Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access

Palatability, chewing time and digestibility of two new dental chews for dogs: Veggiedent® ZEN and Veggiedent®FLEX

30^th International Conference on Nutraceuticals and Natural Medicine

January 28-29, 2019 Osaka, Japan

Celine Nicolas, Houziaux A, Monginoux P and Navarro C

Virbac Group, France

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nutr Food Sci

Abstract :

The palatability and chewing time of Veggiedent® ZEN and Veggiedent® FLEX (Virbac) were evaluated in independent studies. Both products combine the FR3SHâ?¢ technology (pomegranate, erythritol and inulin) for fresh breath and either L-theanine (Veggiedent® ZEN) known to support relaxation or Eggshell membrane (Veggiedent® FLEX) known to support joint health and mobility. Over the 37 dogs testing Veggiedent® ZEN, all took the chew (prehension: 100%), 35/37 chewed it (chewing: 95%) and 34/37 completely consumed the chew (acceptability: 92%). The mean (SD) chewing time was of 244 (122) sec and was of 228 (85) sec (=3 min 48 sec) after exclusion of 1 atypical dog chewing for more than 10 min. All the 36 dogs testing Veggiedent® FLEX took it (prehension: 100%), chewed it (chewing: 100%) and totally consumed it (acceptability: 100%). The mean (SD) chewing time was of 319 (148) sec and was of 288 (109) sec (=4 min 48 sec) after exclusion of 3 atypical dogs chewing for more than 10 min. The ileal digestibility of dry matter of these two products was also tested in an independent lab, based on Boisenâ??s method in vitro, following two incubation steps: One with a pepsin solution, pH 2 for 6 hours to mimic gastric digestion and one with a pancreatin solution, pH 6.8 for 18 hours to mimic small intestinal digestion. Both products were found to be 100% digestible. Therefore, Veggiedent® ZEN and Veggiedent® FLEX are highly palatable and totally digestible in vitro.

Biography :

Celine Nicolas has completed her Graduation in Veterinary Medicine and PhD from University of Nantes, France. She has also worked as a Postdoctoral fellow and Research Assistant at University of Bristol, UK and also University of Nice, France. She has published several articles in reputed journals and joined Virbac.

E-mail: celine.nicolas@virbac.com