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Veterinary Sciences
Special Issues
Gastrointestinal Disease and Health in Pets
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Gastrointestinal Disease and Health in Pets

A special issue of Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Internal Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 809

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Guangyu Li

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Special Economic Animal Molecular Biology, Institute of Special Economic Animal and Plant Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Changchun 130112, China
Interests: pets; gut health; probiotics; nutrition of special economic animals
Dr. Xue Bai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Special Animal Epidemic Disease, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Special Animal and Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun 130122, China
Interests: pets; viral infectious disease; vaccine; therapeutic antibody
Dr. Min Wen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Biopharmaceutical Research, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252059, China
Interests: pets; functional lipid; antioxidant; gut health; stress

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue on ‘Gastrointestinal Disease and Health in Pets’ that I have the honor of editing for Veterinary Sciences.

The intestinal tract serves as a vital organ for the digestion and absorption of nutrients, and it also functions as the body's largest immune organ. The health status of the gut is a key determinant of an animal's overall well-being. In the realm of pet animal welfare, gut health emerges as the foremost concern. This Special Issue is dedicated to highlighting original articles that delve into the intricacies of gut health and diseases in pets. This issue on ‘Gastrointestinal Disease and Health in Pets’ addresses the need to enhance the flow of information and communication between sciences by publishing selected research articles from leading laboratories in the field. It is hoped that this issue will further stimulate collaboration between scientists working on all aspects of pet gut health and disease.

Prof. Dr. Guangyu Li
Dr. Xue Bai
Dr. Min Wen
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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

  • pets
  • animal welfare
  • gut health
  • probiotics
  • intestinal disease

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

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 2085 KiB  
Article
Study on the Correlation Between Aggressive Behavior and Gut Microbiota and Serum Serotonin (5-HT) in Working Dogs
by Ning Sun, Liuwei Xie, Jingjing Chao, Fuxiao Xiu, He Zhai, Yuanting Zhou, Xi Yu and Yingyi Shui
Vet. Sci. 2025, 12(6), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci12060526 - 28 May 2025
Abstract
Aggressive canine behavior poses a significant threat to public health. Understanding aggressive behavior is crucial for canine socialization and human–dog interactions. This study conducted an exploratory analysis of working dogs to investigate changes in gut microbiota and neurotransmitters associated with aggressive behavior. Notably, [...] Read more.
Aggressive canine behavior poses a significant threat to public health. Understanding aggressive behavior is crucial for canine socialization and human–dog interactions. This study conducted an exploratory analysis of working dogs to investigate changes in gut microbiota and neurotransmitters associated with aggressive behavior. Notably, it represents the first research to systematically differentiate canine aggression into offensive and defensive subtypes for investigation. In this study, 56 working dogs from three regions of China, comprising different breeds (11 Spaniels, 13 German Shepherds, and 32 Belgian Malinois), aged 4.89 ± 1.54 years, and of both sexes (38 males and 18 females), were assessed and grouped for aggressive behavior using a C-BARQ-based questionnaire. Then, 16S rRNA sequencing and ELISA were employed to compare differences in gut microbiota and serotonin concentrations between aggressive (n = 35) and non-aggressive (n = 21) groups, as well as between offensive (n = 26) and defensive (n = 9) aggression subgroups. β-diversity analysis confirmed no significant correlation between aggressive behavior and gut microbiota composition (p > 0.05), suggesting a limited role of gut microbiota in modulating host behavior. Comparative analysis of gut microbiota composition revealed no significant differences in phylum-level abundance among different aggression types (p > 0.05). Notably, the non-aggressive group exhibited significantly higher relative abundances of Escherichia-Shigella, Erysipelotrichaceae_UCG-003, and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 compared to the aggressive group (p < 0.05). Random forest analysis identified Lactobacillus as a biomarker for canine aggressive behavior and Turicibacter as a discriminatory factor between offensive and defensive aggression. The results demonstrated a strong correlation between aggression and 5-HT neurotransmission. Serum serotonin levels were significantly lower in both the defensive (39.92 ± 2.58 ng/mL) and offensive (50.07 ± 3.90 ng/mL) aggression groups compared to the non-aggressive group (59.49 ± 2.76 ng/mL), with the lowest levels found in defensively aggressive dogs. The defensive group showed significantly lower serotonin levels than the offensive group (p < 0.001). The results demonstrate that different behavioral phenotypes in aggressive dogs lead to distinct gut microbiome compositions. This suggests that microbiome analysis may facilitate early diagnosis and preventive intervention before aggressive behavior manifests. As such, 5-HT shows potential as a monitoring tool for diagnosing canine aggression, with significant practical applications in canine behavior management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gastrointestinal Disease and Health in Pets)
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13 pages, 3971 KiB  
Article
Generation and Immunogenicity of Virus-like Particles Based on the Capsid Protein of a Chinese Epidemic Strain of Feline Panleukopenia Virus
by Erkai Feng, Guoliang Luo, Chunxia Wang, Wei Liu, Ruxun Yan, Xue Bai and Yuening Cheng
Vet. Sci. 2025, 12(5), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci12050503 - 20 May 2025
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Abstract
Feline panleukopenia (FPL), caused by the feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV), is a severe and highly contagious viral disease with high morbidity and mortality. Vaccination remains the gold standard for preventing and controlling this debilitating condition. The viral protein VP2 serves as the major [...] Read more.
Feline panleukopenia (FPL), caused by the feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV), is a severe and highly contagious viral disease with high morbidity and mortality. Vaccination remains the gold standard for preventing and controlling this debilitating condition. The viral protein VP2 serves as the major immunogen of FPLV and represents the key target antigen in the development of a novel FPLV vaccine. Virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines have emerged as next-generation vaccine candidates due to their high immunogenicity and safe profile. In this study, a baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) was employed to generate FPLV-VLPs through recombinant expression of the VP2 protein of a Chinese epidemic strain (Ala91Ser, Ile101Thr) of FPLV. The resulting FPLV-VLPs demonstrated markedly enhanced antigenicity and hemagglutination activity, achieving a hemagglutination titer of up to 1:216. Following vaccination, immunized cats developed high titers of anti-FPLV hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibodies (1:216) and exhibited 100% protection against challenge with a virulent epidemic FPLV variant (Ala91Ser, Ile101Thr). These findings demonstrate that FPLV-VLPs hold strong potential as candidates for a novel subunit vaccine against FPLV infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gastrointestinal Disease and Health in Pets)
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