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Obtaining correct amounts of essential elements, and avoiding toxic metals are key factors in dog health. Through analyzing major and trace elements in hair and blood of 50 healthy companion dogs using ICP-MS, we study their associations with dog characteristics and diet, hypothesizing that eating the same diet long-term results in strong correlations between hair and blood element concentrations, and that dog characteristics and diet affect element status. The correlation between hair and blood was significant for Hg (R = 0.601, p = 0.000) and Pb (R = 0.384, p = 0.010). The following associations were significant (p < 0.05): Dark hair had higher Ca and Mg compared to light hair. Females had higher hair Zn, blood Mn, and blood As compared to males. Blood Mn and Se increased, while blood Pb decreased with age. Raw diet fed dogs had higher hair Zn and Se compared to dry or mixed diet fed dogs, and lower blood Mn compared to dry diet fed dogs. Dry and mixed diet fed dogs had higher blood Cd compared to raw diet fed dogs. Mixed diet fed dogs had higher hair Ca and Mg compared to raw or dry diet fed dogs, and higher hair Pb compared to dry diet fed dogs. Wild game consumption was associated with higher blood Pb, and rice consumption with higher blood As. In conclusion, hair provides an alternative for assessing Hg and Pb exposure, and major and trace elements status is affected by hair color, sex, age, and diet. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11259-021-09854-8.

Steps one must take in Virginia to sell pet food or treats. FST-322

Discusses food safety, labeling and other issues regarding the sell of pet foods and treats at farmers markets.

Background Elimination dietary trials for the diagnosis of adverse food reactions (food allergies) in dogs and cats are often conducted with commercial pet foods while relying on their label to select those not containing previously-eaten ingredients. There are concerns that industrial pet foods might contain unlisted food sources that could negate the usefulness of performing food trials. Furthermore, unidentified ingredients might cause clinical reactions in patients hypersensitive to such items. Results We searched two article databases on July 7, 2017 and January 12, 2018 for relevant articles, and we screened abstracts from the leading international veterinary dermatology congresses for suitable material. Additional citations were found in the selected papers. In all, we extracted data from 17 articles and one abstract. The studies varied both in the number of pet foods tested (median: 15; range: 1 to 210) and that of ingredients specifically evaluated (median: 4; range: 1 to 11). Studies most often employed either PCR to detect DNA or ELISA to identify proteins from one or more vegetal or animal species; two studies used mass spectrometry to increase the number of detectable proteins. The various methods found ingredients that were not on the label in 0 to 83% (median: 45%) of tested diets; this percentage varied between 33 and 83% in pet foods with “novel/limited” ingredients proposed for elimination diets. Similarly, ingredients were found to be missing from the label in 0 to 38% (median: 1%) of tested foods. Finally, six studies evaluated, among others, several hydrolysate-containing pet foods: mislabeling with unlabeled or missing ingredients was found only in one diet. Conclusions The mislabeling of pet foods appears rather common, even in those with “novel” or “limited” ingredients proposed for elimination diets. Unexpected added ingredients are more frequently detected than those missing from the label. There is insufficient information to determine if the presence of a contaminating component will lead to a clinical reaction in a patient allergic to it, as challenges with the mislabeled foods were not performed in dogs or cats allergic to such ingredients. The testing of hydrolysate-containing pet foods found only one instance of possible mislabeling. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-018-1346-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) has been shown to be an accurate and precise biomarker for calculating estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in humans, as well as a more sensitive biomarker than serum creatinine concentration (sCr) for assessing renal dysfunction. Objectives: The purpose of this retrospective study was to report on the utility of measuring serum SDMA concentrations in cats for detection of chronic kidney disease (CKD) before diagnosis by conventional measurement of sCr. Animals: Chronic kidney disease cats (n = 21) included those persistently azotemic for ≥3 months (n = 15), nonazotemic cats with GFR >30% decreased from median GFR of normal cats (n = 4), and nonazotemic cats with calcium oxalate kidney stones (n = 2). Healthy geriatric cats (n = 21) were selected from the same colony. Methods: Symmetric dimethylarginine concentrations (liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy) and sCr (enzymatic colorimetry) were determined retrospectively from historical data or banked serum samples in azotemic cats or at the time GFR (iohexol clearance) was measured in nonazotemic cats. Results: Serum SDMA (r = 0.79) and sCr (r = 0.77) concentrations were significantly correlated to GFR (both P < .0001). Symmetric dimethylarginine became increased before sCr in 17/21 cats (mean, 17.0 months; range, 1.5– 48 months). Serum SDMA had higher sensitivity (100%) compared with sCr (17%), but lower specificity (91% versus 100%) and positive predictive value (86% versus 100%). Conclusion and Clinical Importance: Using serum SDMA as a biomarker for CKD allows earlier detection of CKD in cats compared with sCr, which may be desirable for initiating renoprotective interventions that slow progression of CKD.

