The influence of dietary fibre components on the apparent digestibility of organic matter and energy in prepared dog and cat foods

Dietary fibre is known to have a negative effect on digestibility of organic matter in many non-ruminant and ruminant species (DROCHNER 1984; SCHULZE 1987; PIATKOWSKI et al. 1990). Such an effect of fibre has been observed in studies on dogs fed with a semi-purified diet with added wood meal (RIKLIN and MEYER 1975) and in cats fed on a diet of minced raw beef and either wheat bran, cellulose, dried rumen content or grass meal (KIENZLE et al. 1991). The data from these studies are rather sparse. The fibre sources were different from those used in typical prepared foods for dogs and cats. The method of analysis was crude fibre. In the present study the aim was to investigate 1. whether analysing the fibre content in pet foods is useful for predicting the apparent digestibility of these foods including high fibre diets and 2. which methods of fibre analysis (crude fibre, fibre by VAN SOEST 1963, by ENGLYST and CUMMINGS 1988 or by PROSKY et al. 1985) give the best prediction of digestibility in pet foods.