News from research - 8. maj 2013

Urinary

Royal Canin Urinary U/C: a 12-month trial in dogs with genetic hyperuricosuria

A long term trial on the efficacy of Royal Canin urate management diet is under way. Preliminary results show absence of urolithiasis recurrence and low urinary uric acid concentration.

Hyperuricosuria consists in the excessive excretion of uric acid in the urine that predisposes dogs to urate urolithiasis. Some breeds, such as Dalmatians, have a genetic susceptibility to hyperuricosuria.

This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of Royal Canin Veterinary diet Urinary U/C, formulated for urate urolithiasis management. Adult dogs with documented genetic hyperuricosuria (tested homozygous for the genetic trait that results in hyperuricosuria) and a history of urate urolithiasis were enrolled, with medical assessment at baseline and at 2, 6 and 12 months after initiating the test diet.

#8 - May 2013

including uric acid and allantoin.

No dog developed lower urinary tract signs except for 1 dog with transient self-resolving signs 5 days prior to his last visit at 12 months.

In the 6 dogs that completed visit 2, median urine specific gravity remained low (1.015 at baseline and 1.016 at 2 months), while median pH significantly decreased (from 7.5 to 6.0, p<0.005). Median 24hour uric acid and allantoin excretion did not change (p=0.46). The 4 dogs that completed the study maintained their 24 hours urine uric acid excretion at 12 months.

Intro Veterinary nutrition: here and now!

Although still lacking some awareness among veterinary practitioners (only 7% of pets which would need a veterinary diet are actually fed this diet), nutrition is becoming recognised with the importance it deserves within the veterinary scientific community.

The positive impact of proper nutrition on dog and cat health is well established. Adding nutritional assessment and recommendations into

24-hour urinary uric acid and allantoin excretion in 6 dogs at baseline and after 2 months

2000

Uric acid

Allantoin

min.

1750 μmol / 24hr

Q1 median

1500

max Q3

1250

the care of small animals also helps to develop a bond between the owner and the veterinary healthcare team, resulting in healthier pets.

Royal Canin is obviously actively supporting such initiatives.

Delphine Moniot, Marie-Anne Hours (Scientific Support Manager - R&D) & Gregory Casseleux (Scientific Communication Manager - Europe)

ACVN & ECVCN residents: the future of veterinary nutrition

These data suggest that a very low protein diet is not necessary to maintain levels of urinary uric acid concentration and excretion in predisposed dogs in order to minimize recurrence of urate urinary stones.

In our journey of continuous improvement and commitment to animal health, the veterinary profession has always been a respected and trustful partner. Nutrition is at the heart of Royal Canin, that’s why, as a company, we have decided to share with nutrition residents what cannot be learned at the university, to help them understand stakes linked to petfood industry.

1000 750 500

More about Colleges

250 Baseline

After 2 months

Baseline

To date, 6 dogs have completed the 2-month visit and 4 have completed the study. At baseline, 5/6 dogs were fed the low protein diet (protein level at or slightly below the NRC Recommended Allowance) recommended in most textbooks on management of canine urate stones. Owners were instructed to feed Royal Canin Veterinary diet Urinary U/C mixed with enough warm water to induce a SG (specific gravity) of ± 1.020, and energy intakes were adjusted according to the dog’s body condition score at each visit. Twenty-four hours urine collection was performed before each visit by the owner (voluntary voiding) (baseline, and after 2, 6 and 12 months), and urine samples were pooled for assays of all purine metabolic end-products,

Just out of the press!

Available on-line articles:

The primary objective of the ACVN (American College of Veterinary Nutrition) and the ECVCN (European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition) is to advance the specialty area of veterinary nutrition and increase the competence of those who practice in this field by establishing requirements for certification in veterinary nutrition, encouraging continuing professional education, promoting research, and enhancing the dissemination of new knowledge of veterinary nutrition through didactic teaching and postgraduate programs.

After 2 months

Westropp JL, Larsen JA, Queau Y, Fascetti AJ, Bannasch D, Biourge V. Evaluation of Urate urolithiasis Recurrence and Urinary uric acid and Allantoin Excretion in dogs consuming Royal Canin Veterinary diet Urinary U/C. Poster presented at the European Congress of veterinary Internal Medicine, Maastricht, 2012.