Although several studies have examined why overall price levels are higher in richer countries, little is known about whether there is a similar relationship at the urban and city level across countries. This paper compares the price levels of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with those of other regions by analyzing price information collected for the 2011 round of the International Comparison Program. Readjusting the calculated price levels from national to urban levels, the analysis indicates that African cities are relatively more expensive, despite having lower income levels. The price levels of goods and services consumed by households are up to 31percent higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other low- and middle-income countries, relative to their income levels. Food and non-alcoholic beverages are especially expensive, with price levels around 35 percent higher than in other countries. The paper also analyzes price information collected by the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, and obtains a similar result, indicating higher prices of goods and services in African cities.

Cats maintain higher blood Se concentrations compared to dogs and, unlike dogs, show no signs of chronic Se toxicity (selenosis) when fed dietary organic Se (selenomethionine) concentrations of 10 µg/g DM. This study investigated the response of cats and dogs to high dietary concentrations of sodium selenite and organic Se to determine differences in metabolism between both species. In 2 consecutive studies, 18 adult cats and 18 adult dogs of equal sex were fed a control diet (0.6 µg Se/g DM) or the control diet supplemented to 8 to 10 µg Se/g DM from Na2SeO3 or organic Se for 3 wk. All animals were fed the control diet 1 mo before the start of the study and blood samples were taken on d 0 and 21. The Se balance was assessed during the final week and a liver biopsy was obtained on the final day of the study. Measurements included plasma Se concentrations, plasma glutathione peroxidise (GPx) activities, plasma Se clearance, Se intake, and urinary Se excretion. No clinical signs of selenosis were observed in the cats or dogs, and apart from Se clearance, form of Se had no effect on any of the measurements. Apparent fecal Se absorption was greater in the dogs fed both forms of Se, while greater plasma Se concentrations were observed in the cats on both the control and supplemented diet (P = 0.034). Cats fed the supplemented diets had lower hepatic Se concentrations (P

Fifty newborn Saanen kids were used to study the effects of inulin supplementation on faecal score, faecal pH, selected faecal bacterial population, BW, body temperature, haematological traits, selected health parameters and the incidence of diarrhoea. Kids were sorted by parity of their dams and multiple birth (twin or triplet) and assigned to one of the two groups (control: CG, and experimental: EG) at birth. Each group consisted of 25 kids. The groups were similar with regard to sex and birth weight. All kids were fed colostrum for the first 3 days after birth, and then the kids in EG were adapted to inulin supplementation by an increased dosage from day 4 to 7. Each kid in EG was supplemented with 0.2 g, 0.3 g, 0.4 g, 0.5 g and 0.6 g inulin on day 4, 5, 6, 7 and from day 8 to 28, respectively, whereas the kids in CG did not receive inulin. Faecal score and faecal bacterial population were not affected by inulin supplementation (P > 0.05). There were differences in faecal pH on day 14 (P = 0.01) and 28 (P < 0.05), whereas no difference in faecal pH on day 21 (P > 0.05) was detected between groups. No differences (P > 0.05) in BW and haematological traits were found between groups. Body temperature did not differ on day 14 and 21 (P > 0.05), whereas there was a difference in body temperature on day 28 (P = 0.01) between groups. The numbers of kids with pneumonia and kids treated for pneumonia and diarrhoea were similar for CG and EG. Kid losses during the study were the same for CG and EG. The incidence of diarrhoea was not affected by inulin supplementation (P > 0.05). Inulin supplemented to kids did not adversely affect faecal score. The effect of inulin on faecal pH was not consistent. The results of our study suggested that daily dose (0.6 g) of inulin might not be enough to observe effects of it. Our data will be useful to determine the dose and timing of inulin supplementation in future studies investigating the effects of inulin on the parameters associated with performance and health status in kids and other young ruminants.

