Transition of the intestinal microbiota of cats with age

Abstract

The transition of intestinal microbiota with age has been well described in humans. However, the age-related changes in intestinal microbiota of cats have not been well studied. In the present study, we investigated the composition of intestinal microbiota of cats in 5 different age groups (pre-weanling, weanling, young, aged, senile) with a culture-based method. For lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, we also quantified with molecular-based method, real-time PCR. The results suggested that the composition of the feline intestinal microbiota changes with age, while the changes were different from those of humans and dogs. Bifidobacteria which are predominant in human intestine or lactobacilli which are predominant in dog intestine, did not appear to be important in cat intestines. Enterococci, instead, seem to be major lactic acid producing bacteria in cats. We also identified lactobacilli and bifidobacteria at the species level based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and found that the species composition of Lactobacillus also changed with age.

Catching a glimpse of the bacterial gut community of companion animals: a canine and feline perspective

“…Although key bacterial members are commonly present in the faecal microbial community of healthy dogs and cats, a finding that is indicative of a core faecal microbiota, the taxonomic composition may be subject to changes and modulations due to the influence of several factors including diet (Bresciani et al ., 2018; Schmidt et al ., 2018; Alessandri et al ., 2019a–c), age (Fahey et al ., 2008; Masuoka et al ., 2017), metabolic disorders (i.e. diabetes or obesity; Alexander et al ., 2018; Salas‐Mani et al ., 2018), intestinal dysbiosis (diarrhoea or inflammatory bowel diseases) or cancer (Honneffer et al ., 2014; Omori et al ., 2017; Kalenyak et al ., 2018), as well as anthropogenic influences (Alessandri et al ., 2019a–c; Fig.…”

“…In a similar way, a culture‐based analysis revealed that Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcus spp. dominated the gut microbiota of pre‐weanling kittens, while their abundance decreased throughout life (Masuoka et al ., 2017). In addition, as observed in dogs, also the gut microbiota of lactating kittens is characterized by high numbers of Clostridium spp.…”

The fecal microbiome and serum concentrations of indoxyl sulfate and p‐cresol sulfate in cats with chronic kidney disease

“…However, the role of pCS has not been explored in veterinary medicine. Various studies have evaluated the gastrointestinal microbiome of cats in health and in disease, but the fecal microbiome in cats with CKD and its association with IS and pCS have not been characterized. The primary aim of our study was to characterize the fecal microbiome of cats with CKD in comparison to healthy control cats.…”

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).…”