In vitro disappearance characteristics of selected categories of commercially available dog treats

Abstract

Pet owners desire treats with adequate nutritional profiles, functional benefits, long-lasting properties and an interactive nature. Therefore, it is pivotal to understand the digestion characteristics of treats produced by different processing methods and having variable nutritional composition. The objective of the present study was to measure in vitro disappearance characteristics of selected categories of commercially available treats. In vitro procedures developed by Boisen and Eggum in 1991 were modified to handle larger sample sizes. Treat samples were evaluated in triplicate. Following incubation, in vitro DM disappearance (DMD) was calculated. In vitro DMD of selected treats varied widely. For the gastric phase, DMD ranged from 6·9 to 88·8 %, whereas intestinal phase digestion resulted in a DMD range of 10·7–100·0 % (P < 0·05). Because of differences in treat composition and size, they were divided into six categories: Biscuit, Bone, Chew, Dental, Meat Product and Rawhide. In general, Bone was the least digestible treat category in both gastric and intestinal phases. Meat Product and Rawhide treats had a DMD of 71·5–100 % after the intestinal phase, whereas Biscuit had values above 93 %. Chew and Dental treats had a wide DMD range (54·5–100 %). Understanding the DMD of commercially available treats is important to verify their safety for consumption and potential digestibility once ingested. These data indicate wide variation in DMD among and within different treat categories. This information will assist pet food sale associates, pet owners and veterinarians to make more educated decisions when it relates to selection and recommendations about commercially available treats. Future work is needed to expand the knowledge on in vitro DMD and safety of treats and to further investigate their impact on in vivo DM digestibility once fed to dogs.

Evaluation of selected categories of pet treats using in vitro assay and texture analysis

“…Dry matter disappearance of DE treats were highly variable in gastric phase, varying from 14.62% to 86.24% but were highly digestible at intestinal phase (>87%), except for DE5 that had a DMD of 62.01% ( Table 3 ). These findings are in accordance with our previous study ( de Godoy et al, 2014 ), which indicated that the use of wheat gluten may not lead to lower DMD because the variation in treat recipes and processing may result in different interactions among ingredients and in final product digestibility.…”

“…Bones are the most common esophageal foreign bodies that have been reported in dogs ( Luthi and Neiger, 1998 ). In addition, bone category has been reported as the least digestible treat category in a previous study ( de Godoy et al, 2014 ). Chew treats, rawhide, and some dental chew treats have also been reported to cause severe obstruction within the esophagus of dogs ( Leib and Sartor, 2008 ).…”

“…In vitro DM digestibility was analyzed using the modified method of Boisen and Eggum, which was developed to be similar to in vivo digestibility result of nonruminant ( Boisen and Eggum, 2005 ). This modified method was published from our previous work ( de Godoy et al, 2014 ) and was suitable for various samples based on pet treat shape and sizes. Specifically, a mixture of phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH 6.0) and HCl-pepsin solution was added to the container with whole treat.…”

“…Therefore, understanding the digestibility of commercial treats is important to determine their safety for consumption. Safe treats must be partially or completely digested in the gastric and intestinal phases to prevent oral and gastrointestinal perforations or blockage ( de Godoy et al, 2014 ). Currently, there’s limited studies on the digestibility of various commercial pet treats ( Hooda et al, 2012 ; de Godoy et al, 2014 ).…”

Measurement of Creatine kinase and Aspartate aminotransferase in saliva of dogs: a pilot study

“…Serum activities of CK and AST reflect damage of muscle and are useful markers to determine the condition of muscle tissue both in dogs [10, 13, 23, 24] and humans [25, 26]. In particular, increases in CK following physical activity has been associated with muscle damage in both racing and hunting dogs [9] and similar findings have been described in humans [8, 25].…”