Back to Blog

Study Recruitment - Could Your Dog Help Shape the Future of Gut Health?

We are recruiting owners of healthy dogs to take part in a clinical trial to assess the effect of daily feeding of an herbal nutritional supplement on the faecal microbiome composition of dogs.

October 30, 2025 • 2 min read

Bushra Schuitemaker

Lead Microbiologist

We’re on a mission to learn more about how natural nutrition supports gut health in dogs. By taking part in this study, your dog can help us uncover how an herbal supplement influences the microbiome and contributes to better digestive and overall health.

The faecal microbiome is composed of all the microbes which reside in the waste matter that your dog excretes each time your dog defecates (poops). The microbiome includes bacteria, viruses and fungi, although it is bacteria that we are interested in identifying.

If you are interested in this study, please complete this form to express interest.

We are looking to include healthy dogs fed either a commercial dry dog food or raw diet. By dry diet, we mean a commercial heat-extruded kibble diet (not cold pressed) versus a raw diet where all ingredients fed are fresh or thawed from frozen raw food and this does not include freeze dried raw food.

Briefly, this study requires that you:

Be able to collect, package and send 2 faecal samples from your dog: one at the start of the study and one 6 weeks later. You will be provided with gloves, faecal collection equipment and instructions on how to safely do this.
Complete 2 additional surveys about your dog’s body weight and body condition score as well as more about what you are feeding.

If your dog is assigned to the treatment group, you will receive enough Verm-X® (the herbal nutritional supplement) to feed once daily for 6 weeks. If your dog is not assigned to the treatment group, you will not need to do anything different with your dog for the 6 weeks of the study.

This study requires that you maintain your dog on the same diet that they have been eating before the study starts. We will also be asking you to stick to just one type of treat and not to change any supplements as much as you can for the duration of the study. If you are already using Verm-X®, then we cannot include your dog in this study.

You will need to complete a short survey form to show your expression of interest (EOI) in this research. You will need to answer some questions about your dog, including breed, age, sex and neuter status, what you are feeding your dog and your contact details. If your dog meets the inclusion criteria, we will contact you to obtain your consent to take part in this research and give you more information about what this study involves.

All information that you provide will be kept confidential and only used for the purpose of completing this study. Once the study is completed, all identifying personal information will be deleted.

Verm-X® is manufactured for Paddocks Farm Partnership Ltd. who are funding this study.

This study is being carried out by independent veterinary epidemiologists Drs. Vicki Adams and Johanna Penell.

Frequently asked questions

The microbiome is the name given to the collection of microbes, mostly bacteria, but also fungi and protozoa, that exist within your dog’s gut. It is a diverse and complex microbial community which can directly affect health and wellbeing. We know that 90% of a human’s body cells are microbes, with only 10% being human cells – it’s just that human cells are markedly larger than the microbes. It’s similar for our four-legged friends. Testing the microbiome gives us an idea of exactly which bacteria are present in your dog’s gut and this can help indicate existing or future health problems.
A healthy diversity within the microbiome has been found to be an accurate indicator of overall health and wellbeing. If your dog appears healthy, but has an imbalance in their microbiome, then this could be an indicator of a potential future health issue. If your dog has any existing health complaints, then improving the health of their microbiome can help to improve immune system health and overall wellbeing, as well as improving disease symptoms.
Testing and treatment have the potential to help with a whole range of different health complaints. The immune system is very closely associated with the gut, so any imbalance in the microbiome can influence immune system health, overall vitality and wellbeing. Our supplement recommendations are also tailored to your individual dog, with specific ranges designed to help with gastrointestinal inflammation, joint problems, allergies and skin complaints, to name a few.
All you need to do is order a kit online and fill in our questionnaire about your dog and their general health. We will then send the kit out to you by post. You then just need to collect a sample and return it to us, again by post. Once the test is performed, we will email the results directly to you.
You do not need to get your vet’s permission to test, or talk to them about performing the test beforehand. We do recommend that you pass on a copy of your test results to your regular vets, as it may help them in understanding your pet’s current health, and any future complaints they may have.