Utilization of pork and pork by-products for nutritional management of captive exotic felids

Citation

Iske C, Morris C, Kappen K, Colpoys J, Iennarella C, Johnson A. 2015. Utilization of pork and pork by-products for nutritional management of captive exotic felids. In Bissell H, Brooks M Eds. Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition, AZA Nutrition Advisory Group, Portland, OR.

Abstract

Currently beef and horse comprise the majority of raw meat diet formulations marketed by US companies manufacturing and supplying carnivore diets to zoological institutions. Pork-based diets have traditionally not been fed to managed exotic carnivores, primarily because of microbial and pathogenic concerns, and nutrient digestibility of pork has not been evaluated in captive exotic felids. Additionally, the pork industry currently sends many by-products to rendering that have potential use in raw carnivore diets. The overall objectives of this research were to evaluate a raw, pork-based diet for small and large captive exotic felids, including diet compositional analyses, digestibility, fecal scores, palatability, and microbial loads.

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