The response of cats to dietary sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and organically bound selenium was studied in two separate studies with four cats per treatment and three levels of selenium supplementation (targets 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 µg/g DM) for each Se source. Whole blood and plasma selenium concentrations and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were determined at 7-time points across the 32-day study. Faeces were quantitatively collected during the last 8 days and urine was collected daily during both studies. The basal diet used had a low apparent faecal selenium absorption of 25.3 ± 3.0%. Daily faecal and urinary selenium excretion increased linearly with increasing selenium intake for both Se sources. Urinary selenium concentration of the cats fed the supplemented diets increased rapidly (~2 days) and remained constant throughout the remainder of the study. Apparent faecal selenium absorption was high for both selenium sources (73.2% and 80.0%). Plasma, and to a lesser extent, whole blood selenium concentrations increased in a dose-dependent manner with supplementation. Whole blood and plasma GPx activity were highly variable and showed a variable response to dietary selenium intake. Cats closely regulate selenium homeostasis through increasing urinary excretion whilst faecal absorption remains unaffected

The energy value of foods as well as energy requirements of dogs and cats is currently expressed in terms of metabolizable energy (ME). The determination of ME content of foods requires experimental animals and is too expensive and time consuming to be used routinely. Consequently, different indirect methods have been proposed in order to estimate as reliably an accurately as possible the ME content of pet food. This work analyses the main approaches proposed to date to estimate the ME content of foods for cats and dogs. The former method proposed by the NRC estimates the ME content of pet foods from proximal chemical analysis using the modified Atwater factors, assuming constant apparent digestibility coefficients for each analytical fraction. Modified Atwater factors systematically underestimate the ME content of low-fibre foods whereas they overestimate those that are high in fibre. Recently, different equations have been proposed for dogs and cats based in the estimation of apparent digestibility of energy by the crude fibre content, which improve the accuracy of prediction. In any case, whatever the method of analysis used, differences in energy digestibility related with food processing and fibre digestibility are unlikely to be accounted for. A simple in vitro enzymatic method has been recently proposed based in the close relationship that exist between energy digestibility and organic matter disappearance after two consecutive enzymatic (pepsin-pancreatin) incubation of food sample. Nutrient composition and energy value of pet foods can be also accurately and simultaneously predicted using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS).

This paper was designed to evaluate the rancidity of 18 pet food samples using the Diamed FATS kits and official AOCS methods for the quantification of free fatty acids, peroxide value and concentrations of malonaldehyde and alkenal in the lipid extracted. Although expiration dates have passed, the samples presented good quality evidencing little oxidative rancidity. The results of this study suggest that the Brazilian pet food market is replete with products of excellent quality due to the competitiveness of this market sector.O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar 18 amostras de rações, utilizando kits Diamed FATS e métodos oficiais da AOCS para quantificações de ácidos graxos livres, índice de peróxido e concentrações de malonaldeído e alquenais no lipídio extraído. Embora estivessem fora do prazo de validade, as amostras apresentaram boa qualidade, indicada pelos baixos valores de rancidez oxidativa. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que o mercado brasileiro de rações conta com produtos de excelente qualidade, devido à competitividade do setor.

There is a growing concern for the long-term health effects of selenium (Se) over- or underfeeding. The efficiency of utilization of dietary Se is subject to many factors. Our study in dogs evaluated the effect of diet type (canned versus kibble) and dietary protein concentration on Se digestibility and bioactivity. Canned and kibble diets are commonly used formats of dog food, widely ranging in protein concentration. Twenty-four Labrador retrievers were used and four canned and four kibble diets were selected with crude protein concentrations ranging from 10.1 to 27.5 g/MJ. Crude protein concentration had no influence on the digestibility of Se in either canned or kibble diets, but a lower Se digestibility was observed in canned compared to kibble diets. However, the biological activity of Se, as measured by whole blood glutathione peroxidase, was higher in dogs fed the canned diets than in dogs fed the kibble diets and decreased with increasing crude protein intake. These results indicate that selenium recommendations in dog foods need to take diet type into account.

