Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Gut bacteria in healthy and allergic West Highland White Terriers
By Felten, Vera et al.·Published in PloS one·2025·Clinic for Small Animal Internal Medicine·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: An insight into the gut microbiota of healthy and allergic West Highland Whiter Terrier dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of West Highland White Terriers, some with allergic skin issues and some healthy, were studied to see if their gut bacteria played a role in their skin problems. Researchers found no major differences in the overall gut bacteria between the allergic and healthy dogs. However, they did notice that higher levels of E. coli bacteria were linked to more severe itching in the allergic dogs. This suggests that while gut bacteria might not be the main cause of skin allergies in these dogs, certain bacteria could be related to the symptoms. More research is needed to understand this connection better.
People also search for: West Highland White Terrier skin allergies · dog itching causes · E. coli in dogs · gut bacteria and dog allergies · allergic dermatitis treatment in dogs
Abstract
Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a multifactorial, genetically predisposed inflammatory skin disease, with a high prevalence in many different dog breeds, with certain breeds being particularly affected, like the West Highland White Terrier (WHWT). While gut microbiome alterations are linked to allergic diseases in humans and some dog breeds, this relationship has never been investigated in WHWT dogs. This study aimed to compare the gut microbiome of allergic and healthy WHWT dogs to explore its role in cAD. Fecal samples from 21 WHWT dogs (12 allergic, 9 healthy) were analyzed using DNA shotgun sequencing and qPCR assays. No significant differences were observed in alpha or beta diversity, and no significant abundance of bacterial taxa was identified between allergic and healthy dogs. The Dysbiosis Index (DI) did not differ between the allergic (median -4.2, range -6.6 to 1.3) and healthy group. However, a moderate negative correlation was found between the relative abundance of E. coli and pruritus severity. These findings indicate that while the gut microbiome overall may not significantly contribute to cAD pathogenesis in WHWT dogs, some species like E. coli may be associated with clinical symptoms. Further studies are needed to investigate this relationship and to explore the role of genetics and the gut microbiota across different breeds with a larger number of dogs and with multi-omics approaches.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40864614/