Nutrition Basics
Laurie S. Coger, DVM, CVCP, RP
The answers to these questions are obviously complex. There
are many ways to meet a dog’s nutritional needs. For the show and competition
dog, we are especially concerned that the diet supports peak physical and
mental condition, as well as overall health. Many dogs have sensitive digestive
systems, food intolerances, or other health concerns. The senior dog and the
family dog who is not very active need good nutrition without extra calories
that lead to weight gain. A sound nutritional program will enable all of these
dogs live to long and healthy lives.
Whatever feeding plan is used, it must fit in the daily
routine of the owner. The food chosen must be readily available, and in the
case of the competition dog, be able to be easily fed on the road. The food
must meet the nutritional needs of the individual dog, and be fed in a way to
not provide excessive or deficient amounts of key nutrients. All foods should be clean and fresh,
especially kibble that is naturally preserved with tocopherols and or citric
acid. Natural preservatives are preferred to chemical preservatives such as BHA
or BHT, but naturally preserved food that is stored too long may become rancid
or moldy, as well as losing its nutritional value.
The vast majority of dogs in this country, whether family
companions or competition/working dogs, are fed some type of commercial food.
For the purposes of this article, commercial food will be divided into three
categories: standard or grocery store foods, premium or pet store foods, and
super-premium foods. The best way to understand the differences in these foods
is to review the ingredients of a representative of each food category. (Food
examples were chosen based on nationwide advertising and availability.)
Top 5 ingredients of common dog foods
Standard Food Premium
Food Super-Premium
Food
Kibbles ‘n Bits® Nutro Max Adult® Wellness Super5 Chicken®
Corn
Chicken
Meal Deboned
Chicken
Soybean meal
Wheat
Flour Ground
Barley
Ground wheat
Ground
Whole Wheat Oatmeal
Beef & bone meal Rice
Bran Rye
Flour
Animal fat* Poultry
Fat** Menhaden
Fish Meal
*BHA and citric
acid used as preservatives
**Preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E
The premium quality food lists chicken meal as the first
ingredient. While it is a more specific type of meal, and likely of higher
quality, it is still a rendered product. Also, two varieties of wheat are
listed, a technique known as “splitting” in labeling jargon. It cannot be determined
from the label whether the food contains more chicken meal or wheat. A big
advantage the premium food offers is the use of tocopherols for preservation of
the chicken fat, rather than the suspected carcinogen BHA.
The super-premium food protein source is whole, unrendered
meat, meaning muscle with or without organ meat and associated structures. This
product contains fish meal as the fifth ingredient, which is defined as “clean,
dried, ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish and/or fish cuttings, with or
without the extraction of part of the oil.” The super-premium food also contains three types of grains,
of types not commonly found in most dog foods. With wheat implicated in many
food allergies and intolerances, it is advantageous to use other grains if
possible, even if they cost more than wheat or corn.
After learning what is really in commercial dog foods, you
may be wondering what you have been putting in your best friend’s bowl! You
thought you were getting the best food possible when you paid for an expensive
brand, only to find out it is mostly grains. You are probably wondering if you
have used a food that contains rendered euthanized animals, including dogs
and cats. Two studies performed by the US Food & Drug Administration
demonstrated the presence of the euthanasia drug sodium pentobarbital in many
commercial dog foods, including premium brands. (Read about these studies in Foods
Pets Die For, by Ann Martin) You may be considering the possibility that
some of your dog’s health issues could be food related. Most of all, you are
probably wondering what commercial foods can meet your dog’s nutritional needs
in a wholesome way.
Fortunately, as more people learn about commercial foods,
the demand for super-premium quality dog foods has increased, and more options
are available today than ever before. It is now possible to find non-meal
protein sources, grain free foods, and foods that use all human grade
ingredients. With some research and careful label reading, you can find foods
you can be comfortable feeding. With some companies offering delivery to your
home, getting the highest quality food available has become easier, regardless
of your location.
In response to learning what may be contained in dog food,
many owners have turned to home-prepared diets. Feeding so-called “natural”
diets is becoming commonplace in the world of the canine competition. Advocates
of natural diets are often very enthusiastic about the merits of feeding real
food to their dogs. Commonly cited benefits of a natural diet include reduction
of allergies, better coats, stronger immune systems, and fewer gastrointestinal
problems.
