Founded in 2016 and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, AnimalBiome was started with a simple goal of helping cats and dogs feel better by using science to unlock the mysteries of the pet gut microbiome. All of them love pets and have an unwavering passion about helping them lead longer, happier lives.

• 25% of us have PhD’s or advanced degrees
• 75% of us are women
• 100% of us love pets

(Just to show a few)

Carlton Osborne, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder

Alex Martin, Director of Animal Care, Co-Founder

MJ Seminoff, VP, Operations, Co-Founder

Your pet’s gastrointestinal (GI) tract hosts a unique community of  hundreds of different types of bacteria and other microbes (such as viruses and fungi), referred to collectively as the gut microbiome (pronounced: mī-krō-ˈbī-ˌōm). A diverse, well-balanced gut microbiome is essential for digestion and nutrient absorption. Each bacterial group in the gut plays an important role in your pet’s body, so a healthy gut microbiome is also crucial for overall well-being and longevity.

When some key beneficial bacteria are missing from the microbiome, or the different bacterial groups aren’t present in the right amounts, the resulting imbalance can trigger inflammation. And constant inflammation can lead to chronic illnesses, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), skin issues, immune system reactions, diabetes, and even depression.

Our Process

AnimalBiome scientists have studied the gut microbiomes of more than 30,000 cats and dogs and have developed science-backed solutions for pets suffering from a range of symptoms. If your pet suffers from health problems like diarrhea, vomiting, or itchy skin, the cause could be a microbiome imbalance.

AnimalBiome microbiome testing and supplement products provide a scientific, comprehensive roadmap to achieving a healthy gut microbiome through our 3-Step Process: Test | Restore | Maintain.

A small stool sample can reveal a lot about your pet’s health. Using genetic sequencing, AnimalBiome identify all the resident bacteria groups in your pet’s microbiome. Then they compare the results to our healthy pet reference set. Finally, they provide you with a comprehensive report that includes personalized diet and lifestyle recommendations to improve your pet’s health and happiness.

AnimalBiome DoggyBiome™ and KittyBiome™ Gut Health Test kits for cats and dogs contain everything you need to collect a small sample of your pet’s stool and send it to their laboratory. When AnimalBiome receive your pet’s sample, they first extract DNA from all the bacteria. A fecal sample about the size of a pea contains roughly one billion bacterial cells. Using DNA sequencing and powerful analytic software, they identify all the types of bacteria living in your pet’s gut.

Then, they compare your cat’s or dog’s results to our large and growing database of healthy pets to determine how closely the types and amounts of bacteria in your pet’s gut match that healthy reference set. AnimalBiome can detect any bacterial imbalances, identify any key groups that are missing, and flag any harmful bacteria that may be causing troublesome symptoms, like diarrhea or itchy skin.

AnimalBiome Healthy Reference Set

AnimalBiome has built the world’s largest database of cat and dog microbiome samples. So far, theey have collected and analyzed more than 30,000 fecal samples from domestic cats and dogs. Out of those, they’ve assembled a group of samples that meet our criteria for healthy pets.

By studying those healthy samples, AnimalBiome were able to build a profile of the specific bacterial taxa (groups) they could expect to find in the gut microbiome of a healthy cat or dog. AnimalBiome identified a “healthy reference set” consisting of 22 taxa that make up the core microbiome of cats and 17 taxa that make up the core microbiome of dogs.

What’s in the Test Report?

In addition to a detailed explanation of your pet’s microbiome test results, the report you receive also includes personalized recommendations — such as dietary adjustments, supplements, and lifestyle changes — to improve your pet’s health and relieve symptoms. If your pet has been diagnosed with a chronic digestive or skin issue, the test report will provide actionable information for you and your veterinarian.

Learn more about Testing Your Cats & Dogs Gut Microbiome

Restore

If your cat or dog suffers from diarrhea, vomiting, or itchy skin, their symptoms may be related to an imbalance in the gut microbiome. Approaches to balance, support, and strengthen the gut microbiome of pets include diet, prebiotics, probiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). Your pet’s Gut Health Test report will tell you whether you need to add key bacteria that are missing, remove harmful bacteria (pathogens) from the mix, or rebalance the existing populations to achieve better proportions.

Adding Key Bacteria

Many cats and dogs with digestive problems, skin issues, or other symptoms turn out to be missing certain important gut bacteria. In these cases, we need to add those missing bacteria to the microbiome and help those new populations grow and thrive.

Probiotic products contain beneficial microorganisms, but even the leading probiotics can’t restore an imbalanced microbiome. Fortunately, there’s a better option. A growing body of research has found that fecal transplants can help improve several different gastrointestinal disorders (as well as many other conditions) by changing the gut microbiome.

