Nestlé's personal pet food solutions

In the US, pet nutritionists, behaviourists, veterinarians and data scientists from Nestlé have collaborated to launch the Petivity Microbiome Analysis Kit — an ecosystem of smart devices and analysis kits unlocking health insights for dogs and cats. The brand claims the system delivers 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.

Once pet owners have submitted their pet’s stool sample to the 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 a veterinarian and will highlight potential pathogens, unusual bacteria and if numbers are out of the normal range. Sequencing technology is used to analyse 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 optimise their gut microbiome. Nutritionists, behaviourists, 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,” said Pascal Steiner, Director of Petcare Nutrition Science at Nestlé.

Image credit: iStock.com/Sara Chocarro