Fig. 2

Principal Coordinate analysis (PCoA) on weighted UniFrac distance metric from QIIME using Primer PERMANOVA. Data are from faecal samples taken following different diet periods from 11 healthy client-owned dogs, during the seven-week dietary intervention study. A mean value of the three samples collected from each of the dogs in each of the diet periods were used for this analysis. The diet periods were as follows: CD1 for week 1 and 2, during which all dogs were acclimated to commercial dry food (CD; Felleskjøpet’s Labb adult), followed by incremental substitution of the CD diet with minced beef − LMB, low minced beef for week 3, MMB, moderate minced beef for week 4, and HMB, high minced beef for week 5 – and finally, CD2 for week 6 and 7, during which the dogs were reintroduced to the CD diet. The data are displayed across the two main principal coordinates (PCO 1 and 2). Each point represents the total bacterial community within one sample and each colour represents different diet period. Closer clustering between points indicate higher relative commonality with respect to bacterial community (more bacterial taxa in common). Concomitantly, larger distances between points indicate lower relative commonality in bacterial taxa. The different coloured points represent individual samples from dogs fed the different diets. CD1 (turquoise points), CD2 (purple points), HMB (green points). PERMANOVA for HMB vs. CD1, p = 0.04, t = 1.57 and HMB vs. CD2, p = 0.04, t = 1.61. No significant differences were detected between CD1 or CD2 vs. LMB or MMB and are therefore not included in the figure