The gut microbiome significantly influences companion animal health and behavior, with implications for welfare in conditions including anxiety, inflammatory disease, and metabolic disorders.
The connection between gut microbiome health and behavioral welfare in companion animals is an emerging but important frontier. Dogs with anxiety may have different microbiome profiles from calm dogs, suggesting bidirectional relationships between gut health and emotional state. Antibiotic use for welfare-positive reasons — treating infections — carries welfare costs through microbiome disruption that careful prescribing and microbiome support can mitigate. Understanding the microbiome as a welfare-relevant system, not just a health variable, is expanding how we think about holistic companion animal care.