Effects of coat length and faecal hair removal on measured nutrient digestibility in cats

Abstract

Objectives: This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of coat length and faecal hair removal on measured nutrient digestibility in longhair and shorthair cats. Methods: A total of 14 adult domestic cats, with a mean ± SD body weight of 4.5 ± 1.21 kg and a mean ± SD age of 3.3 ± 1.38 years, were used for a nutrient digestibility trial. The nutrient digestibility of cats was measured by hair-included faeces and hair-removed faeces. Food was provided twice daily (09:00 h and 16:00 h) and water was provided ad libitum. Cats were adapted to a steel cage and diet for 16 days before a 10 day collection period. During the collection period, food offered, food refused and faecal output were measured daily and used for digestibility analysis. Results: The digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) of longhair cats was underestimated by 8% (P = 0.02), 9% (P = 0.04) and 14% (P = 0.04), respectively. In shorthair cats, the digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and crude ash increased by 4% (P = 0.01), 5% (P = 0.02) and 15% (P <0.01), respectively, with hair-removed faeces. The nutrient digestibility between longhair and shorthair cats showed no difference when hair-included faeces were used. However, when using hair-removed faeces, the digestibility of NDF and amino acids in longhair cats were about 4–8% higher than in shorthair cats (P <0.05). Conclusions and relevance: This study showed that the nutrient digestibility values were affected by whether the hair in faeces was removed or not. Removing hair from faeces is a more precise method with which to evaluate the apparent nutrient digestibility of domestic cats.