Determining protocol requirements for in-home digestibility and palatability testing of pet foods

Summary

Dogs and cats are part of the family and high quality food provision is seen as responsible pet ownership. Quality of pet foods is assessed with digestibility and palatability tests, which are usually done in standardized conditions. However, the conditions and animal characteristics are highly variable within the target pet population, including for example different body sizes, ages, food histories, etc. Test outcomes will be more representative when obtained within the target population, ‘in-home’, but protocol requirements for these tests were previously lacking. This PhD project, therefore, aimed to determine how in-home tests can be done to obtain accurate as well as precise digestibility and palatability test outcomes. Several studies have been performed with privately-owned dogs, cats and their owners to look into aspects such as the required study length, sample size, challenges and feasibility.