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24Urinary tract stones are an important clinical problem in human and veterinary 25 medicine. Hyperoxaluria is the single strongest promoter of kidney stone formation. The 26 aims of the present study were to, (a) evaluate oxalate degradation by a range of 27Bifidobacteria species and Lactobacillus species isolated from the canine and feline 28 gastrointestinal tract in vitro and, (b) to determine the impact of oxalate degradation by 29 selected strains in vivo. The bacteria were grown in oxalate-containing media and their 30 ability to degrade oxalate in vitro was determined using reverse-phased HPLC. 31Bifidobacteria species and Lactobacillus species that degraded oxalate in vitro and 32 survived gastric transit were selected for further examination. The selected probiotics 33 were fed to rats for 4 weeks. Urine was collected at week's 0, 2 and 4 and oxalate levels 34 determined by HPLC. In vitro degradation was detected for 11/18 of the Lactobacillus 35 species. In contrast, the capacity to degrade oxalate was not detected for any of the 13 36