So What Exactly Is a Fecal Transplant?

Also called fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), a fecal transplant is the process by which stool from a healthy donor is transferred to the intestines of a sick recipient. The stool from the donor contains a healthy community of bacteria that can take up residence in the sick recipient’s gut. In human medicine, for example, FMT is used to treat C. difficile (aka C. diff) infections.

AnimalBiome DoggyBiome™ and KittyBiome™ Gut Restore Supplements (fecal transplant in an oral capsule) provide a whole community of healthy cat- or dog-specific bacteria, sourced directly from carefully screened donor animals. By seeding your pet’s microbiome with all the right microbes in the right proportions, AnimalBiome supplement can help reestablish balance and resolve symptoms.

*Note that Gut Restore Supplement is currently not available in Singapore.

In a study, AnimalBiome gave 72 cats and 40 dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) a 25-day course of Gut Restore Supplement. After finishing the course of capsules, 83% of the cats and 80% of the dogs had improved symptoms. Appetite also increased for a quarter of the cats and half of the dogs. Researchers continue to learn about the therapeutic benefits of FMT for many different health issues, and this study showed that even for pets with chronic conditions like IBD, FMT can improve symptoms and increase quality of life.

Removing Harmful Bacteria

If your pet’s Gut Health Test report shows an overgrowth of harmful bacteria, restoring balance may require reducing or removing those troublemaking bacterial groups.

One way to remove harmful bacteria from the mix is through “competitive exclusion.” When the “good” microbes compete successfully and multiply, they take resources away from the “bad” microbes, which gradually die out. Good microbes can be added to the gut microbiome via FMT. Competitive exclusion is thought to be the primary mechanism at work in the successful use of FMT for recurrent C. diff infections in humans.

Sometimes competitive exclusion on its own can’t win control back from the pathogens causing your pet’s symptoms. In these cases, the introduction of an array of healthy gut microbes will be much more likely to have a positive result if we first knock out particular harmful bacteria with bacteriophages or antibiotics.

Does Your Pet Need Help for Occasional Diarrhea Flare-Ups?

Bacteriophages are “friendly” viruses that attack specific types of bacteria. Some bacteriophages, for example, specifically target E. coli. One of the ingredients in AnimalBiome GMP product is a prebiotic bacteriophage cocktail called PreforPro®, which helps reduce harmful levels of E. coli bacteria so that the beneficial bacteria in your pet’s microbiome have more room to grow.

GMP also contains Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii), a yeast-based probiotic, and mannan oligosaccharides (MOS), a prebiotic. S. boulardii has been shown to resolve diarrhea caused by antibiotics, and MOS has been shown to work synergistically with S. boulardii to improve intestinal health. Together, the three active ingredients in GMP can reduce temporary diarrhea caused by antibiotics, C. difficile, and E. coli.

Rebalancing the Populations

If the Gut Health Test report shows that your cat’s or dog’s microbiome contains all the right players but not in the right proportions, rebalancing those resident bacterial groups can improve your pet’s digestion and overall health.

Simple changes to your pet’s diet may be enough to restore balance. The personalized recommendations in the Gut Health Test report will explain exactly what specific nutritional changes can do for your pet. Adding more protein to the diet, for example, supports the growth of the important Fusobacteria group, which do best in a high-protein environment.

If dietary changes and prebiotic supplements aren’t enough to correct the proportions among your pet’s gut bacteria, a course of Gut Restore Supplement can fill in missing bacterial groups and crowd out harmful ones, allowing the members of the microbiome to reestablish a healthy balance.

Learn more about Restoring Your Cats & Dogs Gut Microbiome

Maintain

Once your cat’s or dog’s microbiome has been rebalanced and any symptoms have been resolved, you can help your pet stay healthy and happy by feeding a high-quality diet. AnimalBiome also recommend retesting your pet’s gut health at least once a year, especially if signs of chronic digestive or skin issues return and after any antibiotic use.

Ongoing Gut Support

Some pets, especially older animals and those with chronic health conditions, may need daily supplementation with prebiotics or postbiotics to help the microbiome stay in balance. While prebiotics provide food for beneficial gut bacteria, postbiotics—healthy byproducts of those bacteria’s metabolic activity—also benefit the gut, especially by helping to reduce inflammation.

AnimalBiome DoggyBiome and KittyBiome S. boulardii + FOS Powder combines the prebiotic Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which has been shown to improve both gut health and immune function, with S. boulardii, a special probiotic yeast. Together, these ingredients help to prevent and reduce diarrhea, improve stool consistency, promote healthy skin, and support gut function.

