Inside every pet and person, trillions of microbes in the gut work together to shape immune health, digestion and disease resistance — a living community known as the gut microbiome.
Nutrition is one of the most important ways to support the gut microbiome, but in pets, a historical lack of consistent data has made it challenging to see the whole picture.
That’s why in 2021, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researcher Dr. Curtis Huttenhower joined forces to create the One Health Microbiome Resource (OHMR): the largest and most comprehensive microbiome database ever assembled for pets and humans.
With this foundation, Hill’s scientists now have the scale and precision to better understand how nutrition can support pet health.
“The microbiome is a shared ecosystem that affects the health of pets, people and even the environment around us,” said Jennifer Radosevich, SVP, Research and Innovation, at Hill’s. “Understanding and nurturing that ecosystem can create real health benefits that ripple across species.”
A new frontier in pet health
Unlocking the power of the microbiome requires understanding its incredible complexity.
Of the trillions of microbes living in every gut, thousands of microbial species work together in delicate balance. Factors like nutrition, environment, medications and even individual biology can tip that balance, causing the makeup of the microbiome to shift over time.
Because of this, no two microbiomes are exactly alike, even among members of the same species.
“We realized we had an opportunity with the data we were already collecting from pets every day to build something that could truly advance both pet and human health,” said Dave Baloga, EVP, Science and Technology, at Hill’s.
Since its launch, OHMR has analyzed nearly 3,000 pet microbiomes and 350 human samples, helping scientists identify species unique to pets and those shared across species.
Cataloging the microbiome was the first step, but the next challenge lies in understanding what these microbes actually do. OHMR is helping scientists connect those dots, from how gut bacteria process fiber to how they support immunity or carry genes tied to antibiotic resistance. And because nutrition can influence many of these functions, it’s opening new doors for supporting pet health at the microbial level.
So far, OHMR is revealing important patterns, showing how the gut microbiomes of cats, dogs and humans differ in ways that reflect their unique dietary needs. Cats, for example, are obligate carnivores, and their gut microbiomes are specialized in ways very different from those of humans or dogs.
But despite these differences, many of the gut’s most important jobs seem to stay the same. Even when species have distinct microbial communities, many of their microbes perform similar roles, like digesting nutrients, supporting immunity or producing key compounds.
In the process, OHMR has identified 19 novel microbial species in pets — a reminder that the gut microbiome remains a vast, untapped territory for scientists to explore.
The future of pet nutrition
Building on the insights uncovered so far, the research team is continuing to collaborate to define what a healthy pet microbiome truly looks like, laying the groundwork for next-generation nutrition tailored to each pet’s unique microbial community.
“We’re only scratching the surface,” Baloga said. “The more we learn, the more we’ll be able to develop precision nutrition that truly supports each pet’s unique microbiome for better health outcomes.” Over time, these discoveries could also help shape new tools for both scientists and consumers, like a healthy microbiome index to better understand and support gut health in pets.
By leading the way in microbiome science, Hill’s Pet Nutrition is helping build a healthier future — not just for pets, but for the families and communities they are part of.
To read more about this partnership and the launch of the OHMR web portal, visit the full press release here.
