Feline gastrointestinal microbiota

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The close relationship between gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota and its host has an impact on the health status of an animal that reaches beyond the GI tract. A balanced microbiome stimulates the immune system, aids in the competitive exclusion of transient pathogens and provides nutritional benefits to the host. With recent rapid advances in high-throughput sequencing technology, molecular approaches have become the routinely used tools for ecological studies of the feline microbiome, and have revealed a highly diverse and complex intestinal ecosystem in the feline GI tract. The major bacterial groups are similar to those found in other mammals, with<jats:italic>Firmicutes</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>Bacteroidetes</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>Actinobacteria</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Proteobacteria</jats:italic>constituting more than 99% of intestinal microbiota. Several nutritional studies have demonstrated that the feline microbiota can be modulated by the amount of soluble fibers (i.e., prebiotics) and macronutrients (i.e., protein content) in the diet. Initial clinical studies have suggested the presence of a dysbiosis in feline inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Recently, metagenomic approaches have attempted to characterize the microbial gene pool. However, more studies are needed to describe the phylogenetic and functional changes in the intestinal microbiome in disease states and in response to environmental and dietary modulations. This paper reviews recent studies cataloging the microbial phylotypes in the GI tract of cats.</jats:p>

Effects of Administration of Live or Inactivated Virulent Rhodococccus equi and Age on the Fecal Microbiome of Neonatal Foals

“…For descriptive purposes, we included the results from the 2 foals from which we had data at other ages (these data were not included in the statistical analysis comparing ages). The resident intestinal or fecal microbiota has been described for neonates of other species, such as cats [41], [42], dogs [43], and humans [25]–[27], [44]. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of age-related changes of the fecal microbiome in foals.…”

Infant gut microbiota and the hygiene hypothesis of allergic disease: impact of household pets and siblings on microbiota composition and diversity

“…As the microbiota of domestic dogs, cats and other companion animals continue to become better defined by modern methods [40-42], the ability to resolve their microbial contributions to other microbial communities will improve. Because of the great degree of overlap at the genus-level between human- and pet-associated microbiota, sequencing approaches that yield species-level or even strain-level resolution are ultimately needed to differentiate these communities.…”

The oral and conjunctival microbiotas in cats with and without feline immunodeficiency virus infection

“…This broad phylum, consisting of a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria, is commonly found at most body sites, albeit with different members of the phylum predominating. For example, Clostridia are dominant Firmicutes in the intestinal tract [25,26,32], while here, Bacilli were most common. This was because of the high relative abundance of Staphylococcaceae.…”