Homeostasis of dogs when feeding them with industrially produced dry food and home-made food

Abstract

The work aimed to test a newly developed new formulation of domestic dry food for dogs. Some homeostasis indicators in dogs transferred from natural feeding to complete dry food were assessed. The studies were conducted on two groups of dogs kept by their owners in apartment conditions and on personal plots. Dogs of the 1st group (experimental) were transferred from feeding homemade food to industrially produced complete dry food. The diet of dogs in group 2 (control) did not change and still consisted of meat products, cereals and vegetables.Biomaterial for research (blood, faeces) was taken at the beginning of the experiment and after two months of controlled feeding. The bioelemental and biochemical composition of blood, haematological parameters and faecal microbiology were studied. The dogs' and general clinical conditions were assessed, including determination of live weight at the beginning and end of the two-month study. The results of the elemental analysis showed that two months after the transfer of dogs of the 1st group from the "natural" type of feeding to dry food in the blood of the animals, the concentration of arsenic, lead, strontium, chromium, iodine, selenium and zinc decreased, but the levels of lithium increased nickel and molybdenum. Of the biochemical and haematological parameters, AST, ALT, β-lipoproteins, amylase, lipase, total protein and haemoglobin increased statistically significantly, but alkaline phosphatase level decreased. In addition, switching dogs to dry food contributed to a decrease in 1 g of faeces in the concentration of E. coli with regular enzymatic activity, lactose-negative E. coli, microflora of the genus Proteus and yeast-like fungi. During the experimental period, animals of the 2nd (control) group showed an increase in the amount of microflora of the genus Protea and lactose-negative E. coli. In the intestines of dogs of both groups during the study period, an increase in coccal flora and a decrease in the number of E. coli hemolytic and E. aerogenes were observed.