chapter 1. Laboratory animal bacteriology : the past, the present, and the future -- chapter 2. Sampling animals for bacteriological examination -- chapter 3. Cultivation and identification of bacteria -- chapter 4. Immunological methods -- chapter 5. Molecular biology-based methods for microbiota characterization -- chapter 6. Mechanisms behind bacterial impact on animal models -- chapter 7. Systematic classification of bacteria -- chapter 8. Firmicutes -- chapter 9. Bacteroidetes -- chapter 10. Proteobacteria -- chapter 11. Actinobacteria -- chapter 12. Spirochaetae -- chapter 13. Tenericutes -- chapter 14. Verrucomicrobia, deferribacteres, fusobacterium, and TM7.