Gut Probiotics and Health of Dogs and Cats: Benefits, Applications, and Underlying Mechanisms

Abstract

Pets (mostly domestic dogs and cats) play an important role in the daily lives of humans and their health has attracted growing attention from pet owners. The intestinal microbiota, a complex microbial community with barrier-protective, nutritional, metabolic, and immunological functions, is integral to host health. Dysbiosis has been related to a variety of diseases in humans and animals. Probiotics have been used in functional foods and dietary supplements to modulate intestinal microbiota and promote host health, which has been introduced in pet dogs and cats in recent years. Various canine- and feline-derived probiotic strains have been isolated and characterized. The administration of probiotics has shown positive effects on the gut health and can alleviate some intestinal diseases and disorders in dogs and cats, although the underlying mechanisms are largely unresolved. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the benefits of probiotics and discuss their possible mechanisms in dogs and cats in order to provide new insights for the further development and application of probiotics in pets.