ABSTRACT
In companion animal medicine, health beneficial microbes are increasingly used to treat and prevent various clinical disturbances, mainly of gastrointestinal origin. Health beneficial microbes have an impact on preventing harmful bacteria from occurring as well as transmitting between pets and between pets and humans. Competitive exclusion of pathogens is thought to be one of the most important beneficial mechanisms of probiotic bacteria. Controlling the number of intestinal C. perfringens may thus have beneficial consequences, especially in dogs prone to chronic or intermittent diarrhea. Probiotics have shown their beneficial effects on immune functions and inflammation in many in vitro tests, animal models, and clinical trials. The potentially beneficial effects of probiotics have been evaluated in naturally occurring canine atopic dermatitis dogs. Whether existing commercial human probiotics are also able to exert their documented beneficial health effects in dogs and cats, or whether the most suitable probiotics should be species-specific, should be evaluated as well.
