Calcium Acetate

This study examines the influence of Bacillus clausii supplementation on feline nutrition, addressing the growing interest among pet owners in improving their pets' health and well-being through probiotics.As companion animals are increasingly regarded as members of the family, there is a growing emphasis on their dietary and health-related considerations.The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of Bacillus clausii, a strain with established antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties, on the gut health of cats.A total of 14 neutered Chartreux cats were recruited for a double-blind trial.The cats were divided into two groups: a control group and a treatment group.The treatment group received Bacillus clausii supplements in their diet.Over 42 days, the body weight (BW), Body Condition Score (BCS) and faecal quality of the subjects were monitored.The results indicated a significant increase in feed intake in the treatment group in comparison to the control group, which suggests an improvement in digestive health.No significant differences in BW and BCS were discerned.Furthermore, the treatment group showed improved stool quality, reduced faecal scores and high dry matter content.IgA level increased in the faeces and reduced levels of calprotectin, a marker of intestinal inflammation, in the treatment group indicated better gut health.Bacillus clausii administration also resulted in an increase in short-chain fatty acids and butyrate, which promoted a beneficial microbial population.These preliminary results suggest that Bacillus clausii supplementation may improve gut health in cats, potentially leading to better health and well-being.

The impact of six alpine herbs (Alchemilla vulgaris L., Sanguisorba officinalis L., Tanacetum vulgare L., Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr., Galium odoratum (L.) Scop., and Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.), was compared with grass hay on rumen degradability and fermentation parameters.The seven plants were fermented using an automatic in vitro system to evaluate the kinetics of gas production (GP), degraded dry matter (dDM) and fermentation end products [volatile fatty acids (VFA), carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen].Gas and methane productions were also computed from VFA using specific stoichiometric relationships.The partitioning factor (PF: ratio between dDM and GP) was calculated as an index of microbial growth.Compared to grass hay, the alpine herbs exhibited lower degradability (on average -12.8%) due to their high lignified fiber content.The alpine herbs also increase the PF (9.1%), suggesting a reduction in microbial growth efficiency, and altered the VFA profile by increasing the proportion of acetic acid (9.9%) at the expense of propionic (-11.9%) and n-butyric acids (-19.4%).Stoichiometric relationships typically associate these variations with an increase in methane proportion.However, this was not observed; in fact, Sanguisorba officinalis L. (-15.0%) and Galium odoratum L. Scop. (-13.9%) reduced methane productionThe discrepancy between the measured and expected methane production indicates that part of the hydrogen, not used for methane synthesis, was redirected to alternative sinks such as reductive acetogenesis.This change in the fermentation profile appears to be modulated by bioactive compounds present in the medicinal herbs, which are potentially found in grazing pastures.