Even with the best nutritional support, any cat or dog can suffer occasional diarrhea flare-ups. Our GMP product can help reduce temporary diarrhea caused by antibiotics, C. difficile, or E. coli.

For dogs, AnimalBiome also recommend our DoggyBiome™ ImmuneShield Chews, which are specially designed to improve a dog’s immune function, reduce systemic inflammation, address seasonal allergies, and promote gut health. The active ingredient, EpiCor® Fermentate, is a postbiotic formulation that has been clinically shown to increase and improve immune function.

We know that certain health issues can keep a pet’s microbiome permanently out of balance. Many kinds of cancer, for example, disrupt the gut microbiome. Genetic factors may also affect the gut’s microbial balance. In such cases, Gut Restore Supplements can help minimize symptoms and may be an ongoing element of your pet’s care.

Learn more about Maintaining Your Cats & Dogs Gut Microbiome

Problems like diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, itchy skin, and even bad breath can be a sign of trouble in your dog’s gut microbiome. A diverse, well-balanced gut microbiome is essential for almost every aspect of your dog’s health and wellbeing. But when important groups of bacteria are missing or out of balance, some of the gut’s important functions stop working. If your dog suffers from digestive symptoms or skin issues, gut microbiome testing can often reveal the underlying cause.

What Is Gut Microbiome Testing for Dogs?

Gut microbiome testing means examining the bacteria and other microbes found in an individual stool sample. The bacteria in your dog’s stool sample offer a snapshot of their gut microbiome, the complex community of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the gastrointestinal tract.

How It Works

Our at-home DoggyBiome™ & KittyBiome™ Gut Health Test kit makes it easy:

Video Tour: What’s in the Test Report?

This video tour walks you through an actual DoggyBiome Gut Health Test report for Charlie, a 14-year-old dog with diarrhea.

What Can You Learn about Your pet’s Health from Gut Microbiome Testing?

Our DoggyBiome & KittyBiome Gut Health Test provides you with useful insights that no other current veterinary test can offer. If your pet has digestive problems, itchy skin, or immune system issues, those symptoms are often related to a gut microbiome imbalance. You will receive a detailed report with results you can use to help resolve symptoms and improve your pet’s health and happiness for a lifetime.

Find out what’s going on inside your pet’s digestive system:

In addition, gut microbiome testing can provide your veterinarian with useful data and actionable next steps, whether or not your dog has already been diagnosed with a health condition (like IBD or allergies).

Once we’ve analyzed your dog’s sample, you’ll be able to access the results online in an interactive report. We give you a lot of information about your dog’s individual gut microbiome, so don’t worry if you feel like you could use a little help understanding it all!

A 20-minute phone consultation is included in the price of the test kit. Just schedule your consult, and one of our Animal Care Specialists will review your dog’s results with you.

If your dog’s gut microbiome is already diverse and well-balanced, it will look a lot like the healthy reference set. That’s great! But if not, the report will explain whether the best solution for your dog is to Add beneficial bacteria, Remove harmful bacteria, or Rebalance the existing bacteria populations.

Learn more about restoring your dog’s gut health

Like anything unfamiliar, gut health testing raises a lot of questions, and we often get asked whether it’s legitimate.

After analyzing the fecal microbiome (poop) samples from tens of thousands of cats and dogs, we can definitively say that AnimalBiome’s gut microbiome health tests are legitimate, providing accurate, actionable results. Just ask our customers, they’ve given our DoggyBiome Gut Health Tests hundreds of four- and five-star reviews.
See our reviews

Our Healthy Reference Set

We maintain the largest database of dog microbiome samples in the world. And based on our analysis of that large database, we’ve identified a “reference set” of all the types of bacteria we can expect to find in the gut of a healthy dog.

A pea-sized sample of dog poop contains roughly 1 billion bacterial cells. To test your dog’s gut health, we extract DNA from the bacteria in their sample, then use DNA sequencing to identify the different types of bacteria living in your dog’s gut, which we compare to our healthy dog reference set.
See Our Science

A Well-Established Diagnostic Tool

Gut microbiome testing is a well-established diagnostic tool in human medicine, where studies have found that gut microbiome dysfunction is associated with an amazing variety of health conditions — including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), type 2 diabetes, and depression. In dogs too, problems with the gut microbiome have been identified as a factor in numerous health issues, including IBD, diabetes, allergies, obesity, and dementia.

That means looking closely at the gut microbiome can give us valuable information about what’s going wrong when your dog develops symptoms like diarrhea, gas, or itchy skin. (Microbiome testing is an especially useful tool if your dog has been treated with antibiotics, which are known to cause both short- and long-term changes to the bacterial community in the gut microbiome.)

