CaniNectar Research

CaniNectar Research: Canine Microbiome and Metabolome Study

This research explored how supplementation with CaniNectar’s enzyme-rich malt extract was associated with changes in the canine gut microbiome and metabolome over time, using both microbial profiling and metabolite analysis to examine the gut environment from more than one angle.

CaniNectar / Enzyme Rich Malt Extract research

Year

2025

Study type

Prospective longitudinal study

Sample

Adult dogs

Duration

8 weeks

Measured

Gut microbiome composition and faecal metabolome

The research question

The canine gut microbiome is not defined only by which microorganisms are present.

It is also shaped by the nutritional environment surrounding those microorganisms and by the metabolites produced within the gut.

This study asked whether feeding an enzyme-rich malt extract over an eight-week period was associated with measurable changes in either of those layers.

In other words:

Did the microbial community change, did the metabolite profile change, or did both change together?

What did the researchers do?

Dogs were followed prospectively over an eight-week supplementation period.

Faecal samples were collected for microbiome and metabolome analysis, allowing researchers to compare the gut environment over time.

Microbiome profiling was used to examine the relative abundance of bacterial groups within the faecal microbial community.

Metabolomic analysis was used to examine changes in small molecules present within the samples.

Using both approaches was important because microbial composition and microbial activity do not always change in parallel.

The study therefore looked at both who was present and what was happening within the wider metabolic environment.

What did they measure?

The study examined two main layers of the canine gut ecosystem.

Microbiome composition

Researchers assessed changes in the relative abundance of bacterial groups within faecal samples.

Metabolome

Researchers also measured small molecules present in the samples, providing information about the chemical environment associated with digestion, host metabolism and microbial activity.

Looking at both datasets together allowed the researchers to examine whether changes in microbial composition were accompanied by changes in the metabolic profile.

What was observed?

The study identified measurable changes in both the microbial and metabolic datasets over the supplementation period.

Changes were observed in the relative abundance of selected bacterial groups.

Changes were also detected in the faecal metabolite profile.

Importantly, the metabolomic data showed that the gut environment could change even where shifts in microbial composition were relatively modest.

This supports the wider principle that microbiome composition alone does not provide a complete picture of what is happening within the gut.

The study therefore provided evidence that supplementation with enzyme-rich malt extract was associated with measurable changes in the canine gut environment over time.

What does this study tell us?

This study is useful because it looked beyond bacterial abundance alone.

A microbiome can be studied at several levels:

which microorganisms are present,

what nutritional environment surrounds them,

and what metabolites are being produced or transformed.

By combining microbiome and metabolome analysis, the study provided evidence that the gut environment changed during the supplementation period.

That is consistent with the broader scientific idea behind CaniNectar:

Digestion → Substrate → Microbiome → Metabolites

The study does not prove that every observed change was caused solely by supplementation, but it does provide a useful biological signal that the canine gut environment was responsive over the study period.

What doesn't this study tell us?

This was a relatively small prospective study and did not include a parallel placebo-controlled comparison group.

That means changes observed over time cannot automatically be attributed solely to supplementation.

Faecal samples also provide only one view of the gastrointestinal tract and do not represent every microbial community or metabolic process occurring within the intestine.

Microbiome and metabolome datasets can also vary substantially between individual dogs.

For those reasons, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory evidence of association rather than proof of a specific clinical effect.

Further controlled research in larger populations would help clarify the consistency and biological significance of the changes observed.

Original research

Study details

Study

Canine microbiome and metabolome response to enzyme-rich malt extract supplementation

Reference

CaniNectar canine microbiome and metabolome research programme.

Prospective eight-week study examining faecal microbiome composition and metabolomic profiles in adult dogs receiving enzyme-rich malt extract supplementation.

Further technical details and study reporting are available from Tharos Ltd.

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