2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

In this double-blinded study, Military Working Dogs (n = 48) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: pla-cebo, probiotic (Bifidobacterium animalis AHC7), or tylosin. Daily routine during the quarantine period, including diet and handlers, was the same for all dogs. A fecal sample was collected at the beginning and the end of the quarantine period for fecal 16S rRNA analysis by Illumina sequencing. Fecal scores were recorded daily, and dogs were characterized as having diarrhea (fecal score 6-7) or not having diarrhea (fecal score 1-5). Alphaand beta-diversity measures were compared between the three treatment groups before and after treatment and between dogs with and without diarrhea. Differences in bacterial communities were analyzed using unweighted unifrac distance metric. Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) test was used to determine if any of the groups studied had significantly different bacterial communities. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) was performed to identify bacterial groups that were significantly associated with treatment.