Digestibility, fecal characteristics, and plasma glucose and urea in dogs fed a commercial dog food once or three times daily

Abstract

Digestibility, fecal characteristics, and levels of glucose and urea in the plasma were determined in 8 dogs that received 2 different dog foods once or 3 times daily. One dog food (A) was 5 times more expensive than the other (B). Fecal pH and consistency, digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), and crude fiber (CF) were determined. Blood samples were taken from 30 min before to 60 min after a meal. Digestibilities of DM, OM, and CP, and fecal consistency were higher, and daily fecal excretion and fecal pH were lower when dogs were fed food A (P < 0.001). The feeding schedule had no effect on plasma glucose and urea. Neither feeding frequency nor food X frequency interactions was significant for the parameters studied.