If your pet suffers from digestive or skin problems, the search for a solution can be frustrating. You’ve probably researched online, switched foods, tried prescription medications, and bought various supplements. But while many pets’ symptoms do improve in response to dietary changes or medication, other pets may experience only minor improvement (at best). Or their symptoms may go away but return after only a few weeks or months.

A key factor that may affect how your pet responds to treatment is the status of their gut microbiome — the community of microorganisms living inside the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa (protists).

There is substantial scientific evidence that many health conditions — including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), “leaky gut” syndrome, chronic diarrhea, allergies, atopic dermatitis, ulcerative colitis, and antibiotic-resistant Clostridium and Clostridioides infections (including C. diff infections) — have an element in common: an imbalanced gut microbiome.

What Is a Gut Microbiome Imbalance?

Research suggests that a diverse, well-balanced gut microbiome supports overall health and longevity by making your dog and cat more resilient to disease, environmental factors, parasites, and other potential threats to their wellness.

But many factors — including diet, pathogens, and medications (like antibiotics and steroids) — can disrupt your dog’s & cat's gut microbiome, leading to worrisome symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, weight loss, obesity, or itchy skin.

In many cases, pets with digestive problems, skin issues, or other symptoms are missing certain gut bacteria they need for healthy digestive and immune functions. Sometimes these beneficial bacteria are missing because they didn’t get passed along in their mother’s milk. Other times, “good bacteria” go missing because they are killed by antibiotic use or crowded out by the overgrowth of a pathogen (“bad bacteria”).

When all the beneficial gut bacteria your dog and cat needs aren’t present in the right numbers, the microbiome is out of balance. As a result, some of the gut’s important functions may stop working, leading to a variety of uncomfortable symptoms. Luckily, even in cases of serious imbalance, it is usually possible to restore the microbiome to a healthier state.

What Can You Do to Restore Your Pet’s Gut Health?

If your dog and cat suffers from the effects of a gut microbiome imbalance, restoring their gut health might require (a) adding beneficial bacterial groups that are missing, (b) removing harmful groups, and/or (c) rebalancing the existing bacterial populations to achieve healthier proportions.

There are many ways to restore diversity, strength, and balance to your pet’s gut microbiome. Some of the main approaches involve diet, prebiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT).

This chart explains common microbiome conditions, potential causes, and ways to shift the microbiome:

Diet is the primary way to manage your pet’s gut microbiome. Good nutrition is one of the cornerstones of overall health and can help prevent common illnesses, boost the immune system, and positively influence the gut microbiome. There are thousands of different kinds of gut bacteria in your pet’s microbiome, and each kind requires certain nutrients to survive. Therefore, the food your cat and dog eats will influence which groups of bacteria thrive in the gut. Simple changes to your cat’s & dog's diet might be enough to restore balance.

Here are some things to consider when thinking about your pet’s diet:

• Feed Enough Protein

Cats are obligate carnivores (meaning they have to eat meat to survive). For dogs, despite their long association with humans, dogs are still more carnivore than true omnivore, so both species, they need a diet that’s high in protein and low in carbohydrates. Adding more protein to your dog’s & cat's diet also supports the growth of the important Fusobacteria group, which do best in a high-protein environment.

If you’re feeding a diet that is nutritionally well balanced and yet your dog and cat still has digestive or skin health issues, it is possible that a food sensitivity (an intolerance or an allergy) is to blame. Food intolerances are quite common and can often be resolved by changing your dog’s cat's food. It is important to talk to your veterinarian before changing your pet’s diet, as some diets have been linked with certain health issues and to transition to new foods very gradually.

• Avoid Diets That Are High in Carbohydrates 

Many kibble diets are too high in carbohydrates, so they don’t promote the growth of all beneficial bacteria. In a study where dogs were fed a high-protein, low-carbohydrate dog food, the microbiomes of overweight dogs shifted significantly, with important bacterial groups achieving the balanced numbers seen in dogs of a healthy weight. High-carbohydrate diets can also promote chronic inflammation, which may lead to additional health issues throughout the body.

The food you choose for your pet should contain at least 35% protein for dogs and 40% protein for cats on a “dry matter” basis. Also, be aware that diets labeled “grain free” or “gluten free” can still contain high levels of carbohydrates. Use this calculator to find the hidden amount of carbohydrates in your pet’s food.

• Add Fermented Foods

Fermented foods — like yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, and sauerkraut — are probiotic foods, meaning that they are rich in live microorganisms (“good bacteria”) that are known to benefit human health. In small quantities, fermented goat milk is one probiotic food that also offers health benefits for pets. The kinds of bacteria found in goat milk and other fermented foods can help maintain a healthy pet’s gut flora, but they can’t provide the microbial diversity needed to correct an imbalance (dysbiosis).

