Survey evaluation of dog owners' feeding practices and dog bowls' hygiene assessment in domestic settings.

In-home pet food handling and food dish hygiene practices can have adverse health impacts for both humans and pets. Safe food and dish handling guidelines are not easily evidenced for pet owners. The study was designed to investigate dog owners' feeding habits and evaluate the impact of the Food and Drug Association (FDA) hygiene protocols on dog food dish contamination.

Maternal Dietary Choline Status Influences Brain Gray and White Matter Development in Young Pigs.

Background: Choline is an essential nutrient that is pivotal to proper brain development. Research in animal models suggests that perinatal choline deficiency influences neuron development in the hippocampus and cortex, yet these observations require invasive techniques.

Objective: This study aimed to characterize the effects of perinatal choline deficiency on gray and white matter development with the use of noninvasive neuroimaging techniques in young pigs.

Perinatal Dietary Choline Deficiency in Sows Influences Concentrations of Choline Metabolites, Fatty Acids, and Amino Acids in Milk throughout Lactation.

Background: Choline is essential for synthesis of phospholipids, neurodevelopment, and DNA methylation. It is unknown whether dietary perinatal choline deficiency affects maternal milk composition.

Objective: We examined whether perinatal maternal dietary choline deficiency influences porcine-milk composition.

Porcine Milk Oligosaccharides and Sialic Acid Concentrations Vary Throughout Lactation.

Background: Milk oligosaccharides (OSs) are bioactive components known to influence neonatal development. These compounds have specific physiological functions acting as prebiotics, immune system modulators, and enhancing intestine and brain development.

Objectives: The pig is a commonly used model for studying human nutrition, and there is interest in quantifying OS composition of porcine milk across lactation compared with human milk.

Moderate Perinatal Choline Deficiency Elicits Altered Physiology and Metabolomic Profiles in the Piglet.

Few studies have evaluated the impact of dietary choline on the health and well-being of swine, and those pivotal papers were aimed at determining dietary requirements for sows and growing pigs. This is of importance as the piglet is becoming a widely accepted model for human infant nutrition, but little is known about the impacts of perinatal choline status on overall health and metabolism of the growing piglet. In the present study, sows were provided either a choline deficient (CD, 625 mg choline/kg dry matter) or choline sufficient (CS, 1306 mg choline/kg dry matter) diet for the last 65 d of gestation (prenatal intervention).

Perinatal choline deficiency delays brain development and alters metabolite concentrations in the young pig.

Objectives: Adequate choline supply during the perinatal period is critical for proper brain formation, when robust neurogenesis and neuronal maturation occur. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the impact of perinatal choline status on neurodevelopment.

Methods: Sows were fed a choline-deficient (CD) or choline-sufficient (CS) diet during the last half of the gestational period.