The prebiotic potential of lactobin and glucans combined with goat's milk in cats

Prebiotics are important for gut health and immunity in animals and could promote the growth of beneficial bacteria. The objective of this study was to investigate the prebiotic potential of lactobin and glucans when combined with goat's milk in the diet of cats. Twenty-four healthy cats (all about 2 y old) were randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups. Group A was the control untreated group, Group B received supplementation with 30 mL of goat's milk plus 20 mg of bovine colostrum, and Groups C and D were given 30 mL of goat's milk plus 20 mg of beta-glucan from different companies. On day 28, samples of blood and feces were collected for the evaluation of serum biochemistry, secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and microbiota in the feces. It was discovered that β-glucan significantly increased the level of SIgA in blood (P < 0.05) and the relative abundance of Bacteroides was greatly increased at the genus level (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the content of total bile acids in cats in Group D was higher than that in the other treatment groups (P < 0.05), whereas there was no significant variation in other blood parameters among the different groups (P > 0.05). This suggests that β-glucan and lactobin has potential prebiotic properties in cats.