Exploring the gut microbiome in pets
Emerging research reveals the gut microbiome of cats and dogs not only influences their digestive health but also plays a vital role in their overall wellbeing. This session is delving into the groundbreaking science behind how nourishing and supporting the gut microbiome can enhance pets' digestive health and beyond.
We are hearing how the gut microbiome can affect other body systems, supporting skin, ears, lungs, and other microbiomes through nutrient supply and beneficial compounds - a relationship known as the gut-lung or gut-skin axis. Additionally, we are examineing whether the gut microbiome can also influence mood, cognition, and behaviour and how the understanding and optimising of this gut-brain connection may offer new opportunities to improve both the mental and physical health of pets.
Chair: Jane Byrne, Senior Editor, FeedNavigator
Join us for an engaging Fireside Chat with Bill Bookout, president of the US-based National Animal Supplements Council (NASC), on the booming biotics category - prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics - in the companion animal industry.
Backed by emerging science highlighting their role in promoting GI health and bolstering immune systems, biotics are rapidly becoming essential in dog and cat nutrition.
Bill will share insights into the broader animal supplements market, the evolving importance of biotics, and the potential impact of upcoming US regulatory changes in 2025. Discover how these developments could reshape labeling claims and drive the future growth of biotics in dog and cat food in the US.
The gut microbiome is an important immune and metabolic organ influencing health of the intestine and other organ systems through the production of important metabolites, which can be modulated by diet. While molecular based sequencing approaches are very useful for comprehensive assessment of microbiome changes due to diets, they lack standardisation, reproducibility, analytical validation of methods and consistency in the reporting of results. This makes comparison of dietary interventions extremely difficult across studies. Therefore, there is a need to identify key bacterial taxa and metabolites that are associated with health. The development of targeted and analytically validated assays for these biomarkers allows better comparisons of dietary interventions in health and disease and across studies.
Key Learnings:
1) Understand the analytical variation of untargeted metagenomics and metabolomic approaches.
2) Identify promising microbial and metabolomic biomarkers that can be used to assess intestinal health.
3) Understand how diet influences key indices of intestinal health.
There really is something to that old adage about having a “gut feeling.” The gut and the brain are engaged in constant bi-directional communication through what has been coined the “gut-brain-axis” and through various mechanisms the microbes that live within the gut can influence behavior. Emerging knowledge regarding this link is revealing opportunities for managing various psychological disorders, including stress-related disorders, through introduction of specific probiotic strains.
Key Learnings:
1) The gut-brain axis is a complex communication network influenced by gut microbiota, and probiotics can play a beneficial role in this interaction, impacting emotional well-being.
2) Not all probiotics are equal, and strain matters when it comes to efficacy 3) Specific strains of probiotics can influence pet emotional wellbeing and be an important part of a multi-modal approach to managing anxious behavior in dogs and cats.
Chair: Jane Byrne, Senior Editor, FeedNavigator
Our panel will hear from Dr Greg Amos from Mars Petcare, who will discuss how Mars is advancing research into the oral, skin, and gut microbiome of cats and dogs. He will highlight the company's efforts to better understand bacterial combinations that can predict future health, aid in disease prevention, and improve diagnostics. By gaining deeper insights, Mars aims to develop new ways to measure pet health and create tailored nutrition strategies. Industry consultant Dr Emma Bermingham will examine the most effective diagnostic approaches for microbiome research. She will discuss the complexities of fecal consistency, the key differences between feline and canine microbiomes, and how these variations influence health across different life stages. Dr Brett Loman, assistant professor at the Gut-Microbiota Communication Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will present research on how different dietary fiber sources impact the gut microbiome and its associated metabolites in cats and dogs. His findings will offer valuable insights into the broader effects of diet on pet health.
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