Pet dogs and cats around the world are commonly fed processed commercial foods throughout their lives. Often heat treatments are used during the processing of these foods to improve nutrient digestibility, shelf life, and food safety. Processing is known to induce the Maillard reaction, in which a reducing sugar binds to a free reactive amino group of an amino acid. In intact proteins, the ε-amino group of lysine is the most abundant free amino group. The reaction reduces the bioavailability of lysine and results in the formation of advanced Maillard reaction products. The aim of this thesis was to determine the occurrence and progression of the Maillard reaction during the manufacturing of pet foods, the subsequent impact on nutritive value of the food, and the bioavailability of Maillard reaction products in cats. In Chapter 2, the scientific literature was reviewed to investigate the current state of knowledge on the Maillard reaction and its potential effect on the nutritive value of pet foods and on pet health. Determination of the difference between total and reactive lysine by chemical methods provides an indication of the Maillard reaction in pet foods. Studies reported that the proportion of reactive lysine is on average 73% (range 39 – 100%) of total lysine, and that foods for growing dogs may be at risk of supplying less lysine than the animals require. The endogenous analogues of Maillard reaction products, advanced glycation end-products, have been associated with age-related diseases in humans, such as diabetes and impaired renal function. In dogs, data indicate higher advanced glycation end-product contents in plasma from dogs suffering from canine diabetes mellitus compared with healthy control animals. In addition, elevated levels of advanced glycation end-products in tissue proteins in dogs were observed for a number of diseases. To date it was unknown to what extent Maillard reaction products were present in pet foods, and whether dietary Maillard reaction products can be associated with the development of diseases such as diabetes and impaired renal function in pet animals. As the Maillard reaction is induced by processing, changing processing conditions should have an influence on the severity of the reaction. However, effects of processing conditions on the difference in total and reactive lysine contents in pet foods were inconsistent and did not always correspond to model systems. Processing temperature was reported to be the most important factor followed by moisture level. In addition, differences between total and reactive lysine were observed in several ingredients commonly used in pet foods. Reviewing the literature indicates that it is unknown to which extent the Maillard reaction occurs and whether Maillard reaction products are present in pet foods. There might be a risk for certain foods not meeting minimal lysine requirements. It is also unknown what the exact effect of processing on the Maillard reaction is in pet foods. The experiment described in Chapter 3 was designed to evaluate whether commercial pet foods meet minimal lysine requirements. Sixty-seven extruded, canned and pelleted commercially available dog and cat foods formulated for growth and maintenance were analysed using conventional amino acid analysis and O-methylisourea as reagent for reactive lysine. Sixty out of the 67 foods in this study, regardless of the type of processing technology used, contained a lower reactive lysine than total lysine content. On average, pelleted and extruded foods contain lower reactive to total lysine ratios compared to canned foods (0.85, 0.89, and 0.93, respectively). All cat foods and foods for adult dogs met minimal lysine requirements. However, eight dry foods for growing dogs contained reactive lysine contents between 96 and 138% of the minimal lysine requirement, indicating that reactive lysine has to be between 62 and 104% digestible to meet minimal requirement. Considering the variability in reactive lysine digestibility, these foods could be at risk of not meeting minimal lysine requirements for growing dogs. In Chapter 4, the foods from Chapter 3 were used to quantitate the Maillard reaction products fructoselysine (FL), carboxymethyllysine (CML), hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and the cross-linked amino acid lysinoalanine (LAL) using UPLC-MS. In all foods, Maillard reaction products and LAL were found but in highly variable amounts. Type of processing seems to be a key factor for the concentration of FL, CML and HMF, with on average higher amounts in canned foods than pelleted and extruded foods (on a dry matter basis). The contents of CML and HMF found in commercial pet foods are, on average, within the range reported in processed human food products. Average daily intake (mg/kg body weight0.75) of HMF was 122 times higher for dogs and 38 times higher for cats than the calculated average intake for adult humans. Average daily intake of CML was comparable to the intake of adult humans. As Chapters 3 and 4 indicated that pelleted foods contain more Maillard reaction products than extruded foods, despite