November 17th, 2010
Whether we’re looking at ourselves or our dogs, it’s hard NOT to think about weight in relative terms … as in … “At least my dog and I are thinner than … (insert comparison here).”
This may make us feel better about ourselves or our dogs, but it isn’t all that useful health-wise. What really matters, you see, is how our dog’s weight compares to their own, individual ideal weight.
Take My Lilly, For Example
When we first began learning canine agility, a trainer met us on the agility field and immediately told me that Lilly needed to drop 3 pounds. No hello. No nice to meet you. Just … “That dog needs to lose 3 pounds.”
At the time, I thought my darling Border Collie girl looked darn good at about 39 pounds, so I must have shot the trainer a “look” because she glanced at me over her sunglasses, which she slid down her nose, and said, “This is agility. Not conformation.”
What she meant is this … while indeed 39 pounds and just under 20 inches at the withers put Lilly dead on the border collie breed standard as judged at typical “dog shows,” she needed to be lighter to train/compete in agility.
I dropped Lilly to 35-36 pounds and have kept her there the best I can. The sport is hard enough on a dog’s body, without excess weight.
All of our agility friends keep their dogs leaner than most too, so for me … “normal” weight dogs look “fat.”
Ideal Dog Weight – How It Feels
Once in a while I weigh myself on our home scale, then I weigh myself while holding Lilly, and subtract to get an estimate of her weight. I also regularly feel her sides to make sure I can still feel her ribs. I mean really feel them.
Assigning a dog what veterinarians call a “body condition score” is about both:
- How a dog looks from above and from the side
- How a dog feels under your hands
Some veterinary practices use a 5-point scale, with three being ideal. Others use a more detailed 9-point scale, with five being ideal.
A big part of all this depends on how EASILY you can feel your dogs ribs. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but do you know how it’s supposed to feel?
What does your fist have to do with your dog's ideal weight?
Well, I recently learned a trick from a veterinarian named Ken Lambrecht, who is the founding owner and medical director at Westside Family Pet Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin. Here is how it works:
- Make a fist with one hand.
- Use the first two fingers on your other hand to feel across the back of your hand as you bump, bump, bump over the bones just below your knuckles.
That’s how your dog’s ribs should feel. Pretty neat, huh?
Ideal Dog Weight – An Estimate
If you’re more of a numbers person, ask your veterinarian to look up in your dog’s chart how much he weighed at age 1 … because that’s likely his ideal adult weight.
While it’s not a perfect measure, Lambrecht says this estimate of a dog’s ideal weight is pretty darn close for most dogs.
Tags: body condition score, dog fitness, ideal weight, rib check
Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Health, K9 Health, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
Pets At Risk for Dietary Problems
October 6th, 2010
Aside from certain kinds of pet food allergies, which have their own timetables, dogs and cats face a greater risk of diet-related problems at certain times in their lives:
- Right after they’re born
- When they are very young
- When they get “old”
- If they are nursing
- When they are ill
Not being a mom, myself, I was surprised to learn, for example, that a nursing mother (dog or cat) endures a much greater physiological strain from her feeding offspring than she does when they are in the womb.
I’d always thought that growing babies was hard work, but it seems feeding them is even harder.
Puppies and Kittens
The fragile and dynamic nature of just born or very young pets makes attending to their unique dietary needs VERY important. They can be undernourished. They can be over-nourished and grow too quickly, too fast. It’s a delicate balance, as we’ve discussed before.
Small or Toy Breed: Puppy Food Basics
Large Breed: Puppy Food Basics
Senior Pets
Perhaps in a later series of posts we can talk about how older pets food needs change. For now, I’ll just remind you that:
- Older dogs are MUCH more likely to become HYPOthyroid, characterized often by weight gain
- Older cats are MUCH more likely to become HYPERthyroid, characterized often by weight loss
Warning Signs
No matter your pet’s age, veterinarians get concerned about any changes in eating (or drinking habits). With all the online chatter about pet foods, it’s easy for us to immediately “blame” a specific food or even the entire industry.
But, veterinarians, and especially veterinary nutritionists, look at all kinds of factors when assessing a dog or cats nutritional needs and how that might affect what’s going on with their health.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be talking more about that. I hope you’ll stick with us.
Tags: cat food, dietary problems, dog food, food-related problems, kitten food, pet nutrition, puppy food
Posted in Dog Health, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
August 4th, 2010
The argument FOR feeding dogs and cats RAW pet foods boils down to this: Some people think it’s healthier. When pressed for specifics, their reasons fall into two main categories:
1. Distrust of the more manufactured / processed pet foods on the market.
2. Belief that raw provides a more natural / evolutionary diet for our canine and feline friends.
Hark, What Goes in There?
