Several canine clinical gastrointestinal problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease and small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth, are believed to be associated with bacteria. These conditions often lead to chronic diarrhea. Many canine gastrointestinal problems are treated with antibiotics, but due to increasing problems with antimicrobial resistance alternative therapies should be considered. One of these therapies is suggested be probiotic bacteria treatment, especially with members of the genus Lactobacillus due to their health-conferring properties.
The probiotic characteristics of bacteria are linked to host specificity which is an important criterion for selection of a probiotic. Most of the commercial probiotic strains meant for dogs are not from canine origin. In addition many substances available in the Finnish market contain Enterococcus faecium, whose safety has been questioned due to it's pathogenic characteristics.
This study was based on the study project investigating the effect of host-specific canine LAB on long term gastro-intestinal symptoms. The study was a randomized, double-blinded and placebo controlled trial. This study examined the changes in the canine faecal LAB microbiota caused by fed canine host-specific probiotic LAB. The purpose was to become familiar to the isolation of gastro-intestinal microbiota and to assess the potential alterations in the faeces by applicable methods. The most important methods were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE).
During the study DGGE analysis proved to be a working method for analyzing bacterial communities. When the method becomes more familiar, it will probably be as common in use as agarose gel electrophoresis due to it's advantages. Some alterations of the microbiota could be seen on the DGGE analysis. During the experiment the bands resembling those of standard strains were dominant. This implies the Lactobacillus strains of interest being able to survive the canine intestine. However, after feeding seized the bands formed by the strains of interest disappeared and were replaced with bands of indigenous LAB. Also after the feeding seized, some new bands appeared on DGGE gel. This implies a contribution of fed probiotic mixture to the enhanced prevalence of potential novel microbes.
