Palatability Testing of Oral Chewables in Veterinary Medicine for Dogs

For veterinary medications administered per os, animal health companies strive to develop highly palatable dosage forms that are voluntarily accepted by animals to improve compliance and convenience. Achieving high palatability is often complex and difficult even without the presence of an active ingredient. This work compared acceptance and preference studies, as standardized methods are not established for informing formulation development or for more routine testing. Formulation development was followed by an acceptance study completed with laboratory Beagle dogs. One acceptance study and one preference study were completed in mixed breed dogs, also laboratory-housed, to gain wider representation of dog breed and age. Through these studies, we have evaluated both formulation parameters and palatability study conduct. In general, more complex palatants that have appealing taste, smell, and mouth feel enhance voluntary uptake. However, dosage forms that are too chewy may not be freely consumed even with complex palatants. The addition of aroma can entice dogs to prehend the tablet, as observed in one preference study. Preference studies in the veterinary pharmaceutical field identify the preferred first choice or first prehend, but not which product will be routinely voluntarily and fully consumed. Acceptance studies with cross-over treatment groups are used to quantify the full consumption of a dosage form when a dog is not given two choices at once. Since all dogs in acceptance studies are offered all treatment groups throughout the study, a comparison between degrees of consumption could suggest that one formulation might be preferred over another.