• Feed a Variety of Whole Foods Rich in Antioxidants

Antioxidants are compounds that support the immune system and prevent disease by getting rid of free radicals (reactive molecules that can damage the body’s cell membranes and even its DNA). The antioxidants found in food are typically polyphenols, which are produced by plants. These compounds feed beneficial gut microbes, increasing their numbers and also causing them to produce new substances (postbiotics) that promote the health of the whole body.

In people, higher intake of antioxidant-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, is associated with a lower risk of diseases related to chronic oxidative stress (such as glaucoma, cancer, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s). Consider the ingredients included in your pet’s food and then talk with your veterinarian about how to add more antioxidant-rich foods to their diet.

• Provide Adequate Fiber

Fiber also comes from plants (such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits) and is another important element of your pet’s diet. Many soluble fibers are fermentable, which means the bacteria in the gut can consume them as a source of energy. Soluble fiber also helps keep your pet’s blood glucose at a healthy level. Insoluble fiber holds on to moisture and helps your pet form stool that’s not too hard and not too soft.

Some of the healthy sources of fiber commonly found in pet foods include beet pulp, oats, barley, peas, wheat bran, potatoes, apples, carrots, and pumpkin. If your pet suffers from either diarrhea or constipation, a little extra fiber can help. Inulin and psyllium are two fibers you can add (gradually) to your pet’s diet to help with stool consistency. And since they’re also prebiotics, these particular fibers help by providing food for beneficial gut microbes as well.

Probiotics

Probiotic supplements contain viable microorganisms (such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria), but most commercially available probiotics — even the ones marketed for pets — don’t contain the particular kinds of microbes your dog needs. Such bacterial probiotics can sometimes improve symptoms temporarily, but the bacteria they contain are unlikely to take up permanent residence in your dog’s & cat's digestive system, so these products can’t do much to correct an imbalance.

However, there’s one probiotic supplement we do recommend. Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic yeast that has been extensively studied for its ability to promote digestive health, as documented in over 250 peer-reviewed articles to date. This particular probiotic has been shown to be particularly effective at resolving diarrhea caused by antibiotics. In a study of dogs with chronic intestinal disease, adding S. boulardii to the standard treatment (which included an antibiotic) resolved diarrhea within five days.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are specific substances — such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), mannan oligosaccharide (MOS), and certain other sources of fiber — that promote the growth of healthy gut microbes. Although many pet foods naturally contain these ingredients, supplementing your dog’s diet with extra prebiotics can be a helpful option. Studies in mice have shown that by shifting the composition of the microbiome, prebiotics can counteract the inflammatory effects of a high-fat diet. 

Although prebiotics provide a useful tool to shift the microbiome, in large amounts such supplements could also unintentionally promote the growth of unwanted bacteria. If you want to try prebiotic supplements, start with small doses to see how your dog responds.

If your dog’s microbiome imbalance is moderate to severe, dietary changes and prebiotics may not be enough. In these cases, a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) may help. A growing body of research has found that fecal transplants can help improve several different gastrointestinal disorders (as well as many other conditions) by changing the gut microbiome.

A fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), also called a fecal transplant, is the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to the GI tract of a sick recipient. The stool from the donor contains a diverse, well-functioning community of gut microbiota (including thousands of different kinds of healthy species-appropriate bacteria) that take up residence in the recipient’s gut. FMT has been used in veterinary medicine since at least the 17th century and in human medicine for thousands of years. It is one of the best approaches for restoring a balanced gut microbiome and is proven as an effective treatment in both humans and animals.

In cats & dogs, an FMT can be delivered in a veterinary clinic via colonoscopy, enema, or endoscopy. Those procedures generally require sedation and can be costly for pet parents. Our KittyBiome™ and DoggyBiome™ Gut Restore Supplement is an oral FMT capsule that gives your pet the benefits of FMT without the need for surgery or sedation. The Gut Restore Supplements (aka “poop pills”) deliver viable bacterial cells native to cats in a proprietary mixture of carefully screened, cryoprotected, freeze-dried donor stool. Our FMT capsules offer a noninvasive, affordable, at-home alternative for pets.

*Note that Gut Restore Supplement is currently not available in Singapore.

How Can Fecal Microbiota Transplant Improve Your Pet’s Health?

