52 research outputs found

    Meeting the Vitamin A Requirement: The Efficacy and Importance of β

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    Vitamin A is essential for life in all vertebrate animals. Vitamin A requirement can be met from dietary preformed vitamin A or provitamin A carotenoids, the most important of which is β-carotene. The metabolism of β-carotene, including its intestinal absorption, accumulation in tissues, and conversion to vitamin A, varies widely across animal species and determines the role that β-carotene plays in meeting vitamin A requirement. This review begins with a brief discussion of vitamin A, with an emphasis on species differences in metabolism. A more detailed discussion of β-carotene follows, with a focus on factors impacting bioavailability and its conversion to vitamin A. Finally, the literature on how animals utilize β-carotene is reviewed individually for several species and classes of animals. We conclude that β-carotene conversion to vitamin A is variable and dependent on a number of factors, which are important to consider in the formulation and assessment of diets. Omnivores and herbivores are more efficient at converting β-carotene to vitamin A than carnivores. Absorption and accumulation of β-carotene in tissues vary with species and are poorly understood. More comparative and mechanistic studies are required in this area to improve the understanding of β-carotene metabolism

    Effects of obesity, energy restriction and neutering on the faecal microbiota of cats

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    Surveys report that 25–57 % of cats are overweight or obese. The most evinced cause is neutering. Weight loss often fails; thus, new strategies are needed. Obesity has been associated with altered gut bacterial populations and increases in microbial dietary energy extraction, body weight and adiposity. This study aimed to determine whether alterations in intestinal bacteria were associated with obesity, energy restriction and neutering by characterising faecal microbiota using 16S rRNA gene sequencing in eight lean intact, eight lean neutered and eight obese neutered cats before and after 6 weeks of energy restriction. Lean neutered cats had a bacterial profile similar to obese rodents and humans, with a greater abundance (P<0·05) of Firmicutes and lower abundance (P <0·05) of Bacteroidetes compared with the other groups. The greater abundance of Firmicutes in lean neutered cats was due to a bloom in Peptostreptococcaceae. Obese cats had an 18 % reduction in fat mass after energy restriction (P<0·05). Energy reduction was concurrent with significant shifts in two low-abundance bacterial genera and trends in four additional genera. The greatest change was a reduction in the Firmicutes genus, Sarcina, from 4·54 to 0·65 % abundance after energy restriction. The short duration of energy restriction may explain why few bacterial changes were observed in the obese cats. Additional work is needed to understand how neutering, obesity and weight loss are related to changes in feline microbiota and how these microbial shifts affect host physiology

    Nutritional management and disease prevention in healthy dogs and cats

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    Healthy animals normally eat sufficient food to satisfy their energy requirements. It is one of the jobs of the nutritionist to ensure that all other nutrient needs have been met when animals stop eating because they have met their energy needs. While dogs and cats are members of the biological order Carnivora, scientific observation and research support that differences in their metabolism and nutritional requirements exist. However, the goal in feeding both species is the same; to optimize the health and well-being of the individual. This approach results in dietary recommendations that will vary from individual animal to animal, based on a variety of factors that include the animal's signalment, occupation and environment. Feeding approaches vary between the two species and within the same species during different physiological life stages. However, the practice of feeding to maintain a lean body condition is a common goal. The maintenance of a lean body condition has been proven to increase both the quantity and quality of life in dogs. Currently, similar data does not exist in cats but is suspected to hold true. Each dog and cat's feeding program should be assessed routinely and adjustments made as indicated based on the animal's body condition, life stage and general health

    Dietary beet pulp decreases taurine status in dogs fed low protein diet

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    Abstract Background It is known that large dogs who are fed lamb and rice diets are at increased risk to develop taurine-deficiency-induced dilated cardiomyopathy. Since dogs obligatorily conjugate bile acids (BA) with taurine, we determined whether rice bran (RB) or other fibers (cellulose; CL, beet pulp; BP) would affect BA excretion and/or the taurine status of dogs. Results Eighteen medium/large mixed-breed dogs were given purified diets containing CL, BP, or RB for 12 weeks. Taurine concentrations in plasma and whole blood were significantly decreased at week 12. The BP group, compared to the CL or RB groups, showed significantly lower taurine concentrations in plasma (6.5 ± 0.5 vs 20.4 ± 3.9 and 13.1 ± 2.0 μmol/L, respectively, P < 0.01, mean ± SEM) and in whole blood (79 ± 10 vs 143 ± 14 and 127 ± 14 μmol/L, respectively, P < 0.01), lower apparent protein digestibility (81.9 ± 0.6 vs 88.8 ± 0.6 and 88.1 ± 1.2 %, respectively, P < 0.01), and higher BA excretions (5.6 ± 0.1 vs 3.4 ± 0.5 and 3.4 ± 0.4 μmol/g feces, respectively, P < 0.05) at week 12. Conclusions These results do not support the hypothesis that RB is likely to be a primary cause of lamb meal and rice diets, increasing the risk of taurine deficiency in large dogs. However these indicate that BP may contribute to a decrease taurine status in dogs by increasing excretion of fecal BA and decreasing protein digestibility, thus decreasing the bioavailability of sulfur amino acids, the precursors of taurine

    Post-castration variations in weight gain in a cohort of young adult male cats.

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    The predisposition of cats to gain weight following neutering is well established; however, there is little information about the distribution and range of post-neutering weight gains observed in cats under a controlled environment. This retrospective study investigated 6-month post-castration weight gain and distribution of percentage body weight (BW) change in a cohort of twenty, male domestic shorthair cats relative to a control group of intact cats. Cats were matched in age (2·0-2·6 years), husbandry conditions and consumed ad libitum the same dry maintenance diet for at least 3 months prior to and 6 months following castration. All cats were castrated within 48&nbsp;h of each other. All cats gained weight after castration. Mean BW was 4·67 (sd 0·70) kg at the start of the study and 5·93 (sd 1·38) kg at the end of the study, with individual weight gain ranging 3-53&nbsp;% at 6 months post-neutering. The pre-conception BW of the queens of each cat was compared with the pre- and post-neutering BW of their offspring. The pre-conception BW of the queens was significantly correlated with the offspring's initial BW (ρ&nbsp;=&nbsp;0·65, P&nbsp;=&nbsp;0·01), final BW (ρ&nbsp;=&nbsp;0·67, P&nbsp;=&nbsp;0·01) and percentage BW change (ρ&nbsp;=&nbsp;0·54, P&nbsp;=&nbsp;0·04). A wide range of post-castration weight gains was observed among cats of similar backgrounds and housing conditions. Implementation of effective methods to control food consumption pre-conception and post-neutering may be a strategy for preventing obesity and obesity-related disorders in cats
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