Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*

A practical approach to determine apparent faecal digestibility using privately owned dogs may be a useful tool in evaluating differences in nutrient digestibility between dogs with various life stages. The aim was to develop a simple method that would suit such studies using the whitening agent tit...

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Main Authors: Esther A. Hagen-Plantinga, Guido Bosch, Wouter H. Hendriks
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2014-01-01
Series:Journal of Nutritional Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2048679014000263/type/journal_article
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author Esther A. Hagen-Plantinga
Guido Bosch
Wouter H. Hendriks
author_facet Esther A. Hagen-Plantinga
Guido Bosch
Wouter H. Hendriks
author_sort Esther A. Hagen-Plantinga
collection DOAJ
description A practical approach to determine apparent faecal digestibility using privately owned dogs may be a useful tool in evaluating differences in nutrient digestibility between dogs with various life stages. The aim was to develop a simple method that would suit such studies using the whitening agent titanium oxide (TiO2) as an indigestible marker. Forty privately owned, healthy male and female dogs of various breeds were included. Selection was based on an owner questionnaire. Means with their standard errors age and body weight (BW) of the dogs were 6·2 (0·6) years (range 1·0–13·0 years) and 22·3 (2·5) kg (range 5·0–43·2 kg), respectively. Owners were provided a commercial dry extruded diet supplemented with a commercially available TiO2 containing kibble (final dietary TiO2 content: 0·77 g/kg). Dogs were fed the diet for seven consecutive days at 480 kJ × BW0·75. On day 7, owners were asked to collect all faeces during 24 h and store faeces at −20°C. Faecal samples were analysed for DM, ash, N, crude fat (CF), crude fibre and Ti and gross energy (GE) and organic matter were calculated. Means with their standard errors apparent faecal digestibility of GE, DM, organic matter, N, CF and crude fibre was 83·7 (0·71), 77·4 (0·79), 83·0 (0·61), 77·7 (0·81), 94·3 (0·51) and 30·3 (4·85), respectively. No significant differences were observed in nutrient digestibility due to weight, age, sex or neuter status. The digestibility assay using a practical approach described here may be a promising tool to determine digestibility of dietary nutrients under free-living conditions. Owner compliance, however, is a potentially limiting factor.
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spelling doaj.art-0a663559a1d84ef49f34ebdf278013852023-03-09T12:38:43ZengCambridge University PressJournal of Nutritional Science2048-67902014-01-01310.1017/jns.2014.26Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*Esther A. Hagen-Plantinga0Guido Bosch1Wouter H. Hendriks2Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL Utrecht, The NetherlandsAnimal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The NetherlandsFaculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands Animal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The NetherlandsA practical approach to determine apparent faecal digestibility using privately owned dogs may be a useful tool in evaluating differences in nutrient digestibility between dogs with various life stages. The aim was to develop a simple method that would suit such studies using the whitening agent titanium oxide (TiO2) as an indigestible marker. Forty privately owned, healthy male and female dogs of various breeds were included. Selection was based on an owner questionnaire. Means with their standard errors age and body weight (BW) of the dogs were 6·2 (0·6) years (range 1·0–13·0 years) and 22·3 (2·5) kg (range 5·0–43·2 kg), respectively. Owners were provided a commercial dry extruded diet supplemented with a commercially available TiO2 containing kibble (final dietary TiO2 content: 0·77 g/kg). Dogs were fed the diet for seven consecutive days at 480 kJ × BW0·75. On day 7, owners were asked to collect all faeces during 24 h and store faeces at −20°C. Faecal samples were analysed for DM, ash, N, crude fat (CF), crude fibre and Ti and gross energy (GE) and organic matter were calculated. Means with their standard errors apparent faecal digestibility of GE, DM, organic matter, N, CF and crude fibre was 83·7 (0·71), 77·4 (0·79), 83·0 (0·61), 77·7 (0·81), 94·3 (0·51) and 30·3 (4·85), respectively. No significant differences were observed in nutrient digestibility due to weight, age, sex or neuter status. The digestibility assay using a practical approach described here may be a promising tool to determine digestibility of dietary nutrients under free-living conditions. Owner compliance, however, is a potentially limiting factor.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2048679014000263/type/journal_articleDogsApparent digestibilityTitanium oxidePractical methods
spellingShingle Esther A. Hagen-Plantinga
Guido Bosch
Wouter H. Hendriks
Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*
Journal of Nutritional Science
Dogs
Apparent digestibility
Titanium oxide
Practical methods
title Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*
title_full Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*
title_fullStr Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*
title_full_unstemmed Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*
title_short Practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets*
title_sort practical approach to determine apparent digestibility of canine diets
topic Dogs
Apparent digestibility
Titanium oxide
Practical methods
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2048679014000263/type/journal_article
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AT guidobosch practicalapproachtodetermineapparentdigestibilityofcaninediets
AT wouterhhendriks practicalapproachtodetermineapparentdigestibilityofcaninediets