the less severe production process, an experiment was designed to gain insight in the effect of steam pelleting on the Maillard reaction in a dog food (Chapter 5). The aim was to examine the effect of conditioning temperature (65 and 90°C) and die hole length (ø 5 × 45, 65, and 80 mm) during pelleting processing of a standard dry dog food on selected indicators of the Maillard reaction (total lysine, reactive lysine, FL, CML, HMF, LAL), browning development and CIE-Lab colour. Steam pelleting did not cause a significant loss of reactive lysine and change of absorbance values. This indicates that the effect of steam pelleting on the nutritive value of the foods is low. However, steam pelleting did increase the content of Maillard reaction products. The formation of the Maillard reaction products was associated with an increase in temperature and die hole length during the steam pelleting process. The unprocessed ingredient mix already contained a larger difference between reactive and total lysine, and contents of Maillard reaction products than was induced during steam pelleting. Therefore, the choice of the ingredients used in this study mainly determines reactive lysine content and Maillard reaction products in the pet food formulation. As it is unknown to which extent extrusion processing influences the Maillard reaction in pet foods, the effect of extrusion processing on selected indicators of the Maillard reaction was determined (Chapter 6). The extrusion parameters temperature (140 and 165°C), moisture content (200 and 300 g/kg) and screw speed (100 and 200 rpm) were applied to two dry dog foods formulated using either intact or hydrolysed proteins. Extrusion processing in general results in a decrease in total and reactive lysine and an increase in FL, CML, HMF and LAL content. However, this effect appeared more pronounced in the diet containing hydrolysed protein. Decreasing temperature and moisture content led to higher total and reactive lysine contents, and less Maillard reaction products in the dog foods. Increasing screw speed had a positive influence on total and reactive lysine, but a negative influence on Maillard reaction products. As was found in Chapter 5, the unprocessed ingredient mixtures in this experiment contained already more Maillard reaction products than was induced during extrusion processing. Whether the Maillard reaction products reported in pet foods are physiologically relevant in pet animals depends on the bioavailability of these components. Therefore, urinary excretion was studied in adult cats fed commercial moist and dry foods containing varying amounts of FL, CML and the amino acid LAL (Chapter 7). A pilot study was first conducted to determine the adaptation time required for stable urinary excretion of the Maillard reaction products when changing diets with contrasting contents of Maillard reaction products. An adaptation time of 1 d was deemed sufficient in adult cats. The short adaptation time indicates an effective urinary excretion of Maillard reaction products. In the main study, six commercially processed dry and six moist diets were fed to 12 adult female cats in two parallel randomized, 36-day, balanced Latin square designs. Urine was collected quantitatively and FL, CML and LAL were analysed in foods and collected urine using HPLC-MS. Daily urinary excretion of FL and CML showed a positive relationship with daily intake in the dry and moist foods. For LAL, no significant relationship was observed. The observed increase in urinary excretion with increasing dietary intake indicates that dietary Maillard reaction products are absorbed from the gastro-intestinal tract of cats and excreted in the urine. Minimum apparent absorption based on urinary excretion (assuming 100% of the excreted component originates from the diet) of FL, CML and LAL was found to range between 8 to 23%, 25 to 73% and 6 to 19%, respectively. Urinary recovery (% ingested) showed a negative relationship with daily intake for FL, CML and LAL in the dry foods and for CML and LAL in the moist foods. The observed decrease in urinary recovery with increasing intake suggests a limiting factor in digestion, absorption, metabolism or urinary excretion. The studies reported in this thesis are one of the first to determine Maillard reaction products in pet foods and the bioavailability of FL, CML and LAL in cats. In addition, the results highlight the importance of reactive lysine measurement in foods for growing dogs used as weaning diets. Contribution of the absorption of dietary Maillard reaction products to the pathogenesis of various health conditions requires further study, as well as the potential role of restriction of dietary Maillard reaction products in prevention and treatment of long-term health implications. Extrusion and pelleting processing do increase the Maillard reaction, however, choice of ingredients appears to have a larger effect on the content of Maillard reaction products and can, therefore, be a useful strategy for pet food manufacturers that want to decrease the content of Maillard reaction products in their pet foods.

