Serum metabolomics identifies metabolic changes in obese cats fed enzymatically hydrolyzed poultry byproduct meal

Background Obesity in cats is a complex metabolic condition, and understanding its metabolic processes is essential for gaining new insights into nutrition. Hypothesis/Objectives Investigate the effects of enzymatically-hydrolyzed poultry byproduct meal (EHPM-c) on the serum metabolomic profile of obese cats. Animals Eighteen adult, neutered, obese domestic cats were enrolled in the study. All subjects underwent comprehensive veterinary evaluations to confirm overall health and rule out concurrent systemic diseases, ensuring a homogenous study population. Methods Cats were randomized into 2 groups and fed for 45 days with isonutritive diets containing either 30.8% conventional poultry byproduct meal (CPM-c) with 0.0% EHPM-c, or 17.0% CPM-c with 12.0% EHPM-c. After a 30-day diet standardization period, evaluations were performed at baseline (T0) and 45 days (T45) after consumption of the experimental diets. Metabolic spectra were obtained using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and analyzed using MetaboAnalyst®. Results Principal component analysis did not identify differences in the overall metabolite profiles between the groups, but discriminant analysis identified changes in the intensities of valine, acetate, 1-methylhistidine, and glycerol in the test group after 45 days. Additionally, pathway analysis indicated a significant effect on propanoate metabolism, ethanol degradation, fatty acid biosynthesis, and glycerolipid metabolism in the test group. Conclusions and clinical importance These findings suggest enhanced fat mobilization and improved utilization of branched-chain amino acids, potentially benefiting energy metabolism in obese cats.