The dog and cat's body is host to trillions of microbes with the highest populations residing in their gut, the so-called gut microbiome. It plays a vital role in health and well-being, so understanding a pet's microbiome enables owners to provide proactive health care.
Nestlé's recently launched Petivity Microbiome Analysis Kit in the U.S. helps to deliver tailored nutrition and supplement recommendations for dogs and cats based on their unique gut profile. Through science-based sequencing technology of a pet's microbiome, the new analysis kit is designed to unlock key gut health and nutrition information by the analysis of bacteria present in the gut.
Nutritionists, behaviorists, veterinarians and data scientists from Nestlé R&D leveraged their expertise in gut integrity and microbial diversity, showing Nestlé's translational capabilities in pet care.
"With this kit, we are putting the science of the gut microbiome into the hands of pet owners, empowering them to understand their pet's health and nutrition even better. The recommendations made by the tool are based on over 10 years of prebiotic, probiotic, and microbiome research. We are proud to enable the data to be used for predictive knowledge of pet gut health," says Pascal Steiner, Director of Petcare Nutrition Science at Nestlé.
Once pet owners have submitted a small stool sample of their pet to the Purina laboratory, they are provided with a report showing the status of their pet's microbiome profile and information about their pet's gut health. This detailed report can also be shared with the veterinarian and will highlight potential pathogens, unusual bacteria and if numbers are out of the normal range. State of the art sequencing technology is used to analyze the bacteria communities present in the gut and provide information on bacterial diversities, a marker of digestive health. Based on the pet's unique profile, the report includes tailored nutrition and supplement recommendations to proactively support gut health and optimize their gut microbiome.
"At Nestlé R&D for Petcare we take a holistic approach to pet nutrition and health. This includes developing science-based nutritional solutions adapted to different pet life stages. With the Petivity Microbiome Analyses Kit we combine Nestlé's research capabilities with novel digital tools and services to create more personalized solutions for our pets," says Sheri Smithey, Head of Nestlé Product Technology Center for Petcare.
The new kit is part of the Petivity powered by Purina Petcare ecosystem of smart devices and analysis kits unlocking health insights for dogs and cats. Its mission is to advance nutritional science that will help pets live healthy, happy and long lives.