Cats maintain higher blood Se concentrations compared to dogs and, unlike dogs, show no signs of chronic Se toxicity (selenosis) when fed dietary organic Se (selenomethionine) concentrations of 10 µg/g DM. This study investigated the response of cats and dogs to high dietary concentrations of sodium selenite and organic Se to determine differences in metabolism between both species. In 2 consecutive studies, 18 adult cats and 18 adult dogs of equal sex were fed a control diet (0.6 µg Se/g DM) or the control diet supplemented to 8 to 10 µg Se/g DM from Na2SeO3 or organic Se for 3 wk. All animals were fed the control diet 1 mo before the start of the study and blood samples were taken on d 0 and 21. The Se balance was assessed during the final week and a liver biopsy was obtained on the final day of the study. Measurements included plasma Se concentrations, plasma glutathione peroxidise (GPx) activities, plasma Se clearance, Se intake, and urinary Se excretion. No clinical signs of selenosis were observed in the cats or dogs, and apart from Se clearance, form of Se had no effect on any of the measurements. Apparent fecal Se absorption was greater in the dogs fed both forms of Se, while greater plasma Se concentrations were observed in the cats on both the control and supplemented diet (P = 0.034). Cats fed the supplemented diets had lower hepatic Se concentrations (P

The response of cats to dietary sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and organically bound selenium was studied in two separate studies with four cats per treatment and three levels of selenium supplementation (targets 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 µg/g DM) for each Se source. Whole blood and plasma selenium concentrations and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were determined at 7-time points across the 32-day study. Faeces were quantitatively collected during the last 8 days and urine was collected daily during both studies. The basal diet used had a low apparent faecal selenium absorption of 25.3 ± 3.0%. Daily faecal and urinary selenium excretion increased linearly with increasing selenium intake for both Se sources. Urinary selenium concentration of the cats fed the supplemented diets increased rapidly (~2 days) and remained constant throughout the remainder of the study. Apparent faecal selenium absorption was high for both selenium sources (73.2% and 80.0%). Plasma, and to a lesser extent, whole blood selenium concentrations increased in a dose-dependent manner with supplementation. Whole blood and plasma GPx activity were highly variable and showed a variable response to dietary selenium intake. Cats closely regulate selenium homeostasis through increasing urinary excretion whilst faecal absorption remains unaffected

Evaluation of different protein sources used in dog food using mink as a model for ileal digestibility in dog Dog owners pay lot of attention on providing proper nutrition to their dog that will support longevity and good health. Great effort is therefore made by feed producers concerning information about nutritional quality of dog food ingredients and at to what extent they cover the nutritional requirement of dogs at different life stages. Protein and amino acid content and utilization is of great importance in the evaluation of pet food ingredients. A key factor in protein utilization is digestibility. In dogs digestion and absorption in the small intestine will be the main site for evaluating digestibility since 90 % of digestion take place in this part of the digestive tract. Ileal digestibility values will therefore be more correct than apparent total tract digestibility values that are influenced by degradation of protein in the colon. Degraded and metabolized protein from fermentation processes in the colon is not absorbed and utilized as amino acids in the small intestine. Microbial degradation produces volatile N compounds that will not be accounted for and therefore total tract digestibility values will overestimate protein digestibility. Ileal protein digestibility values require use of ileal cannulated dogs, which is an invasive method with ethical considerations. A non-invasive alternative to obtain ileal digestibility values would be to apply the mink (Neovison vison), a well established model animal in protein digestibility studies. Mink have been proposed to have a similar total tract digestive capacity as ileal digestion in the dog because of its much simpler digestive tract without caecum, rapid passage rate and low microbial activity in colon. The main objective of experimental part of this thesis was therefore to report a study comparing apparent total tract, colon and ileal digestibility of protein in dog with total tract digestibility in mink using three different protein sources applied in extruded dog food. Lamb meal, poultry meal and fishmeal was applied as main protein sources because of the expected gap in protein digestibility, lowest for lamb meal, intermediate for poultry meal and highest for fish meal. The results showed that overall apparent total tract values were significantly higher than values obtained from colon, ileum or as apparent total tract in mink. Values for apparent total tract, colon, ileum, and total tract in mink were 83.5, 78.5, 74.4 and 77.8%, respectively. Mink digestibility values were significantly different from ileal values but not from colon values. As expected the digestibility was generally lowest for the lamb meal food, intermediate for the poultry meal and highest for fish meal. The difference between total tract digestibility values and ileal values in the dog increased with decreasing digestibility. For the fish meal food the difference was 6.9 % while corresponding for the poultry meal and lamb meal food was 9.0 % and 11.4 %, respectively. This demonstrates the effect of fermentation and more important, that apparent total tract values overestimate poor digestible protein sources more than highly digestible. Even though mink digestibility values were higher than ileal values in the dog, they were generally closer to ileal values than apparent total tract values for the dog, and they appeared to be closer to ileal values with lower digestibility. Mink digestibility values were similar to values from colon, thus indicating that mink total tract digestibility can be ranked between apparent total tract and ileal in the dog. All methods were highly positively correlated showing coefficients from 0.857 to 0.959 (P

