Misty Williams-Fritze DVM, MS, DACLAM. “Academy of Surgical Research: Benecalorie Nutritional Supplement as a Component of Liquid Diet in Swine.”

Summary: Swine are commonly utilized in research of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), where unobstructed access to the upper or lower GIT is necessary for biomedical device evaluation. We regularly use a liquid diet developed by our facility, however, recent introduction of models to our institution studying the upper GIT has necessitated modifications to the liquid diet. Our aims were threefold: (1) decrease the total volume of liquid diet fed to swine, while maintaining caloric and nutritional requirements for growing animals; (2) provide a diet that was palatable, yet clear in color; and (3) remain cost-effective and efficient in terms of technician time for diet preparation and feeding.

Animals on all the studies maintained or gained weight compared with their own baseline body weights and against growth charts provided by the animal vendors from which they were acquired. The use of Benecalorie(r) as a component of a liquid diet has significantly improved our ability to offer a calorie-dense diet in liquid form, and thus maintain positive animal welfare and nutritional status of growing swine, while ensuring study goals are met.

Presented at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Surgical Research, October 4-5, 2017, Las Vegas, NV and at the 68th Annual AALAS (American Association for Laboratory Animal Science) National Meeting, October 15-19, 2017 in Austin, TX.