Probiotics

Not always. The bacteria have to survive cooking, drying and storage, and studies of pet foods have found that the bacteria in the bag often do not match what the label lists.

Probiotics on a cat food label are dried cultures of gut bacteria. Tufts veterinary nutritionists say there is not yet evidence that probiotic supplements improve overall wellness in animals without illness, and that results are often strain specific. The main concern they raise is quality, not side effects. If your cat is ill or on medication, ask your veterinarian before relying on probiotics.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Probiotics are live bacteria added to food on the idea that they support the microbes in the gut. Common ones in cat food include Bacillus and Enterococcus faecium, plus several Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species. A label that just says probiotics does not tell you which species or how many. Labels that list dried fermentation products name the species.

Often not. Tufts veterinary nutritionists describe a 2011 study from a Canadian veterinary school in which only 2 of 15 popular pet probiotics had labels that matched what was in the package. Some listed bacteria that do not exist. An earlier study found none of 19 dry pet foods contained live bacteria matching their ingredient lists.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

They describe the same kind of ingredient with different levels of detail. Probiotics is a general term for live bacteria. Dried fermentation product, as in dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, is the formal label name and tells you the exact species. Pettings has a separate page for each named species as well as this general one.

Pettings gives probiotics 4 out of 5 and lists it as a probiotic or enzyme ingredient. It appears on 2 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. Most dry foods name the species instead of using the general word. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.