We examined the effectiveness of fumaric acid as a urine-acidifying agent. Long-term ingestion of urine-acidifying agents often suffers from metabolic acidosis in cats. In the present study, supplementation of fumaric acid to the diet for 28 days neither decreased urine pH below 5.9 nor adversely affected blood pH.
However, urine-acidifying effect of fumaric acid was obscure in this study, because urine pH was less than 6.7 even when a control diet free from fumaric acid was fed to cats.

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Eight clinically normal adult cats were used to examine the effect of a high-protein diet on struvite crystals and insoluble components in urine. The cats were divided into two groups and allotted to two experimental dry foods in a switch-back design of 3 wk per period. One diet contained 29% crude protein (CP), whereas another contained 55% CP, on a DM basis. Ingestion of the high-protein diet decreased urinary pH but increased urine volume, although daily water intake did not differ between the groups. Urinary concentrations of Mg²⁺ and PO₄^3- decreased, in contrast to the urinary concentration of NH₄⁺ that was increased by ingestion of the high-protein diet. As a result, struvite activity product that was obtained by [Mg²⁺] x [NH₄⁺] x [PO₄^3-] was significantly decreased by ingestion of the high-protein diet. This implies the solubilization of struvite crystals and, in fact, urinary concentration and the daily amount of struvite crystals were significantly lowered in cats fed the high-protein diet. The high-protein intake also caused a decrease in the urinary concentration of total sediment including both HCl-soluble fraction (inorganic sediment) and HCl-insoluble fraction (organic sediment). However, the decrease was due to an increase in urinary volume, because daily amounts of these components were not affected by CP intake. Present results verified the effectiveness of a high-protein diet for the prevention of struvite urolithiasis in clinically normal cats.

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The portion pet owners who use complete food for part of their pet's food has reached 80%, but there is little information on the actual use of such pet food. This investigation was conducted to clarify the actual conditions of using complete foods for dogs and cats in Kansai region. The kinds of the complete food for dogs and cats that were sold in 50shops, such as pet shops, supermarkets, and discount stores, in the Kansai region were investigated. At the same time, a questionnaire on the use of the complete foods was given to 213 pet owners. In the 50 shops,338 kinds of complete food were sold. In the questionnaire, about 77% of the dog owners and about 95% of the cat owners said they were using complete food. Furthermore, these owners mainly thought of satisfying their pet's cravings in buying such pet food.

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There is a little information on the actual use of the dog snacks, although it is understood that consumption of them is developing due to their high ability to please dogs and their convenience. Therefore, the actual use of dog snacks in the Kansai region was investigated. As a result, it was found that 98 kinds of dog snacks were sold. The jerky-type products were the best-sellers.67% of dog owners were using the snacks for their dogs, mainly jerky-type products. It was the jerky-type products that there was most used. In the investigation area, such snacks were fed to dogs whenever the owners desired to give them. However there were few cases of owners giving them for nutritional purposes or as rewards in discipline and training.

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