New Vets' Guide Elevates One Probiotic for Canine Gut Disease

ROCKVILLE, MD – February 23, 2026 – In a move set to reshape the treatment of chronic digestive disease in dogs, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) has issued a landmark consensus statement that singles out a specific probiotic formulation as the only one supported by sufficient evidence for recommendation. The new guidelines for managing canine chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE) establish a clear, evidence-based path for veterinarians, placing a single product, Visbiome Vet, in a class of its own.

The statement, published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, outlines a “diet-first, stepwise approach” for treating CIE, a debilitating condition characterized by persistent vomiting, diarrhea, and weight loss. However, for the many dogs who do not respond to dietary changes alone, the ACVIM panel has provided a crucial next step. After reviewing available research, the panel concluded that only the De Simone Formulation—the proprietary, eight-strain blend found in Visbiome Vet—has undergone randomized clinical trials rigorous enough to warrant a conditional recommendation.

This endorsement by one of the most respected bodies in veterinary medicine provides a critical point of clarity in the often-murky, multi-billion-dollar pet supplement market, where marketing claims frequently outpace scientific proof.

A New Benchmark in Canine Gut Health

Canine chronic inflammatory enteropathy is one of the most common and frustrating conditions managed by veterinarians. For millions of pet owners, it means a cycle of vet visits, dietary experiments, and the distress of seeing their companion suffer from chronic gastrointestinal upset. The new ACVIM guidelines aim to standardize care and improve outcomes by emphasizing a structured, evidence-based protocol.

The primary recommendation is to initiate treatment with a strict elimination diet trial. This step alone can resolve symptoms in a significant portion of dogs. The challenge has always been what to do for the dogs that fail to improve. The new guidelines address this directly.

"The new ACVIM guidance highlights not only the central role of diet in managing chronic enteropathy but also the potential value of microbiome-directed interventions," said Dr. Albert Jergens of Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, who was quoted in the announcement from ExeGi Pharma, the manufacturer of Visbiome Vet. "With Visbiome Vet, clinicians have access to a probiotic supported by randomized clinical trial data, allowing them to offer an evidence-based adjunctive option when dogs do not respond adequately to elimination diets."

The panel’s review found that while many products are marketed for canine digestive health, they lack the high-level evidence needed for a formal endorsement. The conditional recommendation for the De Simone Formulation signifies that it has met a scientific standard its competitors have not, marking a pivotal moment for the role of probiotics in veterinary medicine.

The Science That Separates

The market for pet probiotics is a crowded and largely unregulated space. Pet owners are often confronted with a dizzying array of products, all promising to improve gut health, but with little to no accessible data to back up their claims. The ACVIM's decision to name a specific formulation cuts through the noise.

"For years, veterinarians have been navigating a sea of probiotic claims with very little high-quality data," commented one board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist who was not involved in creating the consensus statement. "This provides a much-needed anchor of evidence. It allows us to move from making recommendations based on marketing to making them based on rigorous, peer-reviewed science."

The key differentiator is the level of evidence. The ACVIM panel prioritized randomized clinical trials (RCTs), the gold standard in medical research, where a treatment is compared against a placebo in a controlled environment. The De Simone Formulation is supported by such studies in dogs with CIE, demonstrating its ability to help manage clinical signs. Other products reviewed by the panel either lacked this level of research or the trial results were not strong enough to support a recommendation.

Visbiome Vet contains a high-potency blend of eight specific strains of live bacteria, delivering between 112.5 billion and 225 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) per dose. This high concentration and multi-strain composition are believed to be key to its mechanism of action in modulating the gut microbiome and immune response. This stands in stark contrast to many over-the-counter probiotics that may have lower CFU counts, fewer strains, or lack quality control to ensure the bacteria are even alive by the time of use.

Implications for Vets and Hope for Hounds

The practical impact of the ACVIM statement is expected to be immediate and significant. For veterinarians, it provides a clear, defensible treatment pathway that can be communicated to clients. Instead of navigating a confusing market, they now have a guideline-supported option for dogs that fail initial diet trials.

This clarity extends to pet owners, who are often desperate for a solution to their dogs' chronic illness. The new guidelines offer a structured plan and the reassurance that they are pursuing a treatment path endorsed by leading experts. It offers hope that there is an effective, scientifically-vetted option beyond just changing food brands repeatedly.

"We are very pleased to see the ACVIM provide clear, evidence-based guidance for veterinarians," said Marc Tewey, Chief Executive Officer of ExeGi Pharma, in a press release. "We are proud that Visbiome Vet's De Simone Formulation is the only probiotic with randomized clinical trial evidence strong enough to support a conditional recommendation for dogs that fail dietary trials."

Tewey noted that the endorsement validates over a decade of the company's investment in scientific research. This long-term commitment to clinical validation is precisely what the ACVIM panel's findings have rewarded, setting a new, higher bar for the entire veterinary supplement industry. The statement implicitly challenges other manufacturers to move beyond anecdotal evidence and invest in the rigorous scientific studies necessary to prove their products are not only safe, but effective.