Gut Restore for Cats

A fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), also called fecal transplant, is the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to the GI tract of a sick recipient. The stool from the donor contains a diverse, well-functioning community of bacteria that take up residence in the recipient’s gut. FMT is the best known approach for restoring a balanced gut microbiome and has proven to be an effective treatment in both humans and companion animals.

FMT has been used for hundreds of years in veterinary medicine and for over a thousand years in human medicine. Though modern regulatory entities like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are still determining how to classify it, FMT continues to demonstrate beneficial results for a growing list of human health conditions. For example, FMT is routinely used to treat Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections. And it provides a promising solution for the low gut bacterial diversity associated with Crohn’s disease (a form of IBD).

An FMT can be delivered via colonoscopy or enema, but for cats and dogs, those procedures generally require sedation. Our Gut Restore for Cats is an oral capsule that gives your cat the benefits of FMT without the need for surgery or sedation. Containing a proprietary mixture of carefully screened, cryoprotected, freeze-dried donor stool, the Gut Restore capsules (aka “poop pills”) offer a noninvasive, affordable, at-home alternative for pets suffering from digestive, skin, or immune system issues.

By seeding your cat’s microbiome with all the right bacteria in the right proportions, the capsules can help reestablish balance and resolve symptoms. When cats with digestive symptoms, skin issues, or immune system problems turn out to be missing certain important gut bacteria, we need to add those missing members to the microbiome and help the new populations grow and thrive. 

When dogs with digestive symptoms, skin issues, or immune system problems turn out to be missing certain important gut bacteria, we need to add those missing members to the microbiome and help the new populations grow and thrive.

Gut Restore provides a whole community of healthy cat-specific microbes. The capsule’s enteric coating prevents it from dissolving until it reaches the intestines, where the contents “seed” your cat’s gut with a diverse array of healthy bacteria, restoring any missing groups.

Our Gut Restore for Cats is derived from stool donated by healthy pet cats that live in homes and have been carefully screened for health, age, fecal consistency, behavior, and microbiome composition (based on DNA sequencing).

Donor stool samples are submitted for parasite and pathogen screening to the Idexx Reference Laboratories, the leading veterinary diagnostics company, which has stringent quality control guidelines and well-validated standard operating procedures.

All cat donor material is regularly screened for parasites and pathogens:

Cats are screened for the following pathogens via PCR: Clostridium perfringens Enterotoxin Gene, Feline coronavirus, Tritrichomonas foetus, Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Feline panleukopenia virus, Clostridium perfringens Alpha Toxin, Cryptosporidium, Salmonella spp, Toxoplasma gondii, Giardia 

Cats are screened for the following parasites via ELISA: Giardia, Hookworms, Whipworms, Roundworms

Cats are screened for ova and parasites using fecal flotation.

An extremely wide range of cats have benefited from Gut Restore, ranging in age from 2 months to 20 years. The vast majority of cats see improvement in their digestive issues, food allergies and intolerances, and/or skin issues.

While this supplement is natural and intended to gently repopulate the microbiome, it does contain high numbers of healthy bacteria that can be overwhelming to medically unstable cats. If your cat is severely underweight or requires frequent hospitalization, we recommend checking with your veterinarian to see if the supplement is right for your cat.

Gut Restore is shelf-stable, and remains effective after brief exposure to both heat and cold, such as conditions encountered during standard shipping or temporary mailbox storage. While we recommend storing in a cool, dry place for mitigating humidity, short-term temperature fluctuations will not compromise product integrity.