01/06/2026
Let’s talk about poo!
It might not be the most glamorous topic, but at Lumbry Park Veterinary Specialists, faecal transplants can play an important role in helping some of our patients with gastrointestinal disease.
Certain conditions, particularly those causing chronic diarrhoea, can be linked to dysbiosis - an imbalance in the normal bacteria within the intestines, often involving an overgrowth of less helpful bacteria. This can happen due to underlying disease, prolonged antibiotic treatment, or other changes within the gut.
In selected cases, giving a patient a carefully prepared “top up” of healthy gut bacteria from a screened donor animal can help support their intestinal microbiome.
At Lumbry Park, our poo donors are healthy pets who have been screened for infectious diseases and are not receiving antibiotics themselves. Their donations are carefully prepared and safely administered to recipient patients - usually via the bottom!
This is an evolving area of veterinary medicine, with ongoing research helping us learn more all the time. In the right patients, we have seen some encouraging results.
Pictured here is Sam Taylor’s dog, Fee, who has donated her poo to several other dogs - and, quite rightly, always receives an extra biscuit for her efforts!
