[Phosphate intake with complete food and diets for chronic kidney disease available on the German market]

Complete foods and renal diets for dogs and cats available on the German market were analyzed for their concentrations of total phosphorus as well as highly soluble and therefore highly available phosphorus due to the possible effects of this element on the animal's health.

A total of 133 complete foods for healthy dogs and cats, 8 snacks and 43 diets for patients with chronic kidney disease were analyzed for total phosphorus and the fraction of phosphorus soluble in water after 1 minute (P_sol1).

In the tested compound food, the amount of phosphorus in relation to the recommended daily allowance ranged from 90 to 740 %. More than 90 % of the products supplied twice the required amounts; in 6 dog feeds the nutritional maximum wasexceeded. For almost 75 % of the products, the recommended daily allowance for phosphorus was already met vollby P_sol1. More than 50 % of the tested renal diets contained more than twice the recommended amounts for healthy individuals and with this also exceeded the legal limits. Even in the renal diets, the amount of P_sol1 alone exceeded the recommended daily allowance for this element.

This work demonstrates that compound food and renal diets available on the German market may contain a multiple of the recommended or legally permitted phosphorus concentrations. Therefore, a considerable number of products may be expected to not meet the expectations of customers and veterinarians.