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Abstract
Metabolomics has been integrated into human nutrition research, enabling scientists to evaluate how dietary components influence health. These advancements have occurred because of standardization of biofluid handling, metabolite stability assessment, and database development. In contrast, canine metabolomics remains underutilized, particularly in the context of evaluating diets and their relationship to chronic disease. Despite dogs sharing many of the same diet-related conditions as humans, including obesity, diabetes mellitus, and cognitive decline, several challenges limit their use as translational models.This dissertation explores veterinary metabolomics and related research in dogs. First, a systematic review identified substantial inconsistencies in canine urine sample collection, handling, and reporting, restricting reproducibility and data comparability. To address this, we evaluated short-term metabolic stability in canine urine stored under refrigeration and room temperature using untargeted ¹H NMR. A second study evaluated the stability of two diet-associated advanced glycation end products (AGEs), Nε-carboxymethyllysine (CML) and Nε-carboxyethyllysine (CEL) in dog urine stored at ambient temperature for up to 168 hours. Minimal degradation was observed, supporting the feasibility of urinary AGE research in dogs under variable storage timelines. Lastly, we present recommendations for dog urine sample collection, handing, and storage to improve the quality of dog metabolomics research. This work provides recommendations for urine collection and storage for canine metabolomics and AGE research.