By seeding your cat’s & dog's gut microbiome with all the right bacteria and other microbes in the right proportions, a fecal transplant can help reestablish balance and resolve symptoms caused by an imbalanced gut. A fecal transplant can fill in any missing types of important beneficial bacteria, reduce harmful bacteria, and increase diversity in your pet’s gut. And a diverse, balanced gut microbiome helps keep your cat and dog healthy in multiple ways, by supporting their digestion, immune function, skin health, cognitive functions, and more.

How Do the KittyBiome & DoggyBiome Gut Restore Supplements (FMT capsules) Work?

• Add Good Bacteria
  

  When cats and dogs with digestive symptoms, skin issues, or immune system problems turn out to be missing certain groups of important gut bacteria, we need to add those missing members to the gut microbiome. 

  Unlike probiotics, our KittyBiome DoggyBiome Gut Restore Supplement provides a whole community of thousands of different kinds of bacteria and other microbes that are native to healthy cats & dogs. The capsule’s enteric coating prevents it from dissolving until it reaches the intestines, where the contents seed your cat’s and dog's gut with a diverse array of healthy “good” bacteria, restoring any missing groups.

• Reduce Harmful Bacteria
  

  If your pet’s gut microbiome is out of balance because of an overgrowth of harmful bacteria, restoring balance will require reducing or removing those troublemaking groups.

  One way to remove harmful bacteria from the mix is through competitive exclusion via fecal transplant. When we provide the beneficial gut bacteria with plenty of the food they like to eat, they thrive and multiply. Their greater numbers then take up more of the available resources, leaving less for the harmful bacteria. Through this process, beneficial members of the gut can keep harmful members in check or even cause those “bad” bacteria populations to gradually shrink and die out. In human healthcare, for example, that’s how FMT works against C. difficile infections.
  
  

What Are Bacteriophages?

Sometimes competitive exclusion on its own can’t win control back from the harmful bacteria (pathogens) that are contributing to your cat’s symptoms. In these cases, fecal transplant is much more likely to have a positive result if we first knock out particular harmful bacteria with more targeted therapies, such as bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages (or phages for short) are “friendly” viruses that attack specific types of bacteria. Our GMP product contains a phage cocktail called PreforPro that resolves diarrhea by reducing harmful levels of E. coli or C. diff. A powerful blend of phages, prebiotics, and probiotics, GMP stops occasional cat & dog diarrhea flare-ups, taking harmful bacteria out of the mix so the beneficial bacteria in your pet’s microbiome have more room to grow.

• Increase Diversity
  Our FMT capsules provide a diverse community of healthy cat and dog-specific bacteria, providing all the right types of bacteria in the right proportions. Diversity is important because each type of bacteria has a specific job to do to support the health of the body. The KittyBiome & DoggyBiome Gut Restore Supplements help resolve symptoms by giving your cat’s & dog's gut microbiome all the important members it needs to function well.

What makes fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) a solution for many conditions and chronic symptoms (like diarrhea and itchy skin) in dogs & cats? “Fecal transplant” might sound strange or gross, but it’s actually a well-established treatment approach that has been used effectively in both animals and humans for a long time. 

In animals, FMT can help with chronic digestive symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting, as well as skin issues, such as itching and hair loss. So what exactly is FMT?

What Is a Fecal Microbiota Transplant?

A fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), also called a fecal transplant, is the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to the gastrointestinal tract of a sick recipient. That transfer can be done in clinic (via colonoscopy, enema, or endoscopy) or with oral capsules. The stool from the donor contains a diverse, well-functioning community of bacteria that take up residence in the recipient’s gut.

By providing thousands of healthy, species-appropriate gut microbiota, FMT can resolve a variety of symptoms associated with imbalance or dysfunction of the gut microbiome—including digestive disorders like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic enteropathies, colitis, atopic dermatitis, and immune system issues. FMT even has the potential to correct obesity: several studies in mice have found that transplanting fecal material from lean mice into the intestines of obese mice transfers metabolic benefits, allowing the recipient mice to achieve a healthier weight.

Fecal transplant is one of the best approaches for restoring a balanced gut microbiome and is proven as an effective treatment in both companion animals and humans.

What Symptoms and Conditions in Dogs Can Be Improved with a Fecal Transplant?

As research continues into the connections between microbiome imbalances (dysbiosis) and health problems, we’re sure to learn about even more. In dogs and cats, fecal transplants have proven to be especially useful for the two health problems that account for 50% of visits to veterinarians (DVMs): digestive issues and skin issues.

• Digestive Issues

Digestive symptoms in pets, such as diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, and weight loss, can have many different causes. If you and your veterinarian have already worked together to rule out other explanations (e.g., food sensitivities, parasites, infectious diseases like canine parvovirus, and underlying GI diseases like acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome), the next thing to check is whether your dog and cat has an imbalanced gut microbiome (dysbiosis). An imbalance among the gut’s bacterial populations may occur as a result of age, diet, medications (especially antibiotics, such as metronidazole), or other factors. 

