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Myth? Nutritional Balance Over Time

July 26th, 2011

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The theory goes like this. It doesn’t matter if each individual meal we feed ourselves or our pets is balanced … because overtime, with enough variety, it’ll all balance out. I know I’ve said this to myself, especially if ice cream is on the menu for dinner.

I’ve heard the idea used to explain / justify things like:

best dog food, best cat food, k9cuisine.com, dog food dish blog

Ongoing micronutrient imbalance can erode a pet's health over time.

Thanks to a press pass at the recent American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum, I got to attend some pet nutrition seminars given by board-certified veterinary nutritionists. I wrote a bit about one session on homemade pet diets earlier (on my own blog), but I wanted to give more time and space to one concept in particular:

This idea of nutritional balance over time.

Jennifer Larsen, DVM, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist at University of California-Davis, poked a few wholes in the idea during her seminar. After reading through my notes from the event, I sent her some follow-up questions via email to find out more.

When Larsen chooses or creates a pet diet for a veterinary teaching hospital client, she explains, “First, my perspective is that the primary goal of the nutritional management of any case is to provide adequate amounts of energy as well as all the required nutrients. Secondly, specific nutritional modifications are considered if needed (like fat restriction, limitations in potassium or phosphorus, etc). Then, I consider ingredients that work within these parameters (as well as withing criteria from the patient and client) and go from there. This is the same process whether I ultimately meet my goals using a commercial diet (over the counter or prescription), a parenteral formulation [via IV], a liquid elemental enteral product [via feeding tube], or a home-cooked diet.”

Other considerations include:

Calling nutrition both a quantitative and a qualitative science, Larsen sums up her concerns about “nutritional balance over time,” like this: “I have heard the ‘balance over time’ concept as a means to promote dietary variety and achieve nutrient balance, and specifics on how this is achieved are never provided.”

Questions to Ask, Answers You Need: Nutritional Balance Over Time

Which version of nutrient requirements will you use? There are several … National Research Council, Association of American Feed Control Officials … etc.

How exactly will you balance out the various deficiencies? For example, if the diet is deficient for your pet’s needs (in something like zinc) and you feed the diet for two weeks, then do you on day 14 give a supplement that has 14 x the daily requirement? Or, do you give various levels of supplements over many days with the idea that the total amount will average out to the daily requirement?

Nutritional Balance Over Time: Concerns [emphasis mine]

“My fear,” says Larsen, “is that it is a convenient way to justify the approach of feeding casually and not worrying about such things as micronutrient requirements. It seems to me that this practice could set us up for multiple chronic marginal deficiency syndromes, such that over clinical signs of such would show up after a long period of time, if ever (given the short life spans of our pets). Also, this brings up the concern of suboptimal performance that may only be manifested in certain parameters of health and well-being that we don’t typically measure. I do see overt deficiency and toxicity cases. But, what about the many potential others that have more vague signs? The deficiency signs for multiple nutrients include lethargy and inappetence.”

Ingredient variables include things like cooking method (which can alter nutrient levels). Then, there is the common mistake of substituting volume measurements for weight ones. And, even a seemingly well-balanced homemade pet food that looks good for protein, carbs, and fats … can still be deficient in micronutrients (there are 40 of them). So, even if you use a decent recipe and merely swap out protein or carb sources once in a while, a fundamentally deficient recipe is still fundamentally deficient.

Plus, there is a tendency for “recipe drift,” where:

Nutritional Balance Over Time: The Human Comparison

Larsen calls the human analogy (that we don’t feed ourselves particularly well and we’re mostly OK) a poor one … because there are many forms of rampant malnutrition in industrialized countries, including:

In other words, we don’t do a terrific job on this for ourselves. Even if we work hard at a dietary variety, most people return to the same foods again and again.

Do you believe it’ll all work out? Or are you regularly calculating and re-calculating your pet’s nutritional intake, especially when it comes to micronutrients? If so, I’d love to know more about your methods and strategies.

