Comparative nutrition research may help pet food formulators understand the effects of ingredients or whole diets on the health of dogs, cats and other animals. In a video from Petfood Forum, Maria Godoy, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign animal sciences assistant professor, discussed how she uses data from studies on other animals, including Homo sapiens, to inform her own work on dogs and cats.
“Even humans can become a model for dogs and cats,” she said. “Comparative nutrition means when you have a species of emphasis, so in my case dogs and cats, you may use other animal models to take a further look about the benefit of nutrition for the health of these animals. For example, I use the rooster model as well as the swine model, because we have more tools to, for example, learn about amino acid digestibility and other things that are not so easily done in dogs and cats.”
Register for Petfood Forum
Animal nutrition scientists use roosters as models for pets in a technique known as the precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay. A surgical procedure, similar to a human appendectomy, turns roosters into an effective, efficient model for dogs’ and cats’ digestive systems. Researchers can then feed the roosters a pet food or ingredient and observe how the amino acids in that food are likely to be digested in dogs or cats.
“We can also use rodents and nowadays you can even leverage data from humans because we're so alike,” she said.
Learn more about animal nutrition at Petfood Forum. Petfood Forum conferences and exhibitions serve the global pet food manufacturing industry. The current portfolio of shows include Petfood Forum, Petfood Essentials, Petfood Forum Asia, Petfood Forum China and Petfood Forum Europe. Petfood Forum events deliver opportunities to learn the latest research and innovative information on pet nutrition, global pet food market growth, pet food safety, processing, packaging and much more - all from leading, recognized pet food industry experts.
Tim Wall covers the dog, cat and other pet food industries as senior reporter for WATT Global Media. His work has appeared in Live Science, Discovery News, Scientific American, Honduras Weekly, Global Journalist and other outlets. He holds a journalism master's degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a bachelor's degree in biology.
Wall served in the Peace Corps in Honduras from 2005 to 2007, where he coordinated with the town government of Moroceli to organize a municipal trash collection system, taught environmental science, translated for medical brigades and facilitated sustainable agriculture, along with other projects.
Contact Wall via https://www.wattglobalmedia.com/contact-us/
Feature
By Lindsay Beaton
Packaging continues to be a primary way for pet food companies to speak to their customers.
Feature
By Lindsay Beaton
Pet treat trends are largely following pet food trends as pet parents look to bond with their animals.