Table 5. Fecal characteristics of dogs fed experimental diets (mean ± SD).

Parameter	Meat-based diet	Vegetarian diet
Defecation frequency (n/day)	2.30 ± 0.71	2.57 ± 0.55
Score feces consistency	2.14 ± 0.19	2.08 ± 0.08
Score feces shaping	2.17 ± 0.18	2.11 ± 0.10
Mass of the feces (g wet feces/100 g food on a DM basis)	62.9 ±12.1	62.9 ±1.75
Mass of the feces (g DM feces/100 g food on DM basis)	18.6 ± 3.04	18.9 ± 2.86
DM content of fresh feces (%)	29.6 ± 2.26	29.0 ± 1.75
Fecal pH values during collection
• Start	6.81 ± 0.52	6.54 ± 0.48
• End	6.64 ± 0.22	6.31± 0.37