Cutting back gradually is a great idea in my opinion too. How do you get your bunny to eat it? Does bunny freely eat the benebac or do you have to sort of force your bunny? Mine absolutely hates it and runs away as soon as she smells it flicking her feet all dramatically in circles in protest…. :/ It might also be because she associates it with force syringe feedings of antibiotics. I cannot get her to eat it peacefully. Even when I burrito her she freaks out and starts shaking her head all crazy so it ends up on her forehead instead of her mouth.

[Binkles]

Oh wow, what a headache! Fortunately Little-Bit eats it like it’s nothing. Actually, I don’t think she knows she’s eating it. I bought the powder kind and have been sneaking it in with her Critical Care. I’ve been feeding her Critical Care for the last week and a half because regular pellets were beginning to give her issues for some reason, hence the Benebac.

[Binkles]

Ugh, I can’t believe it! Okay so here’s what I did. I decided to try easing back the BeneBac by giving it to her after three days instead of two.

The next morning was the first time she produced some large wet deformed poops in a week. (Like, five of them. All of her other poops were normal both before and after the deformed poops.)

So I put her back on BeneBac every other day again. Fast forward a week on this regimen with no bad poops. So I decided to try backing off to every third day again.

Guess what? Another small batch of dark wet deformed poops! What the heck!?

All of her other poops are completely normal except for the five weird ones. Appetite is fine. Still shedding like the dickens, but appetite is fine.

[Binkles]

Brace yourselves, poop post coming…

This is the whole group of poops in question. This is all there is. The rest of her poops are normal. The paper things are litter, not part of the poop.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/toraigan/Mobile%20Uploads/20160215_185919_zpsydt363cp.jpg

[Mikey]

I would go back to the vet and take a poop sample with you. She might have an infection no one knows about

[Bam]

I’d keep giving the benebac. With probiotics you often have to keep giving it for a prolonged time, in some cases you need really long-term treatment. The good bacteria needs time to establish themselves. In many cases (seen in humans) the good bacteria tend only to survive for a limited time without boosters.

So since you had good results, I’d put her back on Benebac.

If that doesn’t help, you need to investigate further. I just recently found some info about one of the probiotic components in Benebac, enterococcus faecium:

“Eneterococcus faecium (and E faecalis) are Gram-positive bacteria used to control contamination in food, feed and the digestive tract of animals. They are the predominant enterococcal species in the rabbit gut and are able to survive the acidic gastric pH, colonise the mucosal surfaces and prevent the attachment of pathogens (Linaje et al, 2004).”

Here’s whole article: http://www.vettimes.co.uk/article/beneficial-bacteria-in-pet-rabbits/

[ergodic]

If it help I give George Benebac everyday. I hide his booster pill in it. My vet knows and does not have any issue with it.I would continue giving it to her as well especially if she is still shedding. You can always double check with the vet and let them know your concerns

[Binkles]

Good tips guys, thanks! She just had a poop test a little over a month ago, but I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have it tested again.

I know when I went off probiotics my system relapsed as well, so I guess it’s definitely understanding that it would happen in a bunny who is blowing her coat. I’m just surprised it happened so fast -that a difference of one day causes her to relapse.

Gosh I’m so glad I started giving her BeneBac in the first place! I was kind of going back and forth about it since it’s debated how much good it actually does…but it certainly seems to be doing good in Little-Bit’s case.

[Author]

Messages