Volume 75 (2025) Issue: 2025 No#1

Isolation and characterization of lactobacilli isolates from canine (Canis familiaris) milk

Author(s): Petar Sikimić, Nemanja Zdravković, Biljana Aleksić, Dragan Šefer, Vladimir Dimitrijević, Radoslava Savić Radovanović

Keywords:bacteriology, dog, lactation, microbiology, neonates

The first food in neonatal puppies is milk. Along other functions as nutritive and purgative, colostrum serves as the induction route for the enteral microbiome. As one of the two most abundant bacteria groups in the colostrum, the lactic acid bacteria are a significant factor due to their attributed functional properties in the digestive system of neonates. Dog lactational microbiome has not been studied in detail and therefore the aim of this work was to isolate, characterize lactobacilli bacteria from canine milk and estimate their antibacterial properties and ability for survival at different temperatures. Four lactic acid bacteria isolates were identified by MALDI TOF and confirmed by 16s sequencing. All four successfully unambiguously identified isolates showed survival at both storage regimes with the best growth at 37 °C in bile salt supplemented medium. The growth of S. aureus was impaired by three of four isolates and E. coli by two. The obtained results provide a promising base for further probiotic analysis of isolates in both puppies and lactating female dogs.