• Dietary sodium is not a threat to healthy old cats (see News from Research #1) Reynolds BS, et al. Effects of dietary salt intake on renal function: a 2-year study in healthy aged cats. J Vet Intern Med 2013.Accepted February 7, 2013.

• Faster growth rate: a predictive parameter for cat obesity? (see News from Research #5) Serisier S, et al. Faster growth rate in ad libitum fed cats: a risk factor predicting the likelihood of becoming overweight during adulthood. Journal of Nutritional Science (2013) free online access.

© ROYAL CANIN SAS 2013. All Rights Reserved - Credits: F. Duhayer, Labat/Rouquette, J.M. Labat

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In January, Royal Canin has opened its Central R&D doors to 14 residents in nutrition

In January, 14 European and American residents in nutrition were involved in a “product development process” during one week at the Royal Canin headquarters in France. The program included research approach and principles in collaboration with the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition (WCPN), as well as topics of raw materials, processing, palatability, feeding trials, quality control and regulation.

This was a great opportunity to facilitate exchanges between European and American residents, and to give them access to our ways of working based on collective intelligence and shared knowledge.

Coming nutrition congresses: • 13th annual AAVN (American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition) Clinical Nutrition & Research Symposium: Seattle, Washington, USA, June 12th 2013 •1 7th congress of the ESVCN (European Society of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition) : Ghent, Belgium, September 19-21st 2013 • Waltham International Nutrition Sciences Symposium (WINSS): Portland, Oregon, USA, October 1-4th 2013

Global Nutrition Committee: From Specialty to practice

Immunoglobulin G in serum of puppies: a low level is associated with an increased risk of death and low weight gain

Paediatrics

During the last World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) congress, the Global Nutrition committee released a toolkit dedicated to veterinary practitioners.

Available at www.wsava.com, this toolkit aims to make nutritional assessment and recommendation more efficient.

The Committee has gathered the science-based Nutritional Assessment Guidelines from the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) to develop easy-to-use tools for veterinarians to optimise the health and wellbeing of pets, as an integral part of optimal patient care. The toolkit includes practical aids for the veterinary healthcare team, such as diet history forms and a hospitalized patient feeding guide.

The Global Nutritional Guidelines group is currently supported by 19 national veterinary associations in 16 countries.

Next congress:

35.4%

Hip dysplasia is a highly prevalent complex disorder. Despite years of selection based on radiographic methods, prevalence has hardly been reduced. Recently, focus has been redirected at the underlying genetics, and an association between the AGC haplotype in the FBN2 gene and phenotypical hip dysplasia has been discovered. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of this mutation in Dutch and Belgian dog population.

271 dogs of 50 different breeds were genotyped. The prevalence of the haplotype was calculated in the general population and in 3 breeds: German Shepherd, Golden Retriever and Labrador Retriever.

General and breed specific prevalence and allele frequencies

N

GAT / GAT(%)

GAT / AGC(%)

AGC / AGC(%)

• 38th annual WSAVA congress: Auckland, New Zealand, March 6-9th 2013

All dogs

271

46,5

36,2

German Shepherd

54

50

Golden Retriever

38

18,4

Labrador Retriever

39

48,7

AGC

17,3

64,6

35,4

44,4

5,6

72,2

27,8

50

31,6

43,4

56,6

33,3

17,9

X-rays were available for 243 dogs. Based on the standard X-rays, hip status was assessed by a group of board certified surgeons and radiologists based on 4 different parameters: • General assessment of hip dysplasia (yes/no/inconclusive) • Degenerative joint disease (no/mild/moderate/severe) • Morgan line (yes/no/inconclusive) • Circumferential femoral head osteophyte (yes/no/inconclusive)

65,4

* A haplotype is a combination of alleles which are at an adjacent location on a chromosome and are transmitted together.

34,6

The study was conducted in a French kennel with different breeds over a period of 4 months during which a total of 104 puppies were born.

