Quantification of the bacterial flora and its major constituents on the abdominal skin of clinically healthy dogs

OBJECTIVE To report the density, and the major constituents, of the bacteria on the skin surface of healthy dogs and to assess if scraping the skin before sampling was necessary. ANIMALS 20 healthy dogs were recruited for the study, with informed consent in all cases. METHODS Flocked swabs were used to sample the skin surface and to sample the skin surface after superficial scraping with a blunted spatula. Both samples were taken within a brass guide of 3.5 cm-2 area. Next-generation 16S rRNA sequencing was used to identify and quantify components of the bacterial microbiome. RESULTS The median density of the bacterial microbiome on the ventral abdomen of 20 healthy dogs was approximately 1.1 X 105 cm-2 (IQR 1.22 X 104, 1.6 X 105 cm-2). Sphingomonas species were isolated on 17 of the 20 dogs and Corynebacterium kroppstedtii from 15. CLINICAL RELEVANCE This is the first study to report the density of the canine skin microbiome. Superficial scraping of the skin before swabbing does not affect the result of sampling the microbiome in healthy dogs. These results will increase our understanding of the biology of canine skin.