We’ve talked before about various dog food basics, including:
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
- Allergy implications of pet food ingredients
- Other nutrients
And, if you haven’t read it, I also suggest learning about dog food history because it reveals A LOT about how the mainstream dog foods we have today came into being.
Or, I can boil it all down … the industrial revolution and other changes in our society led to mostly inexpensive ingredients getting mixed together and cooked like crazy to produce affordable and convenient pet foods.
Pet Health
Pet food became easy and cheap, in other words. Healthy? Well, perhaps. Our pets do live longer than they once did thanks to both consistent, convenient nutrition and advances in veterinary medicine, but raw-feeding advocates question what they see as increases:
- Cancer
- Thyroid issues
- Kidney failure
- Dental problems
I asked Laura Duclos, PhD, director of research and development for Nature’s Variety (a brand available through this blog’s sponsor, K9Cuisine.com), to name the key benefits of feeding raw. Her list includes:
- Healthy teeth and fresh breath
- Skin and coat health
- Natural nutrients from whole foods (not synthetic ones added to make up for lacking ingredients)
- Urinary health thanks to a higher moisture content
- Less processing
- Grain-free and gluten-free
Raw Food Motivation
Among the Top 5 Reasons People Change Pet Food, you will find many of the same reasons people switch to feeding pets RAW food. Either their pet is sick, or they want to keep their pets healthy.
Essentially they worry about disease-causing “junk” in pet foods, including byproducts and preservatives.
Those who feed their pets RAW also malign grains and carbohydrates as not natural to a pet’s diet and hard for dogs and cats to digest. (Flatulence issues, anyone?)
Carnivores?
Technically speaking, dogs are carnivores with omnivore leanings, meaning they can and will eat all kinds of things. Cats, on the other hand, are obligate carnivores. They need meat. I mean REALLY need meat.
Simpler, More Pure … Raw
So, RAW advocates like raw pet food because it’s processed MUCH less than other kinds of pet food. For them, less processing = good. It’s more self-contained when it comes to essential nutrients, they say. It has everything wrapped up in a neat package, without too much monkeying around.
Many also believe that feeding RAW simply makes more sense from an evolutionary perspective. Our now-domesticated predator friends, they say, ate whole prey raw all the time … bones and all.
They talk about the pH levels in dog and cats stomachs as akin to super-strong acids, capable of killing any bacteria, etc. that they consume.
For them, feeding RAW is the healthiest choice.
The Poop Factor
Duclos added one last argument in her case for feeding raw: “Smaller, low-odor stools.”
***
What about you? Why do you feed RAW? Or, if you don’t, what questions do you have about raw pet foods?
P.S. Next week, we’ll post The Case Against Feeding Raw. If you want to get a head start, check out this post from Jim McBean from DoggyBytes, where he counters the various arguments against feeding raw.
Tags: feeding raw, pet allergies, pet food allergies, raw cat food, raw dog food, raw meaty bones, raw pet food
Posted in Dog Food Debates, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 20 Comments »
April 21st, 2010
Being a puppy is hard work. The speed, complexity and downright physiological miracle that is puppyhood astounds the mind. That’s why puppies need food that directly addresses their unique nutritional needs.
Puppies at Work: Growing
The body of a growing puppy is hardwired and flooded with hormones that tell the body to Grow, Baby, Grow!
“What happens during growth,” explains Edward Moser, MS, VMD, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist and spokesperson for Wellness Natural Food and Snacks for Pets, “is that you partition the way you use all the nutrients differently. Because you’re growing, the act of growth takes a huge amount of the total nutrients poured into the body … The bottom line is that the body is crying out for energy and protein to build tissue.”
Puppy Food: Energy and Nutrients
To meet this high demand, puppy food is super concentrated with protein and fat, in particular, to fuel the growing body.
Early on, in fact, puppies need three times the calories compared to their RER (resting energy requirement, essentially how many calories it takes to just “be” in a spot that’s not too hot, not too cold). By the time puppies reach physical maturity, that’s down to about 1.6-1.8 of their RER.
Puppies also need additional calcium (and other essential nutrients) balanced in amounts that tie directly to the number of calories consumed. Since commercial puppy food makes these adjustments, Dr. Moser does NOT recommend a calcium supplement for pups … especially large-breed pups.