During the processing of foodstuffs, lysine can react with other compounds present to form nutritionally unavailable derivatives, the most common example of which are Maillard products. Maillard products can cause serious problems when determining the available lysine content of processed foods or feedstuffs as they can revert to lysine during amino acid analysis. Several methods have been developed to determine the dietary lysine available for the metabolic processes of animals including animal growth-based assays, reactive lysine chemical methods and digestibility assays. However, growth-based assays are laborious, highly variable and tend to determine utilization rather than availability. Chemically reactive lysine assays do accurately determine the unmodified lysine in a food or feedstuff, but do not determine available lysine as they incorrectly assume that reactive lysine digestion and absorption is 100%. Ileal digestibility assays measure digestible total lysine rather than digestible reactive lysine (available lysine) and so are inaccurate, especially when applied to processed protein sources. This thesis describes the development of a true ileal digestible reactive lysine assay for determining dietary (bio)available lysine. This assay couples the guanidination reaction, for determining reactive lysine, with a true ileal digestibility assay. The resulting apparent digestibility estimate is corrected to a true digestibility value by accounting for the endogenous ileal lysine flow. Selected reaction conditions for the guanidination of lysine in a heated lactose/casein mixture and digesta of rats fed unheated casein and heated lactose/casein was examined. Overall, suitable reaction conditions were 0.6 M O-methylisourea for 7 d in a shaking waterbath at 21 ± 2 °C with an O-methylisourea to lysine ratio of 1000 and a reaction mixture pH of 10.6 for casein and heated lactose/casein and 11.0 for digesta. The accuracy of the guanidination method for determining reactive lysine in a range of “ready-to-eat ” cereal-based breakfast foods and selected feedstuffs was tested by comparison with the reactive lysine content of the same protein sources when determined using the fluorodinitrobenzene method. Overall, there was excellent agreement between the two methods. The accuracy of the newly developed bioassay for determining digestible reactive (available) lysine for predicting lysine deposition was also tested using a heated skim milk powder. The true ileal total and reactive lysine digestibilities were determined for the heated skim milk powder which was then fed to pigs, along with two control diets which were formulated based on either total lysine digestibility or reactive lysine digestibility. All diets were limiting in lysine. The pigs fed the heated skim milk powder deposited the same (P > 0.05) amount of lysine (9.1 g d-1) as the pigs fed the control diet that was formulated based on reactive lysine digestibility (9.1 g d-1) but deposited significantly (P < 0.05) more than the pigs fed the control diet that was formulated based on total lysine digestibility (5.4 g d-1). Consequently for the heated skim milk powder at least, the true ileal digestible reactive lysine assay accurately determined the available lysine content. The new assay demonstrated that for a range of milk protein-based foods, there was little difference between digestible total lysine and digestible reactive lysine for most of the milk products tested. In contrast, for a range of “ready-to-eat” cereal-based breakfast foods, available lysine was 5 – 50% lower than that determined using the traditional assay, which is of concern given that breakfast cereals are perceived to be “healthy” foods. Similarly, the available lysine content of a range of moist and dry commercial cat foods was significantly (P < 0.05) lower (15-55% lower) than previously estimated using the traditional true ileal digestible total lysine assay. The assay was also used to examine the effect of storage for extended periods at elevated temperatures on a hydrolysed-lactose skim milk powder and overall, there was a significant decrease in the available lysine content over time, as much as 60% over 6 mth when the powder was stored at 40 °C. In addition, the decrease in available lysine content of the hydrolysed-lactose skim milk powder was 2 – 5.5 times greater than observed for a normal skim milk powder depending on the storage time and temperature. Overall, foods and feedstuffs that have undergone processing often contain lower amounts of available lysine than thought previously. This new assay not only highlights the inaccuracy of the traditional true ileal digestible total lysine assay as a method for determining available lysine in processed protein sources, but permits the accurate assessment of the available lysine content of processed foods and feedstuffs.

