Pet Microbiome

Here’s exactly what to look for before you bend down to clean up after your pet, so you can help your furry best friend live their healthiest and happiest life.

Antibiotics have a complex relationship with the gut of our furry friends, while probiotics support a healthy gut and overall wellness. Probiotics may just be the missing element needed to help moderate the relationship between antibiotics and the gut.

A thriving community of microorganisms live in and on your pet. They come in all shapes and sizes, and inhabit every corner of the Earth. In this article, you’ll learn the basics about bacteria.

Bacteria aren’t the only thing living in and on your pet. Viruses, fungi, and archaea are also an important part of their microbiome. Scientists are working to understand how these microbes keep their host healthy and whether they are linked to disease.

Every time your dog rolls around in the grass or your cat rubs up against your leg, their skin picks up bacteria from the environment. But their skin is also home to an array of bacteria that keep them healthy -- called the skin microbiome.

When your pet gets sick, they have an array of defenses on their side to fight off disease-causing bugs. But their immune systems may also rely on a different set of bugs -- the ones in their microbiome. As researchers probe the relationship between microbes and immunity, they can develop new medical treatments for a variety of illnesses that plague pets.

Bacteria are everywhere—even your pet’s mouth. But most of the species that live there aren’t going to make your pet sick. They play an important role in keeping your pet healthy. And scientists are constantly learning more about the links between the oral microbiome and health.

As your pet ages, it may be harder for them to move around. Scientists have found links between the microbiome and joint pain—whether from age-related arthritis or inflammatory arthritis caused by a malfunctioning immune system. Future research could help researchers develop new treatments to protect our pets’ joints.

Bacteria are everywhere—including on you and your pet. Scientists have learned that these bacteria have a profound effect on overall health, and exchanging microbes with dogs early in life could help.

People’s waistlines are expanding around the world—and so are those of their pets. Eating habits are partially to blame, but could gut microbes play a part as well? Researchers are exploring how the bacteria living in your pet’s gut are linked to obesity in order to find ways to combat weight gain.