Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.9
2.7
Journals
Veterinary Sciences
Special Issues
Pet Nutrition and Gut Health
share announcement

Pet Nutrition and Gut Health

A Special Issue of Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381) belonging to the section "Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases in Veterinary Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 1916

Editor

Dr. Bing Han

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhong Guan Cun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: probiotics; prebiotics; gut health; pet nutrition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With companion animals increasingly recognized as integral members of human households, the link between nutritional intake and gut health has emerged as a cornerstone of pet longevity and quality of life. This journal fills a distinct niche by centering its scope on the interactions between diet and gut microbiota, immune regulation, and systemic health in dogs and cats. Its coverage spans a broad spectrum of topics, from the formulation of functional pet foods (e.g., probiotic-enriched diets) and the impact of novel feed ingredients on gut homeostasis, to the role of gut dysbiosis in the pathogenesis of chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), obesity, and allergic disorders in pets.

As the Guest Editor of this Special Issue, I invite you to contribute your perspective articles, original research articles, review articles, and short communications that explore new insights into the interplay among the gut microbiome, pet nutrition, and gut health. Your contributions will help advance our understanding of this dynamic field and pave the way for innovative approaches to enhancing pet health.

Dr. Bing Han
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Veterinary Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microbiota
  • pet nutrition
  • dogs
  • cats
  • gut health
  • functional pet foods
  • ingredients
  • immune regulation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 26170 KB  
Article
Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) Alleviates Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Responses in Canine Ileal Epithelial Cells
by Xiaoyue Yuan, Xizhu Zhu, Chuyang Zhu, Yunhan Wang, Chenhui Li, Minghua Yu, Fanfan Meng, Ping Hu, Haoyu Liu, Qu Chen and Demin Cai
Vet. Sci. 2026, 13(8), 765; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13080765 - 31 Jul 2026
Viewed by 449
Abstract
Fueled by the rapid growth of the global companion animal industry, the development of nutritional additives for improving canine intestinal health has emerged as a prominent research area in pet nutrition. Excessive reactive oxygen species accumulation triggers severe oxidative stress, inducing intestinal inflammation, [...] Read more.
Fueled by the rapid growth of the global companion animal industry, the development of nutritional additives for improving canine intestinal health has emerged as a prominent research area in pet nutrition. Excessive reactive oxygen species accumulation triggers severe oxidative stress, inducing intestinal inflammation, abnormal epithelial senescence, and tight junction destruction to damage intestinal mucosal integrity. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs) have proven antioxidative and anti-inflammatory potency, yet divergent functions of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on canine ileal epithelial cells (cIECs) remain unclear. Here, an H2O2-stimulated oxidative injury model was built to compare their protective capacity. Under all equivalent gradient concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 10 μM in this experiment, Equal-dose DHA failed to alleviate cell damage, while EPA effectively rescued impaired cIEC viability. Biochemical tests showed EPA lowered malondialdehyde and boosted key antioxidant enzyme activities. Transcriptomics confirmed EPA suppressed overactivated TNF-α/IFN-γ inflammatory and senescence pathways. Western blot verified EPA downregulated p-Chk1, p53, p57, and p73 and restored telomere-protective and tight junction proteins. In summary, EPA protects cIECs via antioxidation, anti-inflammation and anti-senescence, supporting its development as a promising functional feed additive for canine intestinal care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pet Nutrition and Gut Health)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 710 KB  
Article
Effect of Dietary Postbiotics Derived from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus lactis on Lipid Metabolism, Blood Biochemistry, and Fecal Microbiota in Cats: A Pilot Study
by Huaiyu Zhang, Jintao Sun, Jinquan Wang, Xiumin Wang, Hui Tao, Zhenlong Wang, Jie Liu and Bing Han
Vet. Sci. 2026, 13(6), 571; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13060571 - 10 Jun 2026
Viewed by 840
Abstract
Owing to their favorable stability and safety profile, postbiotics—defined as functional metabolites originating from probiotic microbes—have attracted growing interest in the field of companion animal health care. The present work sought to evaluate how postbiotics prepared from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus lactis influence [...] Read more.
Owing to their favorable stability and safety profile, postbiotics—defined as functional metabolites originating from probiotic microbes—have attracted growing interest in the field of companion animal health care. The present work sought to evaluate how postbiotics prepared from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus lactis influence lipid metabolism, blood biochemistry, and the composition of fecal microbiota in felines. Eighteen clinically healthy adult cats were assigned at random to three equal-sized groups: a control treatment (n = 6, a basal diet), a L. plantarum postbiotic L-27-2 group (n = 6, a basal diet with 109 CFU equivalent/kg/day), and a P. lactis L-14-1 postbiotic group (n = 6, a basal diet with 109 CFU equivalent/kg/day). The supplementation lasted four weeks. Both postbiotics significantly lowered serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) concentrations (p < 0.05), demonstrating a modulatory action on lipid metabolism in cats. The L-27-2 postbiotic selectively enriched beneficial taxa, notably Bifidobacterium (p < 0.05). Furthermore, fecal levels of malodorous compounds were significantly decreased by both treatments (p < 0.05). The results suggested both postbiotics have potential positive effects in cats. These findings are preliminary and hypothesis-generating. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pet Nutrition and Gut Health)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop