Zeolite inclusion in dog extruded diets: digestibility, fecal characteristics, and palatability

Abstract

Addition of zeolite to caninedietscan improve fecal characteristics, reducing its moisture and odor. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of an increasing dietary inclusion of zeolite on nutrient and energy digestibility, fecal characteristics, and diet palatability for dogsfed diets containing high soybean meal level. Two experiments were performed. The first experiment evaluated the effect of increasing concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 g/kg) of zeolite (clinoptilolite) in extruded dog foods on diet digestibility and fecal quality. Six adult dogs were distributed to treatments arranged in a 6 x 6 Latin square design. The second assessed the effect of 20 or 50 g clinoptilolite per kg of diet on food palatability, where in 20 dogs were distributedinto two tests, in a completely randomized experimental design (0 vs.20 g/kg and 0 vs. 50 g/kg zeolite). Despite the small variation, dietary zeolite inclusion reduced diet metabolizable energy content (15.4 to 14.7 MJ/kg, P < 0.05) and the coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility of dry matter (0.773 to 0.740, P < 0.05). Fecal dry matter (fDM) content increased as zeolite concentrations increased (30.4% to 36.1%, P < 0.05), but fecal score had no effect. Zeolite concentrations caused no changes (P > 0.05) in ammonia nitrogen, sialic acid, fecal pH,or diet palatability.The inclusion of up to 50 g natural clinoptilolite per kg of diet increases fDM content, maintains adequate fecal score and has no negative impact on diet palatability.