The Effect of Duck Bile Acid Extract on the Fecal Microbiota, Short Chain Fatty Acids, Fat Digestibility and Blood Biochemical Indices in Cats

Abstract

Bile acids (BAs) have been widely used on livestock in recent years and could be a good feed additive to improve the performances of animals. But the effects of bile acid on cats have not been studied. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of the bile acid from ducks on cats. Five healthy cats, which were two years old, were studied with a dose of the bile acid product being 50 mg/kg body weight per day. On day 0 (group A) and day 28 (group B), the fecal flora, volatile fatty acids, fat digestibility, and blood biochemical Indices of cats were studied and tested. The results showed that BAs could probably modulate the fat metabolism and gut microflora of cats and could improve the digestibility of different nutritional ingredients. The cholesterol of blood was greatly decreased and the cholesterol and activity of amylase were improved by 20.9% (p < 0.05) and 21.1% (p < 0.05), respectively. Fat digestibility was improved by 5.68% (p < 0.05) and the body weight on day 28 was decreased without significance (p > 0.05). The abundance of the Bifidobacterium on day 28 was greatly increased (p < 0.05) after using BAs product. The research showed that duck BAs could modulate fat metabolism and increase probiotics of the gut in cats and could probably be a good feed additive to reduce weight and improve gut health for cats in the future.