For example, the genus Escherichia (a group of bacteria that includes E. coli) can be a beneficial member of the community when it makes up only a small part of a dog’s and cat's gut microbiome. But an overgrowth of E. coli, can cause diarrhea and other uncomfortable digestive issues. FMT can resolve diarrhea quickly by introducing thousands of beneficial bacteria that crowd out the harmful ones, restoring healthy function to a pet’s digestive system.

• Skin Issues

Research has shown that long-lasting or recurring skin issues in dogs and cats — such as red or itchy skin, hair loss, and recurrent ear infections — have a connection to the gut microbiome. That’s because skin conditions are often caused by a defective immune system response, and 70% –80% of the body’s immune cells live in the gut microbiome.

In addition to interfering with proper immune function, an imbalanced gut microbiome can cause the intestinal walls to become more permeable, or “leaky” (a factor that’s associated with food allergies). Both of these effects — a compromised immune system and a leaky gut — can show up in your dog & cat as skin problems. A dysfunctional gut environment is also more prone to inflammation, which can trigger hyperactive immune responses all over the body.

Itching and other skin problems may be a clue that your dog’s and cat's gut microbiome is missing some important bacteria groups. Learn more about testing your pet’s gut microbiome with a DoggyBiome™ and KittyBiome™ Gut Health Test.

In dogs and cats, FMT can be delivered in a veterinary clinic (via colonoscopy, enema, or endoscopy) or with oral capsules. In-clinic veterinary fecal transplant procedures can be expensive and usually require sedation. That’s why AnimalBiome developed its one-of-a-kind fecal transplant in an oral capsule, offering a convenient and safe approach to fecal transplant for dogs without the need for these expensive procedures. 

DoggyBiome™ and KittyBiome™ Gut Restore Supplement is an oral FMT capsule that gives your animal the benefits of FMT without the need for surgery or sedation. Our Gut Restore capsules (aka “poop pills”) deliver viable dog and cat-specific bacterial cells in a proprietary mixture of carefully screened, cryoprotected, freeze-dried donor stool. Stable at room temperature, the capsules offer a noninvasive, affordable, at-home alternative for dogs suffering from digestive, skin, or immune system issues.

In a study conducted by AnimalBiome, 40 dogs and 72 cats with IBD were given a 25-day course of our Gut Restore FMT capsules. Symptoms improved in 80% of the dogs, 83% of the cat, and half of the dogs and about a quarter of the cats also had an increase in appetite. This study demonstrates that even though FMT can’t cure IBD, it can be an effective tool to improve symptoms and increase quality of life for pets. And since there’s no known cure for IBD, these positive results from FMT are especially exciting and important.

How Do the KittyBiome & DoggyBiome Gut Restore Supplements (FMT capsules) Work?

By “seeding” your cat’s and dog's gut microbiome with all the right bacteria in the right proportions, our FMT capsules can help reestablish balance and resolve symptoms.

• Add Good Bacteria
  

  When cats and dogs with digestive symptoms, skin issues, or immune system problems turn out to be missing certain groups of important gut bacteria, we need to add those missing members to the gut microbiome. 

  Unlike probiotics, our KittyBiome DoggyBiome Gut Restore Supplement provides a whole community of thousands of different kinds of bacteria and other microbes that are native to healthy cats & dogs. The capsule’s enteric coating prevents it from dissolving until it reaches the intestines, where the contents seed your cat’s and dog's gut with a diverse array of healthy “good” bacteria, restoring any missing groups.

• Reduce Harmful Bacteria
  

  If your pet’s gut microbiome is out of balance because of an overgrowth of harmful bacteria, restoring balance will require reducing or removing those troublemaking groups.

  One way to remove harmful bacteria from the mix is through competitive exclusion via fecal transplant. When we provide the beneficial gut bacteria with plenty of the food they like to eat, they thrive and multiply. Their greater numbers then take up more of the available resources, leaving less for the harmful bacteria. Through this process, beneficial members of the gut can keep harmful members in check or even cause those “bad” bacteria populations to gradually shrink and die out. In human healthcare, for example, that’s how FMT works against C. difficile infections.

• Increase Diversity
  Our FMT capsules provide a diverse community of healthy cat and dog-specific bacteria, providing all the right types of bacteria in the right proportions. Diversity is important because each type of bacteria has a specific job to do to support the health of the body. The KittyBiome & DoggyBiome Gut Restore Supplements help resolve symptoms by giving your cat’s & dog's gut microbiome all the important members it needs to function well.

