About the Authors

Jean A. Hall

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Validation, Writing – original draft

Jean.Hall@oregonstate.edu

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America

Jeff A. Brockman

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Pet Nutrition Center, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Topeka, Kansas, United States of America

Stephen J. Davidson

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Pet Nutrition Center, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Topeka, Kansas, United States of America

Jen M. MacLeay

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Pet Nutrition Center, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Topeka, Kansas, United States of America

Dennis E. Jewell

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Pet Nutrition Center, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Topeka, Kansas, United States of America

Competing Interests

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Four of the authors (JAB, SJD, JMM, and DEJ) have an affiliation to the commercial funders of this research, as employees of Hill’s Pet Nutrition. The work presented in this study was funded by and performed at the Pet Nutrition Center, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Topeka, KS (http://www.hillspet.com/our-company.html). The funding organization did not play a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript and only provided financial support in the form of authors' salaries and/or research materials. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Data are freely available upon request. Jean A. Hall has received research grant support from Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. in the past. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Data is freely available upon request. Although Hills financed this study, they played no role in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or in the manuscript writing or submission for publication. None of the authors has any other financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.