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Food Debates, Dog Health, K9 Nutrition | 2 Comments »

Homemade Dog Food: Feeding Raw to Active Dogs

March 29th, 2011

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This is the fifth post in our series of Dog Food Dish Q&As with people who make their own pet food. This week we feature some active canine athletes, who need solid nutrition.

QUESTION: Tell us about yourself and your dogs.
My name is Cindy Dalton. My husband Mike and I play flyball on Sure Shots flyball club. I have three dogs:

Bentley and Myles play flyball, and Cody is a couch potato. Bentley and Cody are both rescues.

QUESTION: Why and when did you switch to homemade (non-commercial) pet food?
I switched to raw feeding nearly two years ago, after I got Myles. Everyone on my flyball club feeds raw, and I was impressed with the condition and energy of their dogs. I did a lot of research and decided to switch when Myles was four months old. Prior to switching, I was feeding a grain-free kibble (Taste of the Wild), but felt I could do better. It was also very expensive ($50/bag).

homemade dog food, raw dog food, photo of dalton family

Dalton Family, photo credit - www.grapevinememories.com

QUESTION: How did you develop your method/recipe, including if you feed fruits/veggies, other carbs and/or supplements?
I based my method off a combination of how my teammates feed. My dogs get a lot of chicken because it’s affordable and easy to find (I buy 10 lb. bags of chicken quarters at Wal-Mart for $5.99/bag). I also buy ground venison and beef blend from Texas Tripe and feed that a few times a week, along with liver and canned mackerel.

I often add supplements, usually Berte’s Daily Blend (available online from The Barfer Shoppe).

My philosophy when deciding what to feed my dogs is “what would a wild dog eat”? Since wild dogs don’t eat grains or vegetables, I don’t feed much of those. I’ve fed ground veggies in the past but haven’t in a while. I’ve used Berte’s Green Blend which I’ve seen recommended because it contains kelp, which is beneficial, rather than veggies. Each dog also gets fish oil capsules every day.

I feel my dogs are thriving on the raw diet. Not long after I switched, I noticed my older dog, Cody, had much more energy and seemed perkier. He was 8 when I switched, and he took to it as if he’d eaten it all his life. I enjoy being able to feed my dogs what I feel is the most natural diet for them.

QUESTION: Describe your time commitment/costs.
My husband was nervous about raw, so I’m the main person who feeds at our house. (He’ll do it now if I tell him how much to give each dog.) Since I just have three dogs, it hardly takes any more time than feeding kibble. I just have to make sure I have food defrosted for them. If I forget to defrost, they get canned fish that meal.

The most time consuming part is packaging up the chicken quarters, I use poultry shears to cut the thigh and drumstick apart, and split a 10 pound bag into two gallon Ziplocs, and feed out of the Ziploc. A 10 pound bag of quarters lasts me 5-6 days. I used to weigh the portions when I started, but once I got the hang of it, just started eyeballing the portions. If one dog gets a thigh for a meal, the next meal he gets a drumstick. Cody tends to be chunky since he’s not very active, so he usually gets a drumstick. It all balances out over time. I haven’t done a cost analysis, but feel that raw is about the same cost or a little cheaper than premium kibble.

QUESTION: What’s your best advice for those wanting to feed a raw, homemade dog food?
Do research until you’re comfortable about how to proceed. Realize that there is no right or wrong way to feed raw, it ends up being what is right for you and your dogs. I joined a local Yahoo raw feeding group, and read a few groups. Lew Olson’s book “Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs” is a great resource too. Once you’re ready, let your dogs help you figure out what works and what doesn’t.

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Food Debates, Dog Food News, K9 Nutrition | 2 Comments »

Homemade Dog Food Q&A: Cooking for Fido

March 8th, 2011

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This is the second post in our series of Dog Food Dish Q&As with people who make their own pet food. Karen Friesecke, who is most famous for her handmade dog collars on Doggie Stylish and for dog humor and dog news on The Doggie Stylish Blog, began serving her Vizsla, Jersey, home-cooked dog food as a puppy after princess girl flatly refused to eat any kind of commercial dog food. That was nearly eight years ago.

