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Struvite Diet in Cats: Effect of Ammonium Chloride and Carbonates on Acid Base Balance of Cats^1,2,

Institute of Animal Nutrition, Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover, 30173 Hannover, Germany

Six healthy adult cats were fed a basal minced beef meat and rice diet (one meal per day) with varying amounts or combinations of acidifying and alkalizing additives (ammonium chloride, calcium and sodium carbonate). The base excess in the food (mmol/kg dry matter) was calculated (data on food compounds in g/kg dry matter) as follows: base excess = 49.9*Ca + 82.3*Mg + 43.5*Na + 25.6*K - 64.6*P - 13.4*met - 16.6*cys - 28.2*Cl. Base excess in the experimental diets amounted to between +305 and -1079 mmol/kg dry matter. After an adaptation period of 5 d, urine and blood pH as well as water and mineral balance were determined in the cats over a 10–15-d period. The daily mean urine pH ranged between 6.1 and 7.8. There was a highly significant correlation between the base excess in the food and the mean urine pH. The regression line was linear down to a base excess in the diet of -400 to -500 mmol/kg dry matter and a pH in the urine of 6.2. The postprandial increase of urine pH was suppressed either by large amounts of ammonium chloride (>780 mmol/kg dry matter) alone or in combination with calcium carbonate but not in combination with sodium carbonate. The relationship between the decrease of the blood pH and the amount of ammonium chloride added to the diet was more marked than the relationship between blood pH and base excess in the food. To avoid health risks from long term feeding of acidifying diets, it is recommended that struvite diets with low base excess be formulated and that they contain as few alkalizing compounds as possible that must be neutralized by acidifiers.

KEY WORDS: • cat • acid base balance • ammonium chloride • struvite diet

¹ Presented as part of the Waltham Symposium on the Nutrition of Companion Animals in association with the 15th International Congress of Nutrition at Adelaide, SA, Australia, on September 23–25, 1993. Guest editors for this symposium were Kay Earle, John Mercer and D'Ann Finley.

² This paper is based on a translation of the paper by E. Kienzle and S. Wilms-Eilers (1993): "Untersuchungen zur Struvitsteindiätetik: 2. Einfluß von Ammoniumchlorid und Carbonaten auf den Süren-Basen- und Mineralstoffhaushalt der Katze," published in Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 100: 399–405.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed: Institute of Physiology, Biochemistry and Animal Nutrition, Veterinary Faculty, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Veterinärstr. 13, 80539 München, Germany.