title: Nitrogen metabolism of four raw meat diets in domestic cats.
abstract: Little nutritional information has been collected from domestic cats fed raw meat diets. The objective of the present study was to evaluate differences in N metabolism of domestic cats fed raw beef-based diet (66 % crude protein (CP) and 20 % fat), bison-based diet (49 % CP and 39 % fat), elk-based diet (79 % CP and 6 % fat) and horse-based diet (60 % CP and 26 % fat). A total of eight intact adult female cats were fed to maintain body weight in a cross-over design. Daily food intake, faecal and urinary outputs, and N metabolism were measured. Dietary N was highly digestible (96.8 (SEM 0.7)) for all treatments. Urinary N accounted for a majority of total N excretion, and differences in total N excretion reflect differences in urinary N. Differences in N intake and N absorption were due to differences in CP levels among diets. N retention was similar to values reported in the literature for domestic cats fed purified and traditional extruded diets. Despite differences in protein concentrations and N intake, all raw meats tested maintained N metabolism.
authors: Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors: Katherine R
authors: KR
authors: Kerr
authors: Alison N
authors: AN
authors: Beloshapka
authors: Cheryl L
authors: CL
authors: Morris
authors: Kelly S
authors: KS
authors: Swanson
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D016164:Bison; D002415:Cats / Q000378:metabolism*; D002417:Cattle; D003670:Deer; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D006736:Horses; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen