Fat contents and fatty acids composition in commercial dog foods and cat foods in Japan

Abstract

In order to estimate the intake of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids by dogs and cats from the dog foods and cat foods marketed in Japan, fat contents and n fatty acids composition in 9 dog foods and 10 cat foods were determined. In all the fat contents, only one cat food was below the recommended allowance (RA,90 g/kg dry matter) of Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (2003) but the other fat contents (56-256 g/kg) were between the range of the RA and the safe upper limit. In all the foods, one dog food was slightly below the RA (13 g/kg) of the linoleic acid content but the other foods (10.1-36.2 g/kg) exceeded their RAs. For the arachidonic acid contents,3 puppy foods were below the RA (0.3 g/kg) but all cat foods (0.1-0.9 kg/kg) were above their RAs (0.02 and 0.04 g/kg). And for the a-linoleic acid contents, one of three puppy foods was below the RA (0.8 g/kg) but all the other foods (0.5-4.1 g/kg) exceeded their RAs. In the eicosapentaenoic acid + docosahexaenoic acid (EPA+DHA) contents, only two of all dog foods contained EPA+DHA whose contents were above their RAs (0.5 and 0.11 g/kg), while two of all cat foods did not contain EPA+DHA, but the other foods (0.4-4.7 g/kg) contained EPA+DHA whose contents were above the RAs (0.1 g/kg). The ratios of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids of dog foods averaged 16.2 with the range of 4.8-27.0, while those of cat foods averaged 9.2 with the range of 4.1-23.0. The above results show the need to formulate the ration in view of the contents of long-chain n-6 and n-3 fatty acids as well as those balance in animal foods.