(P.S. You can also follow Doggie Stylish on Facebook and via Twitter)

photo of Jersey, vizsla, Doggie Stylish

Jersey, photo borrowed from DoggieStylish.com (handmade dog collars)

QUESTION: Why and when did you switch to homemade pet food?

Jersey has pretty much eaten homemade food since we’ve had her. I tried feeding her conventional food as a puppy, but she was just a really fussy dog, and I tried all kinds of food. I tried canned food. I tried kibble. I tried everything, and she just wasn’t having it. It was really hard getting her to eat. She was like, “What is this garbage?”

So, I just gave up and started cooking her meals when she was probably about 8 months old.

QUESTION: How did you develop your method/recipe?
I just figured it out on my own.

First of all, let’s back up, I bought one of those idiots or dummies books by dog trainers named Volhard, and they are very well respected in the dog community. Nobody seems to have issues with them. They’re into all things dog – dog nutrition, dog health, all this.

And, they said whatever dog food you choose of the first three ingredients two should be meat, so if you’re getting a kibble, the first two ingredients shouldn’t be corn and corn.

I never used to think about things like that. You know, whatever, you just fed the dog, and so that’s when I really started taking notice of dog nutrition, and suddenly this food is out. That food is out.

I would try to buy really good foods. It’s only been in the past 4-5 years that dog food has gotten really crazy, like with all the good foods like Evo, and Eagle Pack, where people are really getting into dog nutrition.

So, anyway, I was trying to buy all the best foods available at the time, and Jersey was like, “No, I’m not having it.”

So, I just started making my own food. We have an Asian market not too far away, so I can get all the organ meats – chicken livers, chicken hearts, kidneys, all that kind of stuff. I can get it, and I can get it really cheap and reliably. I can always go to my Asian market, and there will be chicken livers there all the time. Or, there will be chicken hearts all the time.

I just started boiling her meat.

QUESTION: So you cook the food rather than serve it raw?
I don’t feed raw, and the reason I don’t feed raw is partially because I have lupus, so I’m immuno-compromised, and the last thing I want to do is have my dog with her salmonella mouth lick me, and then I rub my eye or do something, and I get salmonella.

And, you know what, I don’t buy it. Yeah, there are some benefits to feeding raw, but …

I boil it, then what I like to do is used The Honest Kitchen, the preference, but we’ve had a real problem getting The Honest Kitchen in Canada, so I’ve just been buying frozen vegetables and then I cook them and add them.

QUESTION: Do you feed muscle meat as well or just organs?
Actually, Jersey has been eating venison for about four months because we hunt, and all the offcuts from the venison go to the dog, so none of our deer is wasted. We save the liver and the heart, and usually my dad gets that, but sometimes Jersey gets that. But, everything we shoot, the dog gets what we don’t want. Ever since she’s been a puppy for about 4-5 months of the year, depending on how many deer we get, she gets venison.

[Karen also feeds chicken, some beef, occasionally turkey, pork organs.]

But I prefer, just more for ease of handling, I prefer chicken hearts, chicken livers. I’ll sometimes buy ground turkey, but turkey can be expensive. I’ll do like pork kidney, pork liver.

QUESTION: Other than the veggies, do you feed any carbohydrates, like oatmeal or potatoes or fruit?
No. If I’m having an apple, she’ll have a bite of apple, but I don’t mix fruits into her food … no.

QUESTION: Do you give your dog supplements?
Nope. Why? Because the quality is unreliable. I’m very anti [all that] … I don’t believe in naturopathy. I don’t believe in homeopathy. It’s @#$@#. It’s fairy dust. Usually with vitamins, yes, there is some quality control, but I don’t do it. I don’t take vitamins myself. I get blood tested all the time, and I’m fine. Jersey had a blood panel done last summer, and she was fine.

