Dietary supplementation of coated butyrate in healthy dogs: effect on apparent digestibility, faecal flora and faecal volatile fatty acids

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of dietary addition of coated butyrate on gut health related faecal traits in dogs. A food with or without coated butyrate was tested in a crossover study with 17 dogs. Faecal samples were collected and frozen until analysis for proximate components. Fresh faecal samples were collected for bacterial culturing and short chain fatty acids (SCFA) analysis. The addition of coated butyrate to a dog diet had neither effect on faecal consistency score, dry matter content and faecal production nor on digestibility coefficients. Absolute and relative faecal contents of SCFA were not different for the two foods. The bacterial nitrogen (N) content of the faeces was significantly lower after butyrate addition compared to the control diet. In conclusion, the addition of butyrate to a dog food had no effect on faecal characteristics but the faecal bacterial protein content was significantly reduced by butyrate addition.