Some puppy foods now include DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, an essential omega-3 fatty acids) that’s important for both brain and retinal (vision) development. Many believe these fatty acids help puppies learn better and improves trainability. If the food you feed your puppy does not deliver DHA, Dr. Moser supports using supplements. (Fish oil is common.)
Rich Puppy Food for Small Tummies
Because puppies are smaller, their food needs to be nutrient-rich so that they get the calories and food building blocks they need from the amount of food that fits into their tummies. (This is especially true for tiny breeds of dogs in puppyhood and even adulthood. We’ll cover that in the coming weeks.)
Feeding Times & Amounts
While it’s tempting to allow hungry-hungry puppies access to food around the clock, Dr. Moser warns that “free choice feeding” can lead to problems.
“People tend to look at animals and decide they want to maximize their growth rate,” he says. “They think, ‘Let’s see how fast these animals can grow. Let’s feed them as much as we can. Growing fast is cool.’”
“Well, in reality,” Dr. Moser continues, “growing fast is NOT what you want. You want a sort of moderate growth rate. Their genetic potential is to grow, and grow fast, and what we don’t want them to do is to reach that potential because we put them at risk for metabolic bone disease.”
This is especially true for large-breed dogs (those 55 pounds or more at adulthood). We’ll cover their unique needs as puppies in the coming weeks as well.
Several Small Meals
Dr. Moser recommends feeding puppies several small meals (4-5 a day). This allows their bodies to efficiently use the nutrients.
How Much is Enough, Too Much?
The truth is, however, that most people have NO clue how much they are feeding their pets. That’s why measuring the food out (vs. eyeballing it) is so important.
You can use feeding guidelines or charts on the sides of puppy food packaging for help figuring out about how much your puppy needs each day, then simply divide that up over several meals.
“I don’t think people should rely on the idea that the puppy will eat what it needs,” Dr. Moser warns.
Puppy Food Needs Level Off
Because a puppy’s growth slows down over time, so does his caloric need. Dr. Moser explains that people often think that if a fast-growing puppy eats this much at 6 months old, then it will eat TWICE that at 1 year. When in truth, he says, “It’s going to be about the same, maybe 10% more … That blows people’s minds … The amount of energy puppies are using for growth keeps getting smaller, so they need less above a maintenance level of food.”
Body Condition Scores & Weight
While Dr. Moser tells us there is indeed “puppy fat,” he says that Body Condition Scores and weigh-ins every two weeks tell you what you need to know about if you’re feeding your puppy enough or too much to support good, steady growth.
Essentially these visual and hands-on “tests,” tell you to look for a waist from above and to feel for your puppy’s ribs on the side.
Dr. Moser also recommends asking friends or family who do not see your puppy every day to comment on his appearance. Even with the puppy’s growth, they’ll be better able to tell you if the puppy looks too thin, too pudgy or perfect.
Any Questions?
Here at Dog Food Dish, we’ll be talking puppies this spring quite a bit. Tis’ the season, after all. So if you have questions, let us know, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
***
Photo Credit: Me … that’s my big boy Ginko when he was about 12 weeks old in 2000. He’d just gotten home from many days in the ICU. We nearly lost him to parvovirus.
Tags: puppy development, puppy food, puppy nutrition, resting energy requirement, Wellness Pet food
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
The Trouble With Pet Food Labels
March 17th, 2010
Even the health-conscious, smart-cookies among us can struggle deciphering pet food labels — with good reason. Pet food labels thrive as a weird combination of legal document and marketing spin. (Some that brag about “meaty” contents actually contain no real meat. Seriously.) I don’t mean to be as harsh as I’m sure this will sound, but pet food labels are NOT designed to teach consumers anything. Therefore, the best I can offer are a few insights into what’s there and why.
Pet Food Principle Display Panel
This is your main marketing space on the pet food bag or can. It’s required to include:
- Product identity, which can include any combination of the product name, manufacturer’s name and brand name
- Statement of intent, which simply says for which species the food is intended
- Net weight, which must appear in the bottom 1/3 of the label and say how much food is inside
- Product vignette, which can be some sort of graphic that represents the food as long as it doesn’t look “better” than the actual food
Pet Food Information Panel
This is the part people like us notice. Regulations require these pet food “labels” to include:
- The name and address of the manufacturer
- A guaranteed analysis for crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber and moisture
- A list of ingredients, written out in “descending order of prominence by weight”
- A statement of “nutritional adequacy,” including which method was used to establish these claims (feeding trials or nutrient profiles only)
- Feeding guidelines, which are rough generalizations
Where Things Get Tricky
Oddly enough, regulators forbid pet food makers from including any “designators of quality” on the bag or can. That means labels for high-quality pet foods and low-quality pet foods can look very, very similar.
