Each person carries trillions of bacteria in their insides. What about pets?
Four biologists decided to find out. Their free-time project, on a personal initiative, is to study the microbiome of a cat's digestive system. The study is being conducted on both domestic cats and cats living in the wild or in shelters. The microbiome is the collection of bacteria and microorganisms that we carry in our bodies.
“Like us, animals are surrounded by microbes,” says Holly Ganz, a UC Davis feline microbiome researcher who was involved in this Kickstarter-funded project. its impact on health and behavior.
Little is known about the creatures that live inside our feline companions. However, just like in humans, the microbes inside cats play an important role in their health, aiding digestion, influencing the immune system, and possibly controlling the development of obesity, diabetes, and colon irritation. Gantz says: "The microbiome of the digestive system is really important, and it is quite complex and diverse."
One of several previous studies of the feline microbiome found various bacteria in the digestive tract of kittens on a high-protein, medium-high-protein, medium-carbohydrate diet. Cats are among the true carnivores for whom a high-protein diet is most beneficial, but commercial cat food manufacturers are increasingly leaning towards a high-carb diet. This study was published online on August 31, 2012, in the British Journal of Nutrition.
However, since this is the first project to investigate the feline microbiome in such detail, Gantz and her fellow cat-loving scientists simply planned to report what they would find in their cats. While simple in purpose, these observations have practical applications among cat owners as the group intends to compare wild, domestic and shelter cats.
In the case of humans, similar studies have identified different communities of bacteria living within different groups of the European population. In the future, Gantz says, as more microorganisms are found in cats, the group will be able to start analyzing how different diets and environments affect the feline microbiome, and whether the microbiome changes as a cat ages. Each individual cat has its own unique microbiome.
The idea of funding a cat study project through Kickstarter was originally a joke, but it got promoted because it looks like a great project to do in your spare time, says Jonathan Eisen, a professor at the University of California. The use of crowdfunding solves the funding problem, since so far it has not been possible to obtain a grant to conduct such a study, says Gantz. "The money for pet research is being consumed by more pressing issues like fighting cancer," she says.
The Feline Microbiome Project on Kickstarter has already raised the minimum funding needed, but the fundraiser is still open and you can help if you are interested in what lives inside your cat.
For a cat to participate in a study, a curious owner must collect a small but fresh sample of his cat's feces and send it to scientists for analysis. (Cat owners often deal with their pet's faeces.) In return, they will receive information about the different types of microorganisms in the feline feces, as well as an untrained person's manual that outlines what it all means in simple terms.“We want people to be interested in this,” says Gantz.
For the squeamish people, or those without cats, there is a chance to sponsor wild cat research, or cats from the Vancouver Cat Rescue Association shelter. Gantz has already obtained stool samples from 150 wild cats (lions and cheetahs) from Africa, conducting research there.
The scientists intend to enable Kickstarter sponsors to compare results from different locations. In other words, a California cat owner can see results from Canada and South Africa. "We intend to study the feline microbiome for ten years," says Gantz. "And we can all have a little fun with it."
