title: Overt signs of toxicity to dogs and cats of dietary deoxynivalenol.
abstract: Studies were conducted to determine the dietary amounts of deoxynivalenol (DON; vomitoxin) in dog and cat food that are required to produce overt signs of toxicity (e.g., vomiting or reduced food intake). Wheat naturally contaminated with 37 mg of DON/kg was used to manufacture pet foods containing 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mg of DON/kg. Deoxynivalenol concentration in pet food following manufacture was unchanged, indicating that the toxin was stable during conventional extrusion processing. Dogs previously fed DON-contaminated food were able to preferentially select uncontaminated food. Dogs not previously exposed to DON-contaminated food consumed equal quantities of contaminated and uncontaminated food. There was no effect of 6 mg of DON/kg on dog food digestibility. Food intake of dogs was significantly reduced by DON concentrations greater than 4.5 +/- 1.7 mg/kg, and DON greater than 7.7 +/- 1.1 mg/kg reduced cat food intake. Vomiting by dogs and cats was commonly observed at the 8 and 10 mg DON levels.
authors.affiliation: Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, MO 64116, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gahl
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Grieb
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D002415:Cats; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D005518:Food Preferences; D008297:Male; D014255:Trichothecenes / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D014908:Triticum / Q000382:microbiology; D014839:Vomiting / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D014255:Trichothecenes; C007262:deoxynivalenol