Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Does giving probiotics change healthy dogs' mouth bacteria over time
By Bell, Sara E et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2020·Department of Pathobiology, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: An Assessment of the Stability of the Canine Oral Microbiota After Probiotic Administration in Healthy Dogs Over Time.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of healthy working dogs was given a daily oral probiotic to see if it would change their mouth bacteria compared to dogs that didn't receive the probiotic. Over seven weeks, researchers took samples from the dogs' mouths and found that the probiotic did not significantly alter the types or amounts of bacteria present. The study showed that the oral bacteria in dogs remained stable regardless of whether they received the probiotic or what diet they were on. This suggests that the oral microbiota in dogs is consistent over time and not easily changed by probiotics.
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Abstract
The administration of an oral probiotic has been demonstrated to impact oral microbial diversity in humans but has not been examined in canines. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that oral probiotic administration would impact the oral microbiota of canines compared to control. Working canines in training (= 13) were assigned to Test or Control groups and acclimated to one of three commercially available study diets utilizing common protein sources (Purina Pro Plan Savor lamb, Purina Pro Plan Sport chicken, Purina Pro Plan Focus salmon) for a minimum of 30 days prior to initiation of the study. Following acclimation, dogs in the Test group began a daily regimen of oral probiotic (Fortiflora® Purina, St. Louis, MO) top-dressed on their midday feeding. Control dogs received their midday feeding with no probiotic. All dogs were sampled once weekly via oral pediatric swabs across the 7-week study. Next generation sequencing (Illumina, MiSeq) was utilized to develop microbial profiles specific to treatment, diet, and time. Bacterial composition was dominated by eight phyla (Proteobacteria 43.8%, Bacteroidetes 22.5%, Firmicutes 18.9%, Actinobacteria 6.1%, Fusobacteria 3.6%, Gracilibacteria 2.1%, SR1 Absconditabacteria 1.5%, and Saccharibacteria 1.3%) representing more than 99% of the relative abundance of the microbial composition. Probiotic administration failed to impact relative abundance at any taxonomic level (> 0.05). Similarly, no effect on the oral microbiota was measured for diet (> 0.05). Comparison using a Jaccard Index demonstrate a consistent microbial profile over the 7-week study with no impact evidenced by study week (= 0.19). The data also revealed a profile of ubiquitous taxa that were present across all dogs and all samples regardless of breed, sex, diet, treatment or other factors. These genera include. These data demonstrate the stability of canine oral microbiota over time.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33062653/