Looking for a fecal donor for my dog (yes, I am saying I want some of your healthy do

[Aster]

Hello everyone,

To make a long story and odd topic as short as possible.....I need to give my darling dog Lammy some fecal therapy to help restore his gut biome and get the ratio of good to bad bacteria back in balance. It's called FMT or Fecal Microbiota Therapy, and it's currently being done on humans for c.difficile infections and other serious gastro illnesses with absolutely amazing success. I am working with an integrative vet in the U.S. who recommended fecal transplant therapy after everything else has failed.

What I need is a small sample of poop from a very healthy dog with the following criteria:
- very healthy dog (male preferably) with no current illness or infection
- the dog is raw fed ideally, but home cooked is ok. Organic diet would be a dream (no kibble or canned diets). If the mother was raw fed as well, this would be fantastic.
- your dog has received minimal or no vaccinations after puppyhood
- your dog has never received antibiotics

If you have or know of a dog that fits these criteria and would like to help our family, I would be so, so grateful. I live in Montreal but will travel wherever I have to for the right donor.

If I can find a fecal donor and Lammy has a positive result, it could help perpetuate this potentially life-saving therapy for many animals. The more people hear about the amazing results of fecal transplant therapy, the more animals (and humans) will be spared from ineffective and damaging rounds of antibiotics, steroids and other drugs.

Our little guy is only 8 years old and he would melt your heart if you met him. Please let me know if you would be able to help us either through providing your pups poop or suggesting where I may find a suitable donor.


Thank you kindly,
Aster

[Longblades]

My boy, a Labrador Retriever, had a faecal implant and it's probably one of the main things that helped him get over a second bout of issues due to Lymphangiectasia.

The donor, also a Lab, was one of the Vet Tech's dogs. I had to pay for complete blood work and health checks on that dog to be sure HE was completely healthy. We also had to have a fresh sample so having the dog on hand was necessary.

I don't see how you can possibly do this by advertising for a donor and I don't understand why your Vet is not sourcing the donor dog for you. Is the U.S. Vet close enough you can easily and quickly drive there? Is there not a Vet in Montreal who can do this?

My boy's donor dog did not have to have the same set of criterion you list. Specifically the donor dog was not fed raw (mine was at the time) and the donor dog was right up on top of all his vaccinations and mine I titre instead of vaccinating.

What is the particular health problem you are trying to overcome?

I am in Ontario and went to this Vet Clinic for this procedure. We were already starting ortho rehab there when the diarrhoea started back up again. We worked closely with Dr. Rutland.

http://www.404vet.com/

Good luck. If you are looking into this it must be pretty scary, I know we went through some agonizing times where we thought our dog might not survive. The faecal implant was just one of many things we did. It was just over a year ago, so much went on it feels like 10 years ago. My boy is fine now.

[marko]

I've never heard of this before.
In order to educate others, I'd be curious to see some links with additional information on this topic.

Thx!

[Aster]

Thank you Longblades for sharing your story of a successful use of fecal therapy for animals and I am very happy to hear that your boy is doing well a year later.

Thank you also for providing a link to a vet that is doing this procedure on animals in Canada. I did not get very far when trying to locate someone in Montreal who had even heard of the therapy.

The U.S. vet did not supply a donor source for us because she doesn't know of anyone in Canada doing it and Lammy does not travel well so I can't bring him to the U.S. She herself is not doing the therapy, she only advocates it.

I have chosen to appeal to a public forum of dog lovers in hopes of finding someone who has a super healthy dog that satisfies the stringent list of criteria I outlined in my original post. I am in communication with our local vet here in Montreal as well, but I want to locate a donor that fits the profile I listed....as that, I believe, will give the best possibility of supplying a very robust and healthy biome to Lammy that will give him the missing bacteria he needs.

Lammy has SIBO (bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine) and is also a cancer survivor (mastocytoma). I need to fix his intestinal dysbiosis to strengthen his immune system and hopefully prevent the cancer from recurring.

I am confident there is somebody out there who meets the criteria I am searching for and is willing to help us. I just have to keep trying. I hope to provide a positive update on Lammy's health some day soon.

[Aster]

Following are some links to information on fecal transplant therapy. There is more out there but this should give you a good start if you want to learn more.

Clinical studies have focused on therapy for humans but there are preliminary assessments being done by veterinarians ...at Guelph Veterinary and Angell SPCA in Massachusettes for example.

If you are interested in this therapy for humans, a fecal bank has been started by a group of MIT graduate students, this would be a great place to start. Now we just need to get one started for animals!


Human FMT
1. source - NY Times
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/15...acebook.com%2F

2. Source - Journal of American Medical Association
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article....icleid=1916296


Veterinary FMT
1. source - MSPCA (second oldest, nonprofit Humane Society in the U.S.)
https://www.mspca.org/angell_service...ansplantation/

2. Source - Guelph Veterinary College (this discusses frozen vs fresh fecal transplantation ...frozen deemed as effective as fresh)
http://ovc.uoguelph.ca/news/frozen-t...patients-study

[hazelrunpack]

Thanks for those links, Aster! Very interesting stuff! I wish you luck in your search and I hope you'll keep us posted!

[animaltracks]

Hi Aster!
I'm a PhD microbiologist, and recently started a company with some coworkers to address this issue. We are screening healthy donors (cats and dogs) and making fecal transplant pills that can be stored and shipped easily. We're still in a pilot study, but would love to include you in it if you like! You can learn more about us at our websites

http://www.animalbiome.com/
https://animal-biome.myshopify.com/

We currently sell microbiome testing kits (we sequence bacteria from pet poo and tell owners more about the types of bacteria their pets have), but now are starting to use that data to help treat pets with digestive disorders. Feel free to contact me directly by email, adrien (at) animalbiome.com. This invitation goes out to anybody else out there whose pets are in need right now. It kills me to think of all the pets out there being put to sleep because this simple therapy is just not available most places. Best wishes.

[tanyaden]

Hi Aster,

It's been a while since you posted, and I'm wondering if you found a donor and your pup is ok.
I'm also in Montreal and need this procedure for my dog. Could you please share the info you have - did you find a local vet to perform it? If not, who and where did it? How did it go and what's the short and long term results?



Thanks!!!