… I’m sorry to break it to the raw feeders and all the natural people, but they’re always like, “big pharma this and big pharma that” … if it works, big pharma takes it. OK? That’s the point. If something in nature works, big pharma will take it, refine it, and sell it.

QUESTION: But you believe in good food? You eat a healthy diet yourself?
Kind of. This is my theory. If something’s going to get you, it’s going to get you. And, it doesn’t matter what you do. Obviously, the best way to get your vitamins is through good food, and I should probably follow that a little more. I should eat a little more vegetables and a little more fruit, but you know, that’s how nature intended it, man, just get it through good food.

… That’s just my theory … try to eat well and hopefully everything will fall into place. I feed my dog really, really well, and she is 8 years old, and most people – aside from the white hair on her face – people don’t believe she is 8.

QUESTION: Describe your time commitment/costs.
I cook usually once a week, and it’s not a big time commitment. It’s not a big money commitment. Normally when I buy food, I don’t know … maybe like $40 a month. Maybe $50. When I do The Honest Kitchen thing, I get the biggest box they have, and it lasts me over three months.

QUESTION: Do you have any advice or warnings for others who want make and feed homemade pet food?
I think feeding amounts can be more of a trial and error thing.

I’ll feed Jersey canned food sometimes. I’ll feed her Before Grain. They have canned tripe and canned salmon. I like Before Grain, but it’s like $4 a can here [in Canada].  So, it’s pretty expensive, so I’ll feed her one can, then when I look at the back of the can and look at the weight recommendations for feeding it’ll say feed her two cans, and I’m like, “Are you crazy? I’ll have a 500-pound dog.”

QUESTION: So, you just figured it out?
Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you have a background in nutrition?
Nope. I have a bachelor’s degree in biology, and that’s it.

Most people don’t realize that until the 1950s or the 1940s dogs got scraps off the table. There was no thing as dog food and most people, if they had a dog, they cooked for it.

When my dad was growing up in Germany, he had a dachshund. When their dinner was over, what was left on the table — well, not all of it – went to the dog. So, if they had bits of roast and potato and beans or whatever. The dog ate it.

And, now it’s insane what’s available for the dog. There area lot of good kibbles out there. Before Grain is a really good kibble. There are a couple of excellent kibbles out there, but Jersey won’t eat them.

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Food Debates, Dog Health, K9 Nutrition | 3 Comments »

The Trouble With Pet Food Labels

March 17th, 2010

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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:

Pet Food Information Panel

This is the part people like us notice. Regulations require these pet food “labels” to include:

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:

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?

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

10 Dietary Supplements Your Veterinarian Needs to Know You’re Giving to Your Pet

March 10th, 2010

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As a follow up to last week’s post about the vitamin and mineral needs of dogs, I want to talk about 10 dietary supplements your veterinarian needs to know you give to your pet.

The reasons it’s important range from possible drug interactions to downright poisoning risk. The bottom line, I think my veterinary friends and colleagues would agree, is that your pet’s doctors really need and want to know everything you’re doing in the name of your dog or cat’s health. Everything.

In some cases, they merely need to know. In others, they just might try to talk you out of it.

So, I tapped into a resource from the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. And, according to Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM, MS, FAAMA, Director, CSU Center for Comparative and Integrative Pain Medicine, here are the top 10 supplements your veterinarian needs to know that you give:

1.  Chinese herbs

“The problems with Chinese herbs are many, and can include toxic contaminants, undisclosed pharmaceuticals and adulterants such as strychnine and aconite, and plants that interfere with bleeding,” Robinson explains. “There may be interactions with chemotherapy drugs, anesthetics, or anti-seizure drugs.  If someone has prescribed the Chinese herbs, encourage people to find out from that person the facts about these products, and not to settle for vague descriptions such as ‘moving Qi’ or ‘extinguishing Liver Wind.’”

2.  Willow, feverfew, meadowsweet, or other herbs that may contain salicylates

“These supplements/herbs can have potential additive effects with anti-inflammatory medications and interference with clotting,” Robinson says.

