Author: Gaillard V., Rodiles A., Mugnier A., Laxalde J., Knight D., Joly W. & Péron F.
Gaillard et al. Animal Microbiome (2026) 8:83
doi.org/10.1186/s42523-026-00574-5
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Acute diarrhoea or soft stools can occur in kittens after environmental challenges. The effects of a probiotic on gastrointestinal and immune biomarkers in kittens exposed to three study events were investigated. Healthy weaned 10-week-old kittens were fed a daily dietary supplement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-1079 (SB-1079) or placebo for 7 weeks (20 kittens/group). The study events were a routine booster vaccination (Week 3), a change in housing (Week 5), and a diet transition (Week 6). Outcomes included faecal scores and percentage dry matter (DM%), total serum IgG, faecal IgA, and faecal microbiota. Statistical analyses included Linear Mixed Models and Generalized Linear Mixed Models with group, time and group × time interaction as fixed effects; longitudinal Kruskal-Wallis test corrected for false discovery rate was used for microbiota outcomes.
Faecal scores were optimal throughout the whole study for 12/20 supplemented kittens vs 8/20 control kittens. Overall, group and group × time did not affect faecal quality or moisture, but in Week 5 (housing change) supplemented kittens had firmer stools (P=0.007) and lower faecal DM% (P=0.032) than placebo kittens. Total serum IgG concentration was affected by group (P=0.028), time (P<0.001) and group × time (P=0.001), and was higher in the probiotic vs placebo group (P<0.039) at Week 7, having increased 250% vs 62% from Week 0. Faecal IgA concentration tended to be higher in the probiotic vs placebo group after booster vaccination (P=0.068). Microbiota composition (weighted Unifrac beta diversity) differed between groups overall (P=0.025), at Week 4 (P=0.017), and in the differences between Week 6 and 7 (P=0.008). In supplemented kittens, relative abundances of Veillonellaceae and Actinobacteria remained stable over the first weeks, and abundance of potential pathogens in the Desulfovibrionaceae family decreased. A decrease in Shannon alpha diversity of faecal microbiota post diet transition was significant in supplemented kittens only (P = 0.008) due to a rapid increase in abundance of the Helicobacteraceae family.
The impacts of SB-1079 on biomarkers of gastrointestinal and immunological health suggest its potential to promote resilience of these systems in young kittens experiencing physiological challenges like new environments and diet transitions.