Reproducibility of breath hydrogen concentration measurements in dogs after change of diet

Objective-To assess reproducibility of breath hydrogen (H-2) concentration measurements in dogs on 3 consecutive days after introduction of a new diet . Animals-10 healthy colony-source dogs. Procedure-Dogs were fed a commercial pet food for a minimum of 10 days befo re introduction of a high-carbohydrate commercial diet. Expired breath samp les were collected at baseline and every 90 minutes for 18 hours on the fir st 3 days after introduction of the new diet. The area under the curve (AUC ) for breath H-2 concentration versus time on days 1, 2, and 3 were compare d by use of repealed-measures ANOVA. Results-The (AUC) did not differ significantly among test days 1, 2, and 3. Conclusions-Expired breath H-2 concentration in dogs indicated good reprodu cibility during the first 3 days after introduction of a new diet. Clinical Relevance-It is not necessary to provide a period for adaptation t o a test diet prior to performing breath H-2 tests in dogs.