The use of inert markers for protein digestibility studies in dogs

Abstract

Digestibility markers are commonly used in animal nutrition studies, especially where the total collection of faecal material is not practical. Whilst it is customary to employ this methodology in production animal studies, digestibility trials in dogs and cats traditionally rely on the total collection of faeces. Consequently, there are relatively few reports of the use of inert markers in dogs, and even fewer examples of their validation. The aim of this study was to compare three different digestibility markers in dogs and validate these against digestibility values calculated by total faeces collection.