Evaluation of the Prevalence and Risk Factors for Undernutrition in Hospitalized Dogs.

Hospitalized dogs are predisposed to undernutrition, which can potentially affect outcome. This study evaluated the prevalence of undernutrition in hospitalized dogs (measured as loss of body condition score, BCS and body weight, BW) and studied the risk factors that affect nutritional status, and outcome (discharge or death). Data was collected prospectively during 9 months from 500 hospitalized dogs with a hospitalization length longer than 24 h in a veterinary teaching hospital in Spain.

Innovations in Canine and Feline Nutrition: Technologies for Food and Nutrition Assessment.

Pet owners have increasing concerns about the nutrition of their pets, and they desire foods and treats that are safe, traceable, and of high nutritive value. To meet these high expectations, detailed chemical composition characterization of ingredients well beyond that provided by proximate analysis will be required, as will information about host physiology and metabolism. Use of faster and more precise analytical methodology and novel technologies that have the potential to improve pet food safety and quality will be implemented.

Preliminary study: voluntary food intake in dogs during tryptophan supplementation.

Tryptophan, a precursor of important molecules such as serotonin, melatonin and niacin, is an essential amino acid for dogs. In pigs, tryptophan supplementation has been shown to induce a significant increase in food intake. The aim of the present study was to assess whether long-term tryptophan supplementation increases voluntary food intake in dogs and to observe whether this was accompanied by a change in serum ghrelin.

Chemical composition and energy content of chickens in response to different levels of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Two experiments were performed to study the effect of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on abdominal fat pad weight and chemical composition of broilers. In Experiment 1, different fat sources were blended in different ratios keeping added fat level constant (9%). In Experiment 2, PUFA gradient was obtained by increasing the level of inclusion (2, 4, 6 and 8%) of PUFA-rich oil.