Bacteria transplants could help canine gut disease, study finds
FMT could provide viable short-term treatment for chronic enteropathy.
A new study has revealed the clinical benefits of bacterial transplants to dogs with gut disease.
Researchers from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies found that just one treatment of a donor bacteria provided temporary relief for chronic bowel conditions in dogs.
Chronic enteropathy, an inflammatory condition of the gut, is often compared to Crohn’s disease in humans. It frequently causes persistent signs such as diarrhoea, vomiting and weight loss.
It is often treated through dietary changes, anti-inflammatory medicines and immune-suppressing drugs. However, in recent years, faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has become a potential alternative.
The study involved seven dogs that were experiencing chronic enteropathy. Each dog received a single FMT from two healthy donor dogs, followed by clinical assessments over the following 90-day period.
The dogs’ progress was recorded using a clinical activity scale, which measures the severity of the disease. It records data on symptoms such as appetite, weight loss, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Before their treatment, the dogs had an average score of eight. This means that their symptoms indicated a moderate to severe level of disease.
One week after treatment, the average score dropped to three. By day 30, the average score had fallen to one.
Researchers say that FMT could therefore provide a practical and viable short-term treatment for dogs with chronic enteropathy, although its exact mechanism remains unclear.
The study also investigate how glycerol, a substance used to preserve frozen samples, might impact the effectiveness of FMT.
Glycerol was not found to be necessary for maintaining FMT effectiveness. Frozen FMT examples could therefore remain viable without glycerol, providing they are used after a single thaw and are not refrozen.
Silke Salavati, personal chair of small animal gastroenterology, said: “Our findings suggest that while faecal microbiota transplantations can provide meaningful clinical improvement for dogs with chronic enteropathy, the way it works might not be through permanently changing the microbiota.
“This raises interesting questions about what exactly in the transplant is driving the benefits - whether it's the bacteria themselves or other bioactive compounds they produce.”
The full study can be found in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
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Joanne Webster, a professor of parasitic diseases at the RVC, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