I supposed these rules prevent pet food manufacturers from making wild claims about quality, but it makes our jobs as pet parents harder.
“Splitting” is another strategy that makes deciphering pet food labels tougher. This perfectly legal option simply allows pet food makers to list various forms of the same ingredient separately. This makes them weigh less and means some of them appear lower on the ingredient list.
For example, if the food includes beef as well as various beef byproducts, the actual meat shows up higher in the list.
This is true for dry ingredients as well. Since they have less moisture, they weigh less and appear lower on the ingredient list … even if there is quite a bit of it used in the product.
What About Calories?
I was surprised to learn that listing calorie content is not required.
Pet Food Label Extras
For better tracking during manufacture and in cases where pet food recalls are required, pet food labels often feature:
- Batch numbers
- Manufacture dates
- Freshness dates
What Confuses You?
So, tell me. What confused you about pet food labels? Do you have any tips for seeing through the words in search of the truth?
Tags: cat food, cat nutrition, dog food, dog nutrition, pet food labels
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Vitamins & Minerals: Dog Food Basics
March 3rd, 2010
The vitamins and mineral part of our Dog Food Basics discussions inherently falls into a this-or-that pattern. Vitamins are organic. Minerals are not. Some vitamins are water soluable. Some are fat soluable. With a good diet, it’s hard for pets to be deficient in certain vitamins. Yet, when it comes to minerals, the real risk can be getting too much, not too little.
An individual’s vitamin and mineral needs changes based on many things, including:
- Age
- Health status
- Constant shifts in the body
- Relative density or balance of other nutrients in the diet.
For example, the amount of thiamin (B1) needed greatly depends upon the dog food’s carbohydrate content. Or, compounds found in things like peas or soybeans can make iodine (a mineral) unavailable for the body’s use.
So, I wish I could tell you that EVERY dog needs THIS much of each vitamin or mineral, but I cannot. Instead, I can only tell you what roles they play in the body.
Water-Soluable Vitamins
These vitamins don’t store well, with excesses shed through urine, so animals are more likely to suffer deficiencies and less likely to experience toxicities of water-soluable vitamins:
- B-complex vitamins (metabolism of energy and tissue development)
- Vitamin C (antioxident, synthesis/metabolism/transport, immunity)
Fat-Soluable Vitamins
These vitamins can be stored in the body’s fat, making them less prone to deficiencies but more prone to toxicity:
- Vitamin A (important for vision, bones/teeth, respiratory membranes, gastrointestinal membranes)
- Vitamin D (helps with calcium and phosphorus metabolism)
- Vitamin E (antioxidant that protects other vitamins, fats, and certain amino acids)
- Vitamin K (important for blood clotting and bone growth)
Minerals
Minerals are broadly classified as either “macro” or “micro” minerals. Dogs need macrominerals in greater amounts, whereas microminerals they need just trace amounts. Generally speaking, animal-based foods provide a more available source of minerals than plant-based ingredients.
Macrominerals
- Calcium (key for bones/teeth and for intracell messaging from hormones and neurotransmitters)
- Phosphorus (important to bones/teeth as well as for cell growth, energy transfer, amino acid formation)
- Magnesium (used in carbohydrate and fat metabolism and as a catalyst for enzymes)
- Sodium & Chloride (electrolytes important to fluid balance and pressure, pH balance, nerve and muscle activities)
Microminerals
- Iron (oxygen activation/transport and electron transport)
- Zinc (metabolism of carbs, fats, proteins as well as key to skin integrity and immune system function)
- Copper (iron absorption/transport and hemoglobin formation, also needed for normal skeletal growth)
- Selenium (protects cell membranes from oxidation and spares Vitamin E for other uses)
- Iodine (key to hormone synthesis, including those that control body temperature and even muscle function)
That’s a lot to digest. (Ha! I made a joke)
So, I’ll end this week with a little piece of trivia: Zinc plays an important role in the ability to taste.
Tags: dog food, dog nutrition, minerals, vitamins
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
A professional writer based in Colorado, Roxanne Hawn doesn't just love dogs. She deep-down requires them in life. Something inside her genes, perhaps? That's why it's such a joy to write about all things canine. Roxanne began writing about pets in 1995, when she worked for the American Animal Hospital Association and later for the American Humane Association. During this period in her career, Roxanne served on the board of directors for the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (a coalition of animal welfare groups). Roxanne also volunteered for many years at an animal shelter, where she witnessed firsthand what happens when the human-animal bond breaks or never forms.
