Investigation of Trace and Macro Element Contents in Commercial Cat Foods.

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground: Nutritional profiles and guidelines are determined by various associations to ensure optimum health of cats andprovide pet food manufacturers nutritional recommendations to ensure the well-balanced and nutritionally adequate pet food.Objectives: Itwas aimed to determine some trace elements and macrominerals in prescription and non-prescription dry cat foodsand compare the contents with the suggested guidelines to evaluate the potential in-compliance.Methods:Atotal of 96 dry cat foodswere evaluated. Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn,Mg, Ca and P concentrations were analysed in prescriptiondry cat foods developed for gastrointestinal diseases—GI (n=18), renal diseases—R (n=15), urinary diseases—U (n=8), obesity—O (n = 10) and non-prescription—N-P (n = 45) foods from different flavours and brands by ICP-OES.Results: Ten precent of the O group exceeded the upper limit, and 15.5% of the N-P group failed to provide a nutritional minimumlevel. 4.44% of prescription foods were below the minimum recommended Mn level according to the European Pet Food IndustryFederation (FEDIAF), and 66% of N-P foods were below theminimum adultmaintenance value recommended by the Associationof American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). One hundred percent non-compliance with the guidelines in the GI and U groupswas recorded. 22.2% of the GI group was lower, and 5.55% of the GI group was higher than the recommended levels by FEDIAF,which reflects the 27.7% in compliance. While all the prescription foods have 100% compliance with the determined minimumlevel of guidelines, 11.1% of N-P foods were below theminimum recommended level. In compliance with the guidelines for Ca wasnoted in the O and U groups (10% and 12.5%, respectively). The P ratio in all prescription food groups except for GI was below theminimum level determined by AAFCO.Conclusions: In all food groups, mean Cu, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca and P concentrations were between the minimum and maximumlimits recommended by FEDIAF. However, the mean Se level was above the upper legal limit in all food groups, and the Zn levelwas below the minimum recommended level in the N-P food group. Besides the mean values, a high number of foods in eachgroup show a broad in-compliance with the guidelines.