Behind the lens
‘Helping our pets live long and healthy lives is important.’
Like many of us, Dr Xavier Harrison is a passionate pet owner. As a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter’s Ecology and Conservation Centre, Xavier is an Animal Ecologist studying the impact of microbes on human and animal health. He has a particular interest in how microbes can protect us and animals from disease and influence health through diet and nutrition.
Recent work by the Dogs Trust, in collaboration with the University of Exeter, estimated that there were roughly 13 million dogs in the UK in 2019. This doesn’t account for the subsequent lockdown boom of pet owners, and dogs that aren’t registered with vets, pet insurance companies, rehoming charities, or The Kennel Club – so the number is now likely much higher.
Now Xavier is continuing to work with researchers at the Dogs Trust to ask questions about dog health, and how we keep our canine companions healthy throughout their lives. Project Generation Pup is the first study to follow dogs of all breeds throughout their lives, focusing on their health and behaviour as they age. The Dogs Trust are asking owners of UK and Republic of Ireland puppies under 16 weeks of age, of any breed or cross breed, to sign up and become part of the Generation Pup community. Xavier’s research sits within the Generation Pup project and focuses particularly on dogs’ gut ‘microbiomes’ – the communities of bacteria and other microorganisms living within their digestive tracts.
Gut microbiomes have enormous power to shape the health of their human and animal hosts, for example by protecting against invasion by pathogens. There is now enormous interest in how microbiomes impact dog health and keep them healthy throughout life.
Xavier is especially interested in the impact of canine diet on the microbiome and downstream health (Figure 1). Raw food diets are increasingly popular and may promote a balanced microbiome but may also increase the risk that dogs and their owners are exposed to harmful bacteria resistant to antibiotic treatment. Dogs also frequently scavenge when out on walks, and the impact of this behaviour on the microbiome and health are unknown.
Using groups of dogs from a range of breeds fed different diets, and that vary in scavenging behaviour, the aim of the project is to understand what the potential risks are of what we feed our dogs and their impact on health, but at the same time acknowledging the pros and cons to different approaches to pet ownership. Xavier is keen to find out what is best for dogs and help pet owners make decisions that are best for both pet owners and dogs. Xavier will be using cutting edge gene sequencing technology to study the composition of these complex microbial communities in fine detail. Combined with long-term data on dog behaviour and health collected by Generation Pup, this project has strong potential to reveal previously unknown links between diet, gut microbiome and wellbeing in pet dogs. The ultimate goal of the project is to understand whether certain diets or lifestyles can impact their health and what we as pet owners can do to maintain it.
"...hopefully we can make some recommendations about simple steps owners can take to support the wellbeing of their canine companions.”
There are multiple people in our team of researchers at Exeter doing work on companion animals, including dogs, cats, and even horses. Much of this research focuses on fundamental questions like how we can estimate the population size of cats and dogs in the UK, or design obstacles for racehorses that they can more easily see. But Exeter researchers are also tackling vital applied issues, like how diet may alter cat hunting behaviour and minimise predation of wildlife.
Speaking to Xavier, he says “Companion animals like dogs play a fundamental part in our lives, and are important for our own wellbeing. Helping our pets live long and healthy lives is important, and our research will shed new light on how we can use changes in diet to improve and maintain health. As with many things in life I suspect there won’t be a one-size fits all solution, and of course health is about more than just having the ‘right’ microbiome. But hopefully we can make some recommendations about simple steps owners can take to support the wellbeing of their canine companions.”
