Yesterday there was a short conversation with Ginene who asked for probiotic recommendations. I offered a specific one and Debbie276 and Sally cautioned that only avian-specific probiotics should be used. (The one I had suggested was not avian-specific.)
I went back and did a little research as I had not heard that avian-specific probiotics were the only ones that would work. It was interesting - and I found a paper that talked about studies done in poultry which indeed showed that a poultry-specific probiotic worked better than a non-poultry-specific one. Encouraging - but still so many questions! (Thank you Sally and Debbie - I love learning new things - and one of many reasons I really enjoy this group)
I also found that the entire subject of probiotics is really, really complicated. I kept having more questions! I asked about this on the EssentialBird Yahoo Group and was given some background on work done to compare probiotics there.
More questions were raised... When in a life span are probiotics most useful? Do baby birds get their populations more easily - and then later in life not so much? Do the probiotics we give really stay in the gut? There are also transient probiotics - that just pass through, but seem to have some benefit. How specific do the probiotics need to be? Will chicken ones work well in our finches?
The bottom line for me is that the science of probiotic supplementation is definitely a work in progress. There are strong indications that probiotic supplementation is really useful, but we may be a little shaky on the hows and whys just yet.
Given all of this, I believe that probiotics are a good idea, but can honestly say I don't know which one is best. I like the one I'm using - I like what I do know about it - and I highly respect the person who recommended it to me.
In the case of someone who is working with an avian veterinarian on a very serious illness outbreak, however, I feel that veterinarian should be the one to definitively recommend a probiotic. If it is the case that it is part of a treatment protocol, there are too many choices out there to take a chance of doing it wrong. The wrong one would likely do no harm, but there must be one - or a class - or properties - that the veterinarian can recommend in this particular case as having been found useful in similar circumstances. That's the answer I will give if presented with a similar question in the future.
So I've learned some really good stuff here and thank you.
. I ordered the probiotic that was recommended on the avian web site. It was in an article on Avian Pox, so I figured I should go with it. I am so grateful to everyone on the forum, as I learn new things every time I am on here. Hopefully, the probiotics will give my birds a nice boost and a better chance at fighting the pox.