Abstract
Palatable oral pharmaceuticals are crucial for feline medication. The pharmaceutical industry prefers synthetic flavours over organic ones because of hygiene and regulatory issues. The aim of this study was to find a palatable synthetic flavour for future taste-masking of feline pharmaceuticals. The hypothesis was that synthetic meat aromas and free amino acids would be palatable to cats. The palatability of 18 synthetically flavoured mini-tablets was screened with 10–19 pet cats using a rapid 3-portal acceptance test with and without food. The tested flavours were synthetic amino acids (L-carnitine, l-glutamic acid monosodium salt hydrate, l-leucine, l-methionine, l-phenylalanine, l-proline, and taurine), d-(+)-Maltose monohydrate and thiamine hydrochloride. Furthermore, thiamine hydrochloride was combined with amino acids (l-cysteine, l-leucine, l-methionine and l-proline) and synthetic meat flavours (2-acetylpyridine, 2-acetylthiazole, 2-pentylpyridine and 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone). The negative control was a non-flavoured placebo mini-tablet, while positive controls were an organic yeast-flavoured mini-tablet and a yeast- and fish-based commercial vitamin tablet in mini-tablet form. No significant differences were detected between palatable synthetic flavours and the placebo, nor between the synthetic flavours and the yeast flavour. In general, the mini-tablet seemed to be small enough to be accepted inside a food item. These results differ from the earlier literature about the taste preferences of cats for amino acids, and hence free amino acids should not be considered palatable to cats based purely on previous findings.
Highlights
Cats can be difficult to medicate against their will (Thombre, 2004)
Thiamine hydrochloride was combined with amino acids (L-cysteine, L-leucine, L-methionine and Lproline) and synthetic meat flavours (2-acetylpyridine, 2-acetylthiazole, 2-pentylpyridine and 4-hydroxy-5methyl-3(2H)-furanone)
Even though we did not test the palatability of the same quantity of amino acids as in earlier studies, our results suggest that free amino acids should not be claimed to be palatable to cats based solely on previous studies without further palatability testing
Summary
Cats can be difficult to medicate against their will (Thombre, 2004). Forcing a cat to take a pill can lead to owner injuries and have a negative effect on the cat-owner relationship. Cats are widely considered to prefer certain amino acids (Bradshaw, 1991; Bradshaw, Goodwin, LegrandDefrétin, & Nott, 1996; MacDonald, Rogers, & Morris, 1984; Thombre, 2004; Zaghini & Biagi, 2005) This information is based on old neurophysiological studies in anesthetized cats, where the sensory effect of chemical substances was studied (Boudreau, 1974; Boudreau & Alev, 1973), and preference studies carried out on laboratory cats (Beauchamp, Maller, & Rogers, 1977; White & Boudreau, 1975). Various methods have been used to assess the palatability of feline pharmaceuticals (Bernachon et al, 2014a; Bernachon, Fournel, Gatto, Monginoux, & McGahie, 2014b; Cron, Zemirline, Beranger, & Privat, 2014; Giraudel, Gruet, Alexander, Seewald, & King, 2010; Gunew, Menrath, & Marshall, 2008; Huhtinen et al, 2015; Khor et al, 2011; Litster et al, 2007; Morton, Grant, Johnston, Letellier, & Narbe, 2011; Traas et al, 2010) because a guideline on the demonstration of palatability of veterinary medicinal products has only been published quite recently by the European Medicines Agency (EMA, 2014)
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