Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37252391›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in veterinary science2023

Determining the protocol requirements of in-home cat food digestibility testing.

E Bos, W H Hendriks, B Beerda, G Bosch

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in veterinary science, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

E BosAnimal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University & Research, WD Wageningen, Netherlands.
W H HendriksAnimal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University & Research, WD Wageningen, Netherlands.
B BeerdaBehavioral Ecology Group, Wageningen University & Research, WD Wageningen, Netherlands.
G BoschAnimal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University & Research, WD Wageningen, Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In-home cat food digestibility testing has the potential to yield data that are highly representative of the pet population for which the food is intended. However, no standardized and validated in-home digestibility test protocols are currently available. Such protocols for in-home testing should address key factors that explain variation in cat food digestibility values and here we investigated the required period of adaptation, fecal collection and sample sizes. Thirty privately-owned indoor housed cats of various breeds (20♀ 10♂, 5.9 ± 3.9 yr, 4.5 ± 1.3 kg) received a relatively low and high digestible complete dry extruded food with the marker titanium (Ti) dioxide. Foods were given in a cross-over design of 2 periods of 8 consecutive days each. Owners collected feces daily for the determination of daily fecal Ti concentrations and digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, and gross energy. Data originating from 26 cats were analyzed as mixed models and broken line regressions to investigate the required adaptation and fecal collection period. Bootstrap sampling was used to assess the impact of increasing the number of fecal collection days and sample size on the precision of the digestibility estimates. Feces were collected on 347 out of 416 study days (16 days/cat; 26 cats), implying the necessity for multiple collection days to account for cats not defecating every day. Cats showed stable fecal marker concentrations from day 2 onwards when fed the low digestible food and from 3 onwards when fed the high digestible food. Digestibility values were stable from day 1, 2 or 3 onwards, depending on the test food and nutrient. Increasing the number of fecal collection days from 1 to 6 days did not result in more precise digestibility estimates, whereas increasing the number of animals from 5 to 25 cats did. For future in-home digestibility tests of cat food, the findings support a minimum of 2 adaptation days and 3 fecal collection days. Appropriate sample sizes depend on the test food, the nutrient of interest, and the acceptable margin of error. The findings of this study support the protocol development for future in-home digestibility testing of cat foods.

Indexed as

adaptationfecal collectionin-home testprotocol requirementssample size

Identifiers

PMID37252391
PMCPMC10213761

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