A diet change from dry food to beef induces reversible changes on the faecal microbiota in healthy, adult client-owned dogs

Abstract

BackgroundDiet has a major influence on the composition of the gut microbiota, whose importance for gut health and overall well-being is increasingly recognized. Knowledge is limited regarding health implications, including effects on the faecal microbiota, of feeding a diet with high content of red meat to dogs, despite some owners’ apparent preference to do so. The aim of this study was to evaluate how a diet change from commercial dry food to one with a high content of boiled minced beef and vice versa influenced the faecal microbiota, and short chain fatty acid profile in healthy, adult, client-owned dogs.ResultsThe diet change influenced the faecal microbiota composition and diversity (Shannon diversity index). The most abundant OTUs in samples of dogs fed the dry food and high minced beef were affiliated with the species Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Clostridia hiranonis respectively. The high minced beef diet apparently also influenced the short chain fatty acid profile, with increased isovaleric acid, as well as an increase in faecal pH. These effects were reversed when the commercial dry food was reintroduced in weeks 6 and 7.ConclusionsResults of this study can aid in the understanding of how diet changes influence the faecal microbiota and metabolite content on a short-term basis. Long-term studies are required to investigate potential implications for canine gut and general health.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-017-1073-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Role of the Canine Gut Microbiome and Metabolome in Health and Gastrointestinal Disease

“…In another study (25), healthy dogs were switched to a diet consisting of kibble mixed with increasing percentages of minced beef meat. Due to the lack of formulation to meet nutritional requirements, combined with the short observation period (only 1 week for each combination), results need to be interpreted with caution.…”

“…Interestingly, one of the Clostridiaceae strains was later identified as Clostridium hiranonis, a bacterial species associated with normal bile acid (BA) metabolism (25,26). A study (23) reported normal BA metabolism in healthy dogs fed BARF diets, with no significant difference from kibble-fed controls.…”

Metagenomic dissection of the canine gut microbiota: insights into taxonomic, metabolic and nutritional features

“…Notably, the large intestine and faeces possess the highest density and diversity of bacteria, with Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria representing the prevalent bacterial phyla (Suchodolski, 2011). Like other mammals, the canine gut microbiota appears to be influenced by several factors, such as diet (Wu et al, 2016;Herstad et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2017), age (Masuoka et al, 2017), metabolic disorders including obesity and diabetes (Xu et al, 2016), as well as intestinal inflammatory diseases (Honneffer et al, 2014). However, these studies involved a small number of samples belonging to a single or just a few different breeds.…”

“…However, these studies involved a small number of samples belonging to a single or just a few different breeds. Like other mammals, the canine gut microbiota appears to be influenced by several factors, such as diet (Wu et al, 2016;Herstad et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2017), age (Masuoka et al, 2017), metabolic disorders including obesity and diabetes (Xu et al, 2016), as well as intestinal inflammatory diseases (Honneffer et al, 2014).…”

Akkermansia and Microbial Degradation of Mucus in Cats and Dogs: Implications to the Growing Worldwide Epidemic of Pet Obesity

“…As indicated above, the development of microbial therapies with weight-loss applications in obese cats and dogs is challenging [7], in part due to the little we know about microbes and obesity [92,93] in these animal species and the wide inter-individual variation in the gut microbiome. This variation in the gut microbiome in pets is associated with the passing of time and aging [94][95][96][97][98], environmental factors, including diet [99], microbes in surrounding people [100], breed and other host genetics factors [101,102], clinical and subclinical conditions [91,93,103], gender [104], and behavior [105]. Here, we discuss the literature on feline and canine gut microbiota with regards to Verrucomicrobia-and Akkermansia-like 16S rRNA sequences (Table 1).…”