The overall goal of this project is to establish a baseline gut microbiome of various types of shelter animals, and then assess alterations of the gut microbiome due to the presence of different enteric pathogens, different treatments for the enteric pathogens, or other commonly given non-treatment medications like antianxiety medication. Shelter animals often have been living on the streets for long time periods and therefore commonly harbor distinctive veterinary diseases not commonly seen in household pets that will often require unique medications to treat these infections. Furthermore, the kenneling of these animals leads to high levels of anxiety, this is often mitigated with antianxiety or other types of medications.

Working with shelter animals provides a unique opportunity to address our overall goal: understanding the gut microbiome and how infection and medications impacts it allows us to develop methods to promote better health and wellbeing of shelter animals.