There are many feeding plans that fall under the general
description of a “natural” diet. Perhaps the best known is the “Bones And Raw
Food” diet designed by Dr. Ian
Billinghurst. The core of this plan is the raw meaty bone, most commonly
poultry necks, backs, and wings. Other pioneers of natural feeding such as Wendy
Volhard and Dr. Kerry Brown advocate use of raw meats and vegetables, as
well as a grain/cereal meal. Their feeding plan is one of the few that has been
shown to meet or exceed the minimum daily requirement of all known nutrients,
and was tested on dogs in all life stages for 12 years before being published.
Many other feeding plans exist, and incorporate concepts from the Volhard and
Billinghurst diets. Several companies are producing premixes and meats designed
for inclusion in these plans, eliminating some of the work involved in feeding
a natural diet. Finding recipes for feeding plans has never been easier, as
there are many books, seminars, and internet resources available.
Although it is becoming easier to feed a natural diet, it
can still be time consuming and require extra work. It requires an investment
of time to become educated about your dog’s nutritional needs. You must find a
source for clean and fresh meats and other ingredients, and have the freezer
space to store them. Depending on the diet plan you choose, you may need to
grind or blanch vegetables or prepare cereal meals. You will also need to
monitor your dog’s health with regular veterinary check-ups and blood testing.
Many veterinarians and owners object to a natural diet.
They are concerned that the raw meat may be contaminated with bacteria and
cause infection in dogs or people, and that raw bones may perforate the
digestive tract. They are worried that the diet is not completely balanced, as
a kibble meal would be. Since the advent of commercial dog foods, we have been
lectured about the evils of giving our dogs “human” food, as that would
unbalance the diet. How can we possibly consider feeding a dog a completely
“human” food diet, and how can it supply all the nutrition the dog needs?
Raw meats inevitably contain a large bacterial load. These
bacteria can be dangerous to humans, so practicing good food hygiene is
important, whether preparing your dinner or your dog’s. However, a dog’s
digestive system is designed to handle bacteria that would be life threatening
to a person. Bacteria are
everywhere. If he couldn’t handle large bacterial loads, your dog would surely
die from chewing on sticks, licking his feet after walking in dirty areas, or
scavenging discarded foods from the trashcan.
The risk that raw bones may perforate the digestive tract
is small, but theoretically possible. Cooked bones are far more likely to
splinter, and do pose a real risk. Appropriately sized raw bones, especially
non-weight bearing bones such as poultry necks, can be thoroughly chewed by
most dogs and tend to be crushed by chewing. Large bones such as beef thigh
bone (femur) are large enough to not be splintered. You may have seen them sold
in pet stores, plain or coated with a flavoring. Of course any dog that is an
enthusiastic chewer should be supervised while chewing meaty bones.
The dog food industry has long fostered the belief that
each meal we feed our dogs must be completely balanced. Meeting your dog’s
nutritional needs for the basic nutrients – protein, fats, carbohydrates,
vitamins, and minerals – is the very definition of a complete diet. However,
the body possesses the ability to store some nutrients, a “buffer”, making it
unnecessary to eat a 24-hour supply of every nutrient every day. In fact, the Volhard diet is fed in 7
days cycles, taking advantage of the body’s ability to store nutrients and
allowing the digestive system to rest one day of the cycle. Do you eat a
perfectly balanced diet each day?
Deciding what to feed your dog is not a simple
decision. The more you learn about commercial foods, the more selective you
will become. Fortunately, more
high quality kibble foods, which approach the quality of well-managed natural
diets, are readily available. Premixes that make feeding and traveling with a
natural diet easier are also available. Feeding a natural diet is becoming more
common and accepted, especially among owners of competition dogs. Whether you
choose to feed your dog fresh or kibbled food, you have several excellent
feeding plans to choose from.
Please feel free to send your questions to us at http://www.competitivecaninecare.com/!
Resources: Listed below are companies whose
products we use for our own dogs.
Competitive Canine
Care Recommended Reading List
Savings
from the Canine Wellness Center! Use coupon code 139 for free shipping from
Wysong!
An excellent source of fresh frozen foods
Cutting edge supplements for
your dog, from the makers of Glyco-Flex, one of the first joint supplements. We
believe most dogs, especially those over 5 years of age, should receive a
glucosamine/MSM supplement such as GlycoFlex.
Note: Enter the site using the link at the bottom of the
page. Watch for special savings!
Innova-EVO is one of the few no-grain dry foods available.
It is an excellent supplement to a raw feeding plan.
An excellent all natural food , with human quality
ingredients.
Excellent
products with a variety of formulas, including a fish and sweet potato formula
for the allergic dog.
.jpg)