Fecal microbiota transplantation for the treatment of allergies in dogs

Goal: Atopic dermatitis is a chronic allergic disease that usually requires lifelong treatment. Allergy treatment is usually based on suppressing the symptoms – such as itching, and skin and ear infections – but is not able to cure the disease. Researchers are constantly looking for new and healthy ways to treat an allergy. The AKC Canine Health Foundation Grant # 03162 is designed to study if fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is efficacious for the treatment of canine atopic dermatitis in the West Highland White Terrier breed. If the researchers show that FMT, a yet novel etiological treatment approach, improves the clinical course of the disease, millions of dogs and their owners worldwide could benefit from this research.

Dog in the study will receive a rectal transplant (enema) 3 times in 1-month intervals. The enema takes a few minutes and is not painful. It is beneficial if your dog has already defecated before. In addition, you will receive tasteless capsules, which you administer 1x daily on an empty stomach. The therapy has no side effects.

Timeline: The study duration is 3 months (4 visits). Additionally, we would like to see patients who respond successfully after 6 and 12 months. Owners will have to bring feces in a normal poop bag to each recheck, keep a diary of your dog’s symptoms, administer the capsules and keep the scheduled appointments.

Eligibility:

Allergic dogs should fulfill the following inclusion criteria

• Dogs with an environmental allergy lasting > 1 year and continuous (all-year round) symptoms
• Dogs, which are positive in the allergy test at least against house dust mite allergens
• Dogs that still show significant allergy symptoms despite a strict elimination diet
• These dogs may have concurrently also a food allergy

The study also includes healthy dogs to study which patients will benefit from this form of therapy in the future and to understand how the therapy is functioning.

Healthy dogs should fulfill the following inclusion criteria

• Age 3-10 years and not overweight
• Healthy (no allergies or other systemic diseases)
• Did not receive any medication in the last 6 months