Pets, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 2026) – 5 articles

French Bulldogs are one of the most popular companion dog breeds worldwide, yet breed-specific behavioral data remain limited. This study aimed to characterize the behavioral profile of French Bulldogs in Italy using the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) and to explore the relationships among sex, neuter status, coat color, and behavioral traits. An online survey was completed by 206 owners of French Bulldogs aged one year or older residing in Italy. Behavioral items were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression with sex, neuter status, and coat color as simultaneous predictors. French Bulldogs showed low aggression and fear-related behaviors, high attachment and attention-seeking tendencies, and moderate excitability and trainability. Sex was the most consistently associated predictor (17 items), with females showing lower odds for sexually dimorphic, fear-related, excitability, and separation-related behaviors. Neuter status showed limited, behavior-specific associations (4 items) involving leash-pulling, separation-related behaviors, and play-related excitability. Coat color was associated with ten behavioral items, including coprophagia, food stealing, hyperactivity, and submissive urination. Most pseudo-R² values were low (range: 0.009–0.059), reflecting the multifactorial nature of canine behavior. These findings offer a preliminary behavioral characterization of French Bulldogs in Italy and suggest that sex, neuter status, and coat color represent relevant sources of within-breed variation, warranting further research. Full article

Periodontal disease is one of the most common oral conditions in dogs. The oral microbiome plays a key role in maintaining oral health, yet the normal canine oral microbiota and the effects of dental cleaning remain understudied. This study investigated changes in the oral microbiota of healthy dogs after routine tartar removal. Fourteen healthy adult Beagles underwent dental cleaning under general anesthesia. Oral microbiota was sampled using swabs at D-03 (baseline), D0 (after tartar removal), D3, D7, D14, and D28. Microbiota composition was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing (V4 region). Alpha diversity analysis showed that tartar removal was associated with a significant decrease in richness (Kruskal–Wallis test, p < 0.001) but not with diversity (Shannon). Beta diversity analysis revealed significant differences (PERMANOVA; p < 0.05) across all sampling times compared with baseline. Dental tartar removal temporarily reduced several anaerobic taxa and increased aerotolerant bacteria, with partial recovery toward baseline within two weeks, indicating resilience of the oral microbiota. Porphyromonas dominated the oral microbiota but decreased following dental cleaning with concomitant increases in other bacterial species, notably Neisseria, Moraxella, and Pasteurella. These findings suggest that the canine oral microbiota demonstrates considerable resilience following mechanical disruption by dental cleaning. Future studies should focus on the importance of this microbial restructuring in the pathogenesis and clinical management of canine periodontitis and may inform the development of microbiota-targeted preventive or therapeutic strategies in veterinary dentistry. Full article

Postbiotics are an emerging ingredient class which have promising potential to support canine gut function by delivering beneficial microbial compounds directly to the gut. We tested a canine immune health postbiotic (CIHP) in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of twenty colony-housed dogs (ten per group) selected for having consistently loose stools but with no diagnosed gastrointestinal disease. After a 5-day wash-in and 5-day baseline, dogs received 12 mg/kg body weight per day of CIHP or a placebo for 28 days mixed with their normal dry diet. The primary outcome was stool consistency (Waltham fecal score), measured on Days 0, 14, and 28; secondary outcomes included fecal gut-health biomarkers and fecal microbiome composition from 16S rRNA sequencing, measured on Days 0 and 28. CIHP improved stool quality (p-value = 0.03), while placebo did not (p-value = 0.5), and CIHP showed a trend toward increasing the odds of individual dogs showing improved fecal scores by Day 28 compared to placebo (p-value = 0.07). Microbiome profiling revealed broader community remodeling with CIHP than the placebo (16 taxa significantly shifted with CIHP vs. 1 with the placebo), consistent with stool quality being impacted by both gastrointestinal and gut microbiome functions. Fecal biomarkers that reflect gut health (pH, dry matter, short-chain fatty acids, dysbiosis index, calprotectin) were within reference ranges at baseline and remained stable in both groups, indicating benefits occurred within a normal physiological window. Together, these findings show that CIHP can improve stool consistency while reshaping the gut microbiome in otherwise healthy dogs prone to loose stools. Future studies in home-environment dogs across breeds, ages, and living conditions are needed to generalize these findings to the broader canine population. Full article

Tooth structure anomalies, though not frequently described, can be observed in the external appearance not only of humans but also of dogs. The emergence of an oversized set of teeth is not solely an esthetic and health problem, but often also leads to behavioral issues. In the commonly available medical literature, there are many cases describing the occurrence and treatment of double teeth, both in the incisors and in the cheek teeth. In this article, the authors describe a clinical case of a one-year-old female Golden Retriever dog diagnosed with a double tooth in her permanent dentition. The complex morphology of the affected tooth posed a considerable diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Surgical separation of the tooth was performed, requiring an individualized treatment approach and the adaptation of protocols derived primarily from human dentistry. This case highlights the diagnostic and clinical decision-making difficulties associated with such anomalies. It also emphasizes the importance of tailored therapeutic strategies for managing rare dental developmental abnormalities in dogs. The teeth were successfully surgically separated, and thus the present report contributes to the limited body of literature on double teeth in veterinary patients and provides practical insight into their management. This description of the first case of this type in veterinary dentistry aims to encourage readers to explore the topic of double teeth and demonstrates a non-standard way of thinking and dealing with such a tooth. The presented case is unique from both a diagnostic and therapeutic perspective. Previous publications have focused on these abnormalities as separate entities, failing to consider their simultaneous occurrence within a single tooth. The therapeutic approach employed also deserves particular attention. The most commonly recommended approach involves extraction of the affected teeth; however, in this case, an attempt was made to separate and preserve them, representing a novel clinical approach. Full article

Cats are among the most popular pets globa lly, yet little is known about how the home environment influences their behaviour. Most studies have focused on cats in shelters or research facilities, potentially limiting applicability to pet cats. This study combined behavioural data from cats in three housing conditions: indoor pet (n = 10), free-roaming pet (n = 18), and research (n = 8), collected in summer and winter. Eight behaviours were classified from collar-mounted accelerometer data using a validated machine learning model and analysed using generalised linear mixed models. Free-roaming pet cats were more active in summer than winter (3.9 ± 0.39% vs. 2.7 ± 0.33%; p < 0.001) and more active than both research (2.0 ± 0.36%; p = 0.004) and indoor pet cats (2.0 ± 0.36%; p < 0.001) in summer. Research cats spent more time lying (52.9 ± 2.03% vs. 36.9 ± 2.89%; p = 0.009) and eating (7.8 ± 0.41% vs. 2.4 ± 0.39%; p = 0.003) in winter than summer, whereas no seasonal differences in these behaviours were observed for pet cats. A bimodal daily activity pattern, with peaks around sunrise and sunset, was observed across housing conditions and seasons. These findings demonstrate that both housing and seasonal conditions influence domestic cat behaviour and should be considered when interpreting behavioural studies. Full article