EFFECT OF AN EXTRUDED VEGETABLE DIET ON FECAL MICROBIOTA OF DOGS WITH FOOD-RESPONSIVE ENTEROPATHY

Intestinal dysbiosis and adverse food reactions are involved in the pathogenesis of food responsive enteropathy (FRE) in dogs. Various options for an elimination diet are available, and a vegetable dry food is one alternative. Dietary interventions are thought to alter gut microbial communities in healthy individuals and the resolution of dysbiosis is expected in diseased animals concurrent with remission of clinical signs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate changes in fecal microbiota in dogs with FRE before and after an elimination dietary trial with a vegetable diet. The same vegetable diet trial was performed in healthy control dogs (HC) to evaluate changes in fecal microbiota before and after the trial, and to compare them to FRE dogs.Dogs with FRE (n = 10) and HC (n = 14) were fed the vegetable diet for 60 days. Fecal samples were collected before and after the dietary trial. Fecal genomic DNA was extracted and used for Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Sequence data were analyzed using the QIIME pipeline. The dysbiosis index of the sequence data was calculated using a published mathematical model, and a score >0 was considered as dysbiotic. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Significantly lower alpha diversity was observed in dogs with FRE-baseline compared to HC-baseline and FRE-after trial. Distinct microbial communities were observed in dogs with FREbaseline compared to HC-baseline (ANOSIM P = 0.001) and dogs with FRE-after trial (ANOSIM P = 0.032). Microbial communities were still different in FRE-after trial compared to HC-baseline (ANOSIM P = 0.001). The calculated dysbiosis index was higher in dogs with FRE-baseline compared to HC-baseline (P = 0.022), but no significance difference was observed between FRE-after trial and HC-baseline. The fecal microbiota in HC did not show any significant differences before vs. after the vegetable dietary trial. Results of this study suggest that in FRE dogs, treatment with the vegetable elimination diet led to partial recovery of the fecal microbiota by significantly increasing microbiota richness, which was significantly closer to healthy microbiota after treatment. In contrast, no changes were detected in fecal microbiota of healthy control dogs fed with the same vegetable diet.