18 Mar 2009 16:00
Unit:
Wageningen University
Location:
Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation:
Wageningen University
Promotor:
prof.dr.ir. W. Hendriks (Animal Nutrition)
Promotor:
Prof.dr.ir. M.W.A. Verstegen
Co Promotor:
Dr.ir. A.F.B. van der Poel, Dr.ir. B. Beerda
Dog food provides dogs with nutrients required for maintaining health but may affect their behaviour. This thesis describes the effect of i) dietary fibre type on duration of satiety after a meal and on the activity and anxiety of dogs, and ii) dietary tryptophan content on anxiety and the response to stress of dogs. For the first study, dogs were fed a diet containing either degradable or undegradable fibres. Feeding motivation, measured several hours after the morning meal, tended to be lower in dogs fed the diet with degradable fibres. The activity of the dogs in their kennel was lower for dogs fed the degradable fibre than those fed the undegradable fibre. Anxiety, measured using short-lasting behaviour tests, was not affected by fibre type. To study the effect of tryptophan content, dogs were fed at home a control diet or a diet containing more tryptophan than the control diet. Owners reported about their dogs’ behaviour by filling out a web-based questionnaire before the onset of dietary treatment and again after feeding the experimental diets. Behavioural changes observed could not be attributed to the dietary treatment. A selection of dogs fed the control diet or the tryptophan diet were subjected to behaviour tests before and after the dietary treatment. The dogs’ responses in the behavioural tests were not affected by dietary tryptophan content. From the studies, it can be concluded that i) dietary fibre type can affect physical activity in kennelled dogs likely through its effect on satiety and ii) increasing the dietary tryptophan content did not affect behaviour of mildly anxious privately-owned dogs.
Title thesis: “Can diet composition affect behaviour in dogs?"