2016 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

To be included into the study, the dogs had to be at least 1 year of age, have clinical signs of EPI, a serum cTLI concentration ≤2.5 lg/L, and be free from any other concurrent disease. Three naturally voided fecal samples collected over three consecutive days were frozen immediately after collection and pooled. Fecal samples were collected in a similar manner from healthy dogs without any clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease. Extracted DNA from fecal samples was used for Illumina sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and analyzed using Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME). The analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) function in the statistical software package PRIMER 6 (PRIMER-E Ltd., Luton, UK) was used on the unweighted UniFrac distance matrix to determine if any groups of samples contained significantly different bacterial communities. There was a significant difference in fecal microbial communities when healthy dogs were compared to treated (P = 0.001) and untreated (P = 0.001) dogs with EPI. Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME). The analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) function in the statistical software package PRIMER 6 (PRIMER-E Ltd., Luton, UK) was used on the unweighted UniFrac distance matrix to determine if any groups of samples contained significantly different bacterial communities. There was a significant difference in fecal microbial communities when healthy dogs were compared to treated (P = 0.001) and untreated (P = 0.001) dogs with EPI. Alpha diversity was significantly decreased in untreated and treated EPI dogs when compared to the healthy dogs (P < 0.01). The families Bifidobacteriaceae (P = 0.006), Enterococcaceae (P = 0.035), and Lactobacillaceae (P = 0.001) were significantly increased in the untreated and treated dogs with EPI when compared to healthy dogs. In contrast, Lachnospiraceae (P < 0.001), and Blautia (P < 0.001) were significantly decreased in dogs with EPI.