Identification of Gut Microbiome and Metabolites Associated with Acute Diarrhea in Cats
Huasong Bai, Tong Liu, Songjun Wang, Wenhui Gong, Liya Shen, Song Zhang, Zhanzhong Wang
Abstract
Acute diarrhea is common in cats, and our understanding of the gut microbiome variations across breeds and disease states remains unclear. We investigated the gut microbiome of two cat breeds (British Shorthair and American Shorthair) with acute diarrhea. Our study revealed significant effects of breeds and disease states on the structure and function of the gut microbiota in cats. These findings emphasize the need to consider breed-related factors in animal nutrition and research models. Additionally, we observed an altered gut metabolome in cats with acute diarrhea, closely linked to changes in bacterial genera. We identified a panel of microbial biomarkers with high diagnostic accuracy for feline acute diarrhea. These findings provide novel insights into the diagnosis, classification, and treatment of feline gastrointestinal diseases.