Puppies were weighed at 2 and 21 days of age and average weight gain (AWG) was calculated over this period. Depending on adult weight, they were classified as small (<25 kg) or large (≥25 kg) breed. Serum IgG level was measured at 2 days of age by ELISA test on the 79 puppies who survived at this time, and small and large breed puppies were divided into 2 groups depending on the result (≤6 and >6 g/L).

A statistical analysis was performed to investigate the presence of an association between phenotype and genotype. The results showed that the AGC haplotype was only significantly correlated with the general assessment (p<0.05). In this model, 14% of the variation could be explained by the age and the FBN2 gene status.

6 10 4 8 2 6 0 4 2 0

AWG (g)

IgG (g/L) at day 2

70/79

10

died

6,94 survived

Evolution over the first 3 weeks of age

survived

Evolution over the first 3 weeks of age

2,32

800

6 4 2 0

Serum IgG and average weight gain in small breed dogs (adult weightQ1<25kg) 1st decile

AWG 600 (g)

median Q1 9th decile 1st decile Q3 median

800 400

9/79 6,94

survived

died

***

600 200

2,32 Evolution over the first 3 weeks of age

400 0 200

24/51 ≤6

27/51 ***

>6

24/51

27/51

≤6

>6

9th decile

IgG (g/L) Q3at day 2

IgG (g/L) at day 2

The results show that: • Serum IgG concentration ranged between 0.19 – 7.89 g/L in puppies which died before 3 weeks of age (n=9) and 0.22 – 24.66 g/L in puppies which survived (n=70), with a significantly lower median in puppies which died (p=0.001).

Q1 • Average weight gain was significantly lower in small breed 800 decile puppies (n=51) with serum IgG concentration ≤6 g/L 1st (p<0.001).

600 In large breed puppies (n=19), a similar tendency wasmedian observed 9th decile (p=0.096).400 Q3

***

200 0

Serum IgG and average weight gain in large breed dogs (adult weight ≥25kg) AWG (g)

2000

AWG (g)

Broeckx B., Coopman F., Verhoeven G., Bosmans T, Criel A, Gielen I, Van Nieuwerburgh F, Van Ryssen B., Deforce D. Relation between the FBN2 halotype and phenotypical hip dysplasia. Poster presented at the Conference of advances in canine and feline genomics and inherited diseases, Visby (Sweden), May 2012

6,94 2,32 9/79

died

0

Although significantly correlated, phenotypical hip dysplasia is only partly explained by the FBN2 genotype and the age of the dog. A more refined phenotyping, a larger population of animals tested and the inclusion of environmental factors will be necessary to improve the model.

70/79 9/79

Serum IgG and Survival

8

Allele frequency GAT

10

IgG (g/L)8 at day 2

Mobility

This is the frequency of the AGC haplotype*, associated with hip dyplasia, in 271 Dutch and Belgian dogs of 50 different breeds.

In newborn puppies, passive immune transfer is decisive since only 5% of immunoglobulins originate from transplacental transfer. Immunoprotection essentially comes through colostrum suckling within the first 24 hours of life. This study investigates the importance of passive immune transfer by evaluating a link between absorbed immunoglobulin G serum concentration and mortality and average weight gain IgG (g/L) at day 2 over the first 3 weeks of age in puppies.

70/79

24/51

27/51

IgG (g/L) at day 2

A low IgG serum concentration is associated with an increased ≤6 >6 mortality and a lower weight gain in puppies. Therefore, attention has to be paid on colostrum intake in term of quantity, quality and early ingestion. There would be an interest in investigating the means to improve neonatal immunity.

Q1

AWG (g)

1st decile

1500 2000 1000 1500 500 1000

0 500 0

median Q1 9th decile 1st decile Q3 median

T

5/19

T

14/19

≤6

>6

5/19

14/19

≤6

>6

9th decile

IgG (g/L) Q3at day 2

IgG (g/L) at day 2

Mila H., Feugier A., Grellet A., Carrez B. Chastant-Maillard S. Increased risk of death and low gain weight in puppies with low immunoglobulin G level. Poster from IAD 9th annual conference (French conference on small animal immunology), Paris Jan 22-23 2013.