Apparent and true digestibility of macro and micro nutrients in adult maintenance dog foods containing either a majority of animal or vegetable proteins1.

There is dearth of knowledge with regards to mineral digestibility of ingredients in canines, and current knowledge is focused on the digestibility of supplemented minerals, not on intrinsic mineral digestibility of ingredients. The objectives of the present study were to determine the apparent and true digestibility (TD) of macronutrients and micronutrients, and the total tract gastrointestinal endogenous nutrient outputs in canines fed either animal- or vegetable-based adult maintenance diets. Eight purpose bred Beagles (two intact males, six spayed females) of similar age (2.12 ± 0.35 yr, mean ± SD) and weight (9.92 ± 0.73 kg, mean ± SD) were pair housed in kennels but fed individually based on individual maintenance energy requirements. Two basal diets (animal and vegetable protein based) were formulated to meet nutritional requirements of adult canines. Two additional trial diets were created, using the basal diets, by diluting diets by 50% with anhydrous α-d-glucose to attempt to quantify endogenous mineral losses and enable calculation of TD. All diets contained titanium dioxide at 0.3% for calculations of nutrient digestibility. Dogs were provided with deionized water as their only source of water throughout the trial. Dogs in a specific kennel were randomly assigned to an experimental diet for 10 d (experimental period), and fecal samples were collected the last 4 d of each period. All dogs were fed all experimental diets in random order based on a 4 × 4 replicated Latin square design. Dogs fed intact diets had a higher apparent mineral digestibility compared to dogs fed diluted diets (P < 0.05). Apparent phosphorus digestibility was higher for dogs fed the diet 2 compared with the diet 1 (P = 0.01) and the diluted diets (P < 0.001). There was a trend towards a greater TD of Cu for dogs fed the diet 2 compared with the diet 1 (P = 0.08). P, Mg, Zn, and Mn true digestibilities were higher for dogs fed the diet 2 compared with the diet 1 (P < 0.05, P = 0.01, P = 0.02, P = 0.009, respectively). These results suggest that apparent and TD do not result in similar values. Further research should be conducted on TD in canines only if a better model is developed.