Abstract
In healthy sheep the reaction of the urine has generally been accepted to be on the alkaline side (Bentinck-Smith 1963). Thus Healy et al. (1928) only found 2 of 40 healthy sheep with an acid urine. Bentinck-Smith reported that nursing animals in contrast to adults will produce an acid urine. However, the influence of feeding on urine pH and plasma bicarbonate levels in sheep does not seem to have been systematically investigated. During recent years it has often been observed in this laboratory that healthy animals, examined as a matter of routine, may produce an acid urine. Based on these observations healthy sheep under different feeding conditions were examined in order to elucidate the influence of the diet on the pH of the urine and the plasma bicarbonate content. Since an excessive lactic acid production and increased fat metabolism may also influence the acid-base balance, the lactic acid concentration of rumen fluid was determined, and the urine was tested for ketone bodies.
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