Improvement in Clinical Symptoms and Fecal Microbiome After Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in a Dog with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Purpose: Recently, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been tested in veterinary medicine as a treatment option for multiple gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, there are no reports of changes in the microbial diversity of fecal microbiome after treatment with FMT in canine IBD cases. Moreover, little is known about the long-term efficacy and safety of FMT treatment for dogs. Herein, we present a case of canine intractable IBD treated with repeated, long-term FMT.

Patients and methods: The patient was a 10-year-old, neutered, male, 4-kg Toy Poodle with a prolonged history of vomiting and diarrhea. Fecal examination for pathogens was negative. Despite treatment with multiple antibacterial and antidiarrheal agents, the patient showed no improvement. Endoscopic mucus sampling diagnosed a case of lymphocytic-plasmacytic duodenitis, ie, idiopathic IBD. Eventually, we performed periodic, long-term fecal microbiota transplantation of fresh donor feces collected from a 4-year-old, 32.8-kg, neutered male Golden Retriever by rectal enema. Additionally, we performed 16S rRNA sequence analysis, before and after FMT, to evaluate the microbiome diversity.

Results: Fecal microbiome diversity after FMT resembled that of the healthy donor dog's fecal microbiome, before FMT, which led us to conclude that the fecal microbiome in our patient normalized with FMT. Moreover, the clinical symptoms improved remarkably with regard to the changes in the fecal microbiome. Additionally, we noted no observable side effects during FMT treatment.

Conclusion: This report indicates the efficacy and safety of long-term, periodic FMT for a case of canine IBD based on attenuation of clinical symptoms and changes in fecal microbiome diversity. Therefore, FMT could be chosen as a treatment option for IBD in canines in the future.

Keywords: canine; diversity; dysbiosis; fecal microbiota transplantation; inflammatory bowel disease; microbiome.

Figure 1

(A) Clinical observations according to the canine inflammatory bowel disease activity index score. A score of 3 or less was considered normal. * indicates the date of each fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) procedure conducted. Of note, the patient with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) achieved a normal score from day 42 of FMT throughout the remainder of the observation period. (B) Clinical observations according to the Waltham^TM Feces Scoring System. A score of 3.5 or less was considered normal. *indicates the date of each FMT procedure conducted. Of note, the patient with IBD achieved a normal score from day 42 throughout the remainder of the observation period.

Figure 2

Rarefaction analysis of V3-V4 16S rRNA gene sequences. Rarefaction analysis using a fecal sample from the dog with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) showed changes in bacterial populations at, before, and after fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) compared to the healthy donor dog. * indicates the date of each FMT procedure conducted.