. 2014 Sep 25;3:e32. doi: 10.1017/jns.2014.30

Table 2.

Coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility of nutrients observed on dogs, cats and ferrets fed extruded diets with different macronutrient compositions

		Digestibility (%)*
Item	Diet	Dogs (n 6)	Cats (n 6)	Ferrets (n 6)	Mean	sem†
	HC	83·3^bB	79·0^bB	68·9^aA	76·4	4·3
	MC	78·3^aB	74·3^aB	67·5^aA	74·1	3·2
DM	LC	81·4^abB	80·3^bB	74·3^bA	78·7	2·2
	Mean	81·1	78·0	70·8
	sem	1·5	1·8	2·1
Protein	HC	86·2	80·5	74·0	79·7^a	3·5
	MC	87·0	83·38	72·1	82·0^ab	4·5
	LC	86·9	85·4	79·5	83·9^b	2·3
	Mean	86·8^C	83·2^B	75·8^A
	sem	0·2	1·4	2·2
Fat	HC	87·5	83·1	85·8	85·4^a	1·3
	MC	88·4	85·3	89·4	87·0^b	1·3
	LC	94·5	91·5	94. 0	93·5^c	1·0
	Mean	90·6^B	86·6^A	90·0^B
	sem	2·2	2·5	2·6
Nitrogen-free extract	HC	90·0^bB	86·3^aB	70·4^bA	81·3	6·0
	MC	82·0^aB	79·6^aAB	71·5^abA	78·5	3·2
	LC	82·1^aB	85·6^aB	63·4^aA	77·0	6·9
	Mean	84·4	83·9	67·89
	sem	2·6	2·1	2·5

HC, high carbohydrate; MC, medium carbohydrate; LC, low carbohydrate.

^a,b Within a column, means not sharing a common superscript differ (P < 0·05). Comparison valid inside a nutrient.

^A,B,C Within a row, means not sharing a common superscript differ (P < 0·05).

*Dogs and cats were fed calculated amounts of food and ferrets were fed ad libitum.

†Standard error of mean, n 6 animals per diet.