The energy value of foods as well as energy requirements of dogs and cats is currently expressed in terms of metabolizable energy (ME). The determination of ME content of foods requires experimental animals and is too expensive and time consuming to be used routinely. Consequently, different indirect methods have been proposed in order to estimate as reliably an accurately as possible the ME content of pet food. This work analyses the main approaches proposed to date to estimate the ME content of foods for cats and dogs. The former method proposed by the NRC estimates the ME content of pet foods from proximal chemical analysis using the modified Atwater factors, assuming constant apparent digestibility coefficients for each analytical fraction. Modified Atwater factors systematically underestimate the ME content of low-fibre foods whereas they overestimate those that are high in fibre. Recently, different equations have been proposed for dogs and cats based in the estimation of apparent digestibility of energy by the crude fibre content, which improve the accuracy of prediction. In any case, whatever the method of analysis used, differences in energy digestibility related with food processing and fibre digestibility are unlikely to be accounted for. A simple in vitro enzymatic method has been recently proposed based in the close relationship that exist between energy digestibility and organic matter disappearance after two consecutive enzymatic (pepsin-pancreatin) incubation of food sample. Nutrient composition and energy value of pet foods can be also accurately and simultaneously predicted using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). O valor energético dos alimentos, bem como os requerimentos em energia para cães e gatos são expressos em termos de energia metabolizável (EM). A determinação do conteúdo de EM dos alimentos requer ensaios com animais e apresentam alto custo. Consequentemente, diferentes métodos indiretos tem sido propostos para estimar o conteúdo de EM dos alimentos PET. Este artigo analisa os principais métodos propostos para estimar o conteúdo de EM dos alimentos para cães e gatos. O método formal proposto pelo NRC estima o conteúdo de EM dos alimentos pet a partir da análise proximal usando fatores Atwater, assumindo coeficiente de digestibilidade aparente constante para cada fração analizada. Os fatores "Atwater" modificados, sistematicamente, subestimam o conteúdo de EM de alimentos com baixa fibra e superestimam para os alimentos com alto conteúdo de fibra. Recentemente, diferentes equações tem sido propostas para cães e gatos, baseadas na estimação da digestibilidade aparente da energia pelo conteúdo de fibra bruta, as quais melhoram a precisão da predição. Em todo caso, qualquer que seja o método de análise usado, diferenças relatadas na digestibilidade da energia e digestibilidade da fibra com alimentos processados dificilmente são explicadas. Um método enzimático in vitro simples tem sido proposto recentemente, baseado na relação que existe entre digestibilidade de energia e o desaparecimento da matéria orgânica de amostras de alimentos após duas incubações enzimáticas consecutivas ( pepsina- pancreatina). A composição em nutrientes e o valor energético de alimentos pet podem ser, simultaneamente, e de forma precisa, preditos, usando espectroscopia de refletância infra vermelho (NIRS).

This paper was designed to evaluate the rancidity of 18 pet food samples using the Diamed FATS kits and official AOCS methods for the quantification of free fatty acids, peroxide value and concentrations of malonaldehyde and alkenal in the lipid extracted. Although expiration dates have passed, the samples presented good quality evidencing little oxidative rancidity. The results of this study suggest that the Brazilian pet food market is replete with products of excellent quality due to the competitiveness of this market sector. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar 18 amostras de rações, utilizando kits Diamed FATS e métodos oficiais da AOCS para quantificações de ácidos graxos livres, índice de peróxido e concentrações de malonaldeído e alquenais no lipídio extraído. Embora estivessem fora do prazo de validade, as amostras apresentaram boa qualidade, indicada pelos baixos valores de rancidez oxidativa. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que o mercado brasileiro de rações conta com produtos de excelente qualidade, devido à competitividade do setor.

Achtereenvolgens zal worden ingegaan op de definities van claims, begrippen in diervoeding, de regelgeving en implementatie van diervoeding en humane voeding. Tevens wordt het gebruik van claims in de praktijk inclusief het scoren van de gevonden claims beschreven evenals de schriftelijke enquête die gehouden is bij een aantal petfoodbedrijven. Tot slot zijn de conclusies en aanbevelingen vermeld

Achtereenvolgens zal worden ingegaan op de definities van claims, begrippen in diervoeding, de regelgeving en implementatie van diervoeding en humane voeding. Tevens wordt het gebruik van claims in de praktijk inclusief het scoren van de gevonden claims beschreven evenals de schriftelijke enquête die gehouden is bij een aantal petfoodbedrijven. Tot slot zijn de conclusies en aanbevelingen vermeld