Canine IBD is driven by the interaction between genetics, the gut microbiome, and the immune system. Dogs with IBD show reduced microbial diversity, depleted SCFA production, altered bile acid metabolism, and increased gut permeability. The dysbiosis pattern mirrors human IBD — reduced Faecalibacterium, elevated Proteobacteria — but canine IBD is often more responsive to dietary intervention. FetchBio quantifies the severity of dysbiosis, identifies depleted keystone taxa, and tracks response to dietary, probiotic, antibiotic, or immunosuppressive treatment.

Gut dysbiosis drives systemic immune imbalance through the gut-skin axis. Dogs with atopic dermatitis frequently show concurrent gut microbiome disruption — and many dogs with IBD also present with itchy ears, red skin, and recurrent infections. On the skin itself, atopic dermatitis is associated with overgrowth of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and the fungus Malassezia pachydermatis. FetchBio's multi-kingdom sequencing captures both bacterial and fungal imbalances in a single test. Addressing gut dysbiosis alongside topical management targets the root immunological driver, not just the symptoms.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs, and the microbiome influences cancer risk, tumour progression, and treatment response. Colorectal cancer is associated with enrichment of Fusobacterium nucleatum, which promotes tumour growth through immune evasion. More critically, the gut microbiome is now recognised as a key determinant of immunotherapy response. A pilot study in dogs receiving anti-EGFR/HER2 immunotherapy identified 11 bacterial taxa whose abundance correlated with survival. In human oncology, enriched Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Akkermansia muciniphila predict better responses to checkpoint inhibitors. FetchBio provides oncology teams with microbiome data that informs treatment stratification, guides supportive interventions, and monitors the gut ecosystem throughout chemotherapy.

Every antibiotic course disrupts the gut microbiome — rapid loss of diversity, depletion of keystone taxa, expansion of resistant organisms. This disturbance can persist for weeks to months, and some individuals never fully recover their original community. FetchBio directly detects antimicrobial resistance genes in the gut microbiome — information that culture-based methods cannot provide. This supports narrow-spectrum antibiotic selection, monitors resistance emergence, and identifies patients at risk. In an era of rising AMR, microbiome-informed prescribing is a professional responsibility.

The gut microbiome metabolises pharmaceuticals through thousands of microbial enzymes. Beta-glucuronidases reactivate NSAID metabolites in the gut, causing ulceration and bleeding — a common adverse effect in dogs prescribed NSAIDs for osteoarthritis. In cancer treatment, bacterial beta-glucuronidases convert the inactive metabolite of irinotecan back to its toxic form, causing severe dose-limiting diarrhoea. Antibiotics impair chemotherapy efficacy by disrupting the immune-stimulating bacteria that drugs like cyclophosphamide require to work. FetchBio quantifies these enzyme activities from metagenomic data, enabling veterinarians to anticipate drug-microbiome interactions before they cause harm. This is pharmacomicrobiomics — and FetchBio is the only company building this capability for canine medicine.