Dietary format alters fecal bacterial populations in the domestic cat (Felis catus)

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Date
2013
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John Wiley and Sons
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Abstract
The effects of short-term (5-week) exposure to wet or dry diets on fecal bacterial populations in the cat were investigated. Sixteen mixed-sex, neutered, domestic short-haired cats (mean age = 6 years; mean bodyweight = 3.4 kg) were randomly allocated to wet or dry diets in a crossover design. Fecal bacterial DNA was isolated and bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons generated and analyzed by 454 Titanium pyrosequencing. Cats fed dry diets had higher abundances (P < 0.05) of Actinobacteria (16.5% vs. 0.1%) and lower abundances of Fusobacteria (0.3% vs. 23.1%) and Proteobacteria (0.4% vs. 1.1%) compared with cats fed the wet diet. Of the 46 genera identified, 30 were affected (P < 0.05) by diet, with higher abundances of Lactobacillus (31.8% vs. 0.1%), Megasphaera (23.0% vs. 0.0%), and Olsenella (16.4% vs. 0.0%), and lower abundances of Bacteroides (0.6% vs. 5.7%) and Blautia (0.3% vs. 2.3%) in cats fed the dry diet compared with cats fed the wet diet. These results demonstrate that short-term dietary exposure to diet leads to large shifts in fecal bacterial populations that have the potential to affect the ability of the cat to process macronutrients in the diet.
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Keywords
Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Microbiology, Feline, fecal bacterial community, high-throughput nucleotide sequencing, RIBOSOMAL-RNA SEQUENCES, MICROBIAL-POPULATIONS, GUT MICROBIOME, INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA, ADULT CATS, OBESITY, CONNECTION, DIVERSITY, CELLULOSE, TRACT
Citation
MICROBIOLOGYOPEN, 2013, 2 (1), pp. 173 - 181 (9)
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