Abstract
Pet ownership is an essential environmental exposure that might influence the health of the owner. This study’s primary objectives were to explore the effects of cat ownership on the gut microbial diversity and composition of owners. Raw data from the American Gut Project were obtained from the SRA database. A total of 214 Caucasian individuals (111 female) with cats and 214 individuals (111 female) without cats were used in the following analysis. OTU number showed significant alteration in the Cat group and Female_cat group, compared with that of the no cat (NC) group and Female_ NC group, respectively. Compared with the NC group, the microbial phylum Proteobacteria was significantly decreased in the Cat group. The microbial families Alcaligenaceae and Pasteurellaceae were significantly reduced, while Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonadaceae were significantly increased in the Cat group. Fifty metabolic pathways were predicted to be significantly changed in the Cat group. Twenty-one and 13 metabolic pathways were predicted to be significantly changed in the female_cat and male_cat groups, respectively. Moreover, the microbial phylum Cyanobacteria was significantly decreased, while the families Alcaligenaceae, Pseudomonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae were significantly changed in the normal weight cat group. In addition, 41 and 7 metabolic pathways were predicted to be significantly changed in the normal-weight cat and overweight cat groups, respectively. Therefore, this study demonstrated that cat ownership could influence owners’ gut microbiota composition and function, especially in the female group and normal-weight group.
Highlights
Pet ownership is thought to contribute to human health by reducing stress and improving mental health [1,2]
Some data could not be included in this study, including data collected from nonfecal samples, incomplete questionnaires, patients suffering from serious diseases, patients receiving antibiotic treatment within six months, patients traveling within three months, and samples with low sequencing quality
Through self-reporting, we found 214 individuals who claimed that they owned cats but no other pet (Cat group), while 214 individuals who did not own a pet were matched with the Cat group by gender, body mass index (BMI), and age (no cat (NC) group) (S1 Table)
Summary
Pet ownership is thought to contribute to human health by reducing stress and improving mental health [1,2]. Experience with cat ownership protects against incident frailty in elderly individuals [3]. Domestic cats may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease [4]. Sixty percent of cat owners sleep with their cats, which may enhance their sense of security and improve their quality of sleep [5]. Studies have shown that cat ownership is associated with schizophrenia and allergic diseases [6,7].
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