Equilíbrio ácido básico de gatos recebendo dietas com acidificante a base de ácido fosfórico: equilíbrio ácido básico de gatos recebendo dietas com acidificante a base de ácido fosfórico

Abstract

We studied the effects of the inclusion of a commercial acidifier in two commercial diets with known Base Excess (BE), on food intake, water intake, pH, urine volume and density , as well as the basic-acid balance of adult cats. The experiment was conducted at the Center for Studies in Companion Animal Nutrition (CENAC) of the Department of Animal Science at the Universidade Federal de Lavras, using 10 mixed breed adult cats, of both sexes. Each of the commercial diets was supplemented with the commercial acidifier until reaching the amounts of 0 mEq/kg, -25 mEq/kg, -50 mEq/kg, -75mEq/kg and -100 mEq/kg, forming a randomized blocks design in a 2x5 factorial scheme (2 rations and 5 levels of acidifier).The data obtained were submitted to ANOVA and regression analysis for acidifying levels, using the Action 2.7 statistical package. The diet A showed a less cationic BE (17.42 mEq/kg) when compared with diet B (508.79 mEq/kg), while the BE for each feed with the inclusion of different levels of acidifier ranged from -82.57 mEq/kg to 483.79 mEq/kg. We observed a quadratic behavior of the different levels of acidifier in feed A (P˂0.05) showing that, from the level of acidifier inclusion of -51.6 mEq/kg, daily food intake decreased. Regarding urinary pH, the acidifier level begins influence the decrease in pH from -38.2 mEq/kg in feed A, also presenting a quadratic effect. For gas parameters of venous blood, there was no interaction in any of the variables analyzed, however, we observed significant effects of the diets over pH, [HCO3-] and CO2T, showing lower concentrations of these gases in the blood of cats consuming feed A. For the sodium, chloride and potassium serum electrolytes, there was no significant difference (P˂0.05) for any of the variables analyzed in both diets. The inclusion of phosphoric-based acidifier reduces urinary pH only when used in diets with negative or near zero BE, not being effective in diets with elevated or very positive BE.