Executive Chairman Ethos Discovery Westborough, MA, United States
Abstract: Background- Diarrhea is one of the most common clinical signs that dogs exhibit when presenting to a veterinary clinic. Common treatments are frequently initiated empirically including dietary modification, antibiotics, and/or probiotics.Hypothesis/Objectives- Assessing the utility of a novel therapeutic probiotic for the treatment of diarrhea in dogs, including its impact on the gut microbiota.Animals-Single arm prospective observational pilot study consisting of ten client-owned adult dogs presenting for diarrhea of any duration with a Purina Fecal Score (PFS) of 4-7.Methods- Tolerability and therapeutic response to the probiotic were assessed by serial clinical examination and comparison to baseline PFS. Dogs were classified as responders or non-responders based on improvement of the PFS to <4 at day 7. Fecal samples collected at baseline, day 7 & day 56 of probiotic exposure, underwent illumina amplicon next generation sequencing of 16S rNA gene fragments (V4 region) to assess the diversity & structure of the fecal microbiome in each patient. Results-No adverse events were noted in any dogs receiving probiotics. Clinical improvement in diarrhea was noted in 7/10 dogs. 80% of participants showed enhanced microbiome structure & diversity, aligning more closely with healthy references compared to baseline. Improvement in PFS was associated with an increase in anti-diarrhea microbes in most responders & a decrease in pro-diarrhea microobes. Conclusions & clinical importance. This pilot study suggests a potential role of a novel probiotic in the management of diarrhea in dogs.
