{"title":"Effects of Different Processed Diets on Growth Performance, Blood Parameters, Hair Quality and Fecal Microbiota in Ragdoll Cats.","authors":"Peng Wang, Xin Tian, Jie Feng","doi":"10.3390/ani14182729","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In recent years, there has been ongoing debate about the dietary choices for pet cats, particularly regarding three options: extruded dry food, cooked meat, and raw meat. Determining which diet is most suitable for a cat's healthy growth still requires substantial empirical support. Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeding Ragdoll cats (<i>n</i> = 5/group) extruded dry food (ED), cooked meat (CM), and raw meat (RM) on their growth performance, apparent digestibility, fur condition, blood parameters, fecal scores, and gut microbiota composition. However, our results indicate that different types of diets did not significantly affect the daily weight gain of Ragdoll cats. The CM group showed a significant improvement in the digestibility of dry matter, fat and protein compared to the ED group (<i>p</i> < 0.05) but no improvement in that of fat compared to the RM group. Compared to the ED group, both the CM and RM groups showed significant improvements in fur condition while exhibiting a significant decrease in fecal scores (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The CM and RM groups exhibited enhanced serum antioxidant capacity (<i>p</i> < 0.05) and increased immunity in the cats (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Immunity enhancement in the CM group was significantly higher than that in the RM group(<i>p</i> < 0.05). The ED group showed an increase in the abundance of beneficial bacteria in Ragdoll cat intestines, while the CM and RM groups showed enhancements in the innate microbiota of feline animals. These data, to some extent, suggest that CM is the most suitable diet for Ragdoll cats, but further research on intestine microbiota is still needed. These study findings provide a reference for purebred pet breeding purposes.</p>","PeriodicalId":7955,"journal":{"name":"Animals","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11429482/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Animals","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14182729","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In recent years, there has been ongoing debate about the dietary choices for pet cats, particularly regarding three options: extruded dry food, cooked meat, and raw meat. Determining which diet is most suitable for a cat's healthy growth still requires substantial empirical support. Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeding Ragdoll cats (n = 5/group) extruded dry food (ED), cooked meat (CM), and raw meat (RM) on their growth performance, apparent digestibility, fur condition, blood parameters, fecal scores, and gut microbiota composition. However, our results indicate that different types of diets did not significantly affect the daily weight gain of Ragdoll cats. The CM group showed a significant improvement in the digestibility of dry matter, fat and protein compared to the ED group (p < 0.05) but no improvement in that of fat compared to the RM group. Compared to the ED group, both the CM and RM groups showed significant improvements in fur condition while exhibiting a significant decrease in fecal scores (p < 0.05). The CM and RM groups exhibited enhanced serum antioxidant capacity (p < 0.05) and increased immunity in the cats (p < 0.05). Immunity enhancement in the CM group was significantly higher than that in the RM group(p < 0.05). The ED group showed an increase in the abundance of beneficial bacteria in Ragdoll cat intestines, while the CM and RM groups showed enhancements in the innate microbiota of feline animals. These data, to some extent, suggest that CM is the most suitable diet for Ragdoll cats, but further research on intestine microbiota is still needed. These study findings provide a reference for purebred pet breeding purposes.
AnimalsAgricultural and Biological Sciences-Animal Science and Zoology
CiteScore
4.90
自引率
16.70%
发文量
3015
审稿时长
20.52 days
期刊介绍:
Animals (ISSN 2076-2615) is an international and interdisciplinary scholarly open access journal. It publishes original research articles, reviews, communications, and short notes that are relevant to any field of study that involves animals, including zoology, ethnozoology, animal science, animal ethics and animal welfare. However, preference will be given to those articles that provide an understanding of animals within a larger context (i.e., the animals'' interactions with the outside world, including humans). There is no restriction on the length of the papers. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical research in as much detail as possible. Full experimental details and/or method of study, must be provided for research articles. Articles submitted that involve subjecting animals to unnecessary pain or suffering will not be accepted, and all articles must be submitted with the necessary ethical approval (please refer to the Ethical Guidelines for more information).