Most Dogs and Cats Experience Improved Symptoms in a Few Weeks

While outcomes vary, positive results — such as better-formed stool, improved appetite, and less itching — are often seen within a few weeks. In dogs and cats with severe gut microbiome imbalances, it may take longer to see improvement. Depending on a pet’s age and underlying health conditions, the process of establishing all those newly introduced groups of good bacteria can sometimes take two or three months.

Is Fecal Transplant Safe for Dogs?

Our DoggyBiome and KittyBiome Gut Restore Supplement is an effective, noninvasive approach that provides the benefits of a fecal transplant in pill form, without the need for surgery or sedation. The healthy dogs and cats that serve as AnimalBiome’s donors must pass a rigorous selection process, including DNA testing for microbiome composition, and all donor material is extensively screened for pathogens and parasites.

Though fecal transplants delivered via colonoscopy, enema, or endoscopy have been shown to help with multiple health conditions, in both humans and pets, there are some risks with these methods.

If the donor stool is not properly screened, there’s a chance that pathogens and/or parasites could be passed on to your animal. If you choose to have a fecal transplant procedure performed by a veterinarian, it’s important to ask about their screening process for the donated fecal material. In addition, more invasive FMT procedures generally require sedation, which has its own risks and complications.

What Makes AnimalBiome a Leader in FMT for Dogs and Cats?

AnimalBiome maintains the world’s largest fecal microbiome stool bank for cats and dogs, and we lead the way in best practices for fecal transplants in companion animals. This includes rigorous screening of donor feces, as well as screening of the donors themselves for health, medication history, behavior, and gut microbiome composition. These practices are important both for the success of the fecal transplant and for the safety of the animals involved.

We’ve also set the benchmark for how to conduct pet microbiome studies and helped pet food companies determine whether their products are microbiome-friendly. 

See our article published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science on Best Practices for Microbiome Study Design in Companion Animal Research. 

Where Do We Get the Material for Our Fecal Transplant Capsules?

Our DoggyBiome and KittyBiome Gut Restore Supplement is derived from stool donated by healthy dogs and cats that live in homes and meet the following criteria:

• no current or prior health issues
• no antibiotic treatment in the prior six months
• diverse, species-rich gut microbiomes (based on DNA sequencing)
• good fecal consistency
• healthy body weight
• good temperament

Donor dog and cat fecal samples are submitted for parasite and pathogen screening to the Idexx Reference Laboratories, a leading veterinary diagnostics company, which has stringent quality control guidelines and well-validated standard operating procedures.

All donor dog and cat material is regularly screened for parasites and pathogens: 

• Dogs and cats are screened for the following pathogens via PCR: Clostridium perfringens CPnetEF toxin gene, Clostridium perfringens Enterotoxin Gene, Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, canine distemper virus, canine enteric coronavirus, canine parvovirus 2, canine circovirus, Clostridium difficile toxin A, Clostridium difficile toxin B, Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp., Salmonella spp.
• Dogs and cats are screened for the following parasites via ELISA: hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms.
• Dogs are screened for ova and parasites using fecal flotation.

How Long Has FMT Been Used in Animals?

FMT has been used in large-animal veterinary medicine since the 17th century. (In cattle and horses, the practice is often called “transfaunation.”) Since the mid-20th century, FMT’s success against C. difficile infections in humans has led to an expansion of this approach into small-animal veterinary medicine, especially as a treatment option for chronic diarrhea in cats and dogs.

Many animal studies have shown that FMT can help resolve diarrhea — caused by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or parvovirus (parvo), for example — as well as skin issues like atopic dermatitis.

How Long Has FMT Been Used in Humans?

FMT has been used in human medicine for thousands of years. The transfer of fecal material from a healthy person to a sick person to cure disease goes back at least as far as fourth-century China and has been performed for hundreds of years throughout Europe. The practice gained momentum in the United States in the 1950s and has become an increasingly widespread treatment method with well-documented success.

The nonprofit OpenBiome has the world’s largest stool bank for humans, and one of the organization’s main objectives is to expand safe access to FMT. (The OpenBiome website includes a useful video about how FMT works.)

Though modern regulatory entities like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are still determining how to classify it, FMT continues to demonstrate beneficial results for a growing list of human health conditions. 

For example, FMT is routinely used in human medicine to treat Clostridium difficile infections (C. diff). And it has proven to be the most promising solution for the low gut bacterial diversity associated with Crohn’s disease (a form of IBD). FMT has also been used successfully in clinical trials to reduce inflammatory events in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and to treat the symptoms of autism. A recent study demonstrated that FMT can be used to stop the progression of type 1 diabetes in humans.