2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

Thirty overweight cats were divided into two equal groups based on measured maintenance energy requirements (MER), body weight, and % body fat, then randomly assigned to one of the two diets. Cats in both groups were fed 75% of their MER for 6 months. Daily food intake, weekly body weight, and monthly quantitative magnetic resonance for body composition were performed during the trial. After 6 months, there was no significant difference in loss of body weight between two groups, but % body fat loss was doubled in the HPC cats (À7.60 AE 0.75%) compared with the LPC cats (À3.58 AE 0.95%). The mean % Body fat of the HPC cats at the end of the study (20.40 AE 1.39%) was significantly (P = 0.002) lower than that at the baseline (27.86 AE 1.39%), while the mean % body fat of the LPC cats at the end of study (24.12 AE 1.60%) was not significantly (P = 0.102) different from baseline (28.11 AE 1.60%). The results show that the HPC diet was more effective than the LPC diet in promoting the loss of body fat. To evaluate the impact of environmental and dog-specific factors influencing core body temperature (CBT) following exercise, exercise conditioned dogs (n = 12; 7M/5F; age 7-42 months), owned and in training as detection dogs through the University of Pennsylvania, were evaluated on 6 separate occasions over 3 weeks. Exercise training included 5-minute searching, 5-minute agility and 10-minute ball retrieve, with 5-minute rest between bouts. Exercise period was 30-minute or until one designated trainer determined that the dog was not performing adequately (e.g. panting excessively, seeking shade or reluctance to retrieve). Pre-and postexercise heart rate, CBT (ingested temperature monitor; CoreTemp), and venous blood for lactate (Lactate Scout) and blood gas (ISTAT) were collected. A backward stepwise regression was used to evaluate factors predicting CBT. Combining all exercise occasions, median exercise time was 27.5 minutes (range 20-0 minute), median outdoor temperature was 84°F (range 71-94°F), and median humidity was 48% (range 36-76%). Mean postexercise CBT was 105.9°F (range 102.4-108.8°F). No dog showed signs of heat stress requiring veterinary intervention. Regression analysis determined that the dependent variable peak CBT could be predicted from a linear combination of the independent variables: average duration of exercise (P = 0.019), peak heart rate (beats/min) (P = 0.029), postexercise blood pH (P = 0.027), lactate (P = 0.011), and pCO2 (P = 0.052). Model not significantly influenced by individual dog, dog-age, outdoor temperature, humidity, change from baseline for body weight, venous pO2, or hematocrit. This study suggests that the influence of temperature and humidity are less important in peak body temperature than the metabolic parameters associated with exertion.