Table 3.
Fecal fresh and dry weight and nutrient composition per fecal dry matter (mean±SD) during each feeding period. Calorie densities are expressed as calculated gross energy density or measured by the Bomb calorimeter.
| Measure | Kibble (n = 12) |
Fresh C (n = 12) |
Fresh B (n = 6) |
Fresh P (n = 6) |
Fresh T (n = 6) |
P value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily fecal weight, in g | ||||||
| Fresh weight (FW) | 149±39a | 102±46b | 46±15c | 43±5c | 43±5c | 1.11E–05 |
| Dry matter (DM) | 47±10a | 24±8b | 12±3c | 11±1c | 11±1c | 2.05E–06 |
| Fecal moisture, in % FW | 68.45±2.32a | 75.17±4.57b | 72.53±3.90b | 74.08±1.86b | 74.86±1.94b | 5.56E–04 |
| Fecal energy | ||||||
| Calculated energy density, in kcal/g DM | 3.41±0.06a | 3.47±0.14a | 3.01±0.06b | 3.06±0.16b | 3.64±0.14c | 6.49E–06 |
| Measured energy density, in kcal/g DM | 4.07±0.06a | 3.91±0.18b | 3.32±0.14c | 3.40±0.18c | 3.94±0.26a,b | 1.33E–05 |
| Daily fecal energy, in kcal | 189±43a | 92±31b | 40±10c,d | 38±3c | 42±4d | 7.25E–07 |
| Fecal nutrient, in % DM | ||||||
| Protein | 30.80±1.87a | 30.67±1.63a | 24.66±1.36b | 25.00±1.62b | 25.08±1.88b | 6.46E–06 |
| Fat | 5.50±0.59a | 7.30±1.36b | 6.63±0.60b,c | 5.64±0.99a,c | 11.58±1.68d | 1.69E–05 |
| NFE | 27.90±3.07 | 25.25±3.97 | 24.06±1.87 | 27.17±3.83 | 27.23±4.41 | 0.098 |
| Crude fiber | 14.0±0.6a | 10.2±1.0b | 7.4±1.2c | 7.0±1.0c | 4.5±0.9d | 1.40E–07 |
| Ash | 21.81±0.93a | 26.55±2.87b | 37.29±1.45c | 35.24±2.81c | 31.57±2.98d | 2.52E–07 |
NFE: nitrogen-free extract, fresh C: fresh chicken, fresh B: fresh beef, fresh P: fresh pork, fresh T: fresh turkey.
*Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test. Means not sharing the same superscript are significantly different (pairwise Wilcoxon rank sum tests with false discovery rate adjustment).