3.  Calming herbs such as valerian, hops, skullcap, kava kava, and passionflower

These too may be additive with anesthetics during surgery.

4.  St. John’s Wort

It may cause other medications to be less effective through herb-drug interactions.

5.  Pennyroyal oil

This oil is often used in “natural” flea products, but it can be toxic/deadly.

6.  Organ or glandular extracts

“These may contain active hormones or transmissible diseases such as mad cow from bovine products,” Robinson says.

7.  Vitamins and especially minerals

As covered last week, certain vitamins and some minerals are much more likely to reach toxic levels than others. Plus, says Robinson, such supplements “may upset the body balance of these levels.”

8.  Colloidal silver

“It can be absorbed by the brain, kidney, and almost every organ and cause serious problems,” Robinson explains.

9.  Chaparral and comfrey

These can cause serious liver damage.

10.  Any herbal products with secret ingredients that may contain harmful, undisclosed agents.

Enough said.

Even obsessive dog food label readers can fall into the trap of thinking natural products, herbal supplements and other holistic solutions to pet health issues are benign. That’s not necessarily the case.

Personally, I have tried some of these supplements (and others) to help my fearful border collie cope with a world she finds oh-so scary, but I did it under the guidance and supervision of a holistic/alternative veterinarian, who provided me detailed information that I gave to my regular veterinarian.

How about you? Do you have any stories (good or bad) to share about dietary supplements you give your pets?

(I filed this post under “Dog Food Debates” since I suspect there may be some strong feelings. We’ll see. Won’t we?)

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Food Debates, K9 Nutrition | 15 Comments »

Vitamins & Minerals: Dog Food Basics

March 3rd, 2010

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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:

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:

Fat-Soluable Vitamins

These vitamins can be stored in the body’s fat, making them less prone to deficiencies but more prone to toxicity:

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

Microminerals

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.

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Fat: Dog Food Basics

February 24th, 2010

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Let’s not mince words. Fats make food taste better. It’s true for us. It’s true for our dogs. Aside from palatability, though, dietary fats (known as lipids) do many good things inside the body, including:

Fats (solid form at room temperature) and oils (liquid form at room temperature) get a lot of bad press, but they provide the most concentrated source of food energy. In fact, they’re nearly three times as dense energy-wise as carbohydrates or proteins. Most fats are also more digestible.

Fat Digestion

What’s a little freaky about fats is that they don’t get broken down for digestion the way other nutrients do. Instead, they’re elongated and desaturated (loss of hydrogen atoms) inside the body.

Essential Fatty Acids

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) might be the most “famous” of all the kinds of dietary fats. These are the OMEGAs you hear about. They’re called “essential” because in most cases the body cannot synthesize them.

Vegetable oils can provide Omega 6s, but certain Omega 3s can only be found in animal fats.

Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Omega 3s, in particular, produce a lower immunological response than Omega 6s and Omega 9s, so when veterinarians are concerned with controlling internal inflammation, they may recommend re-balancing EFA ratios and supplementing a pet’s diet with additional Omega 3s.

Be sure to alert your pet’s doctor if you supplement Omega 3s because they act as a blood thinner, which is important if surgery (emergency or otherwise) is needed.

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 2 Comments »

Protein: Dog Food Basics

February 17th, 2010

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Protein in dog food typically comes from an animal source. In other words, “meat.” At some point, we’ll explore the Dog Food Debate over how much protein is enough or too much. For now, however, let’s just look at protein as a primary dog food ingredient.

Dog Food History

The use of animal byproducts as a protein source in pet food began during early industrialization. Someone, somewhere decided that anything deemed unusable for human consumption might be OK for our furry friends.

Over the years, I’ve heard some funny (and crass) phrases to describe these leftover body parts or fragments thereof. Since we aim to be a family-friendly spot for dog food information, suffice it to say we simply refer to such things at my house as “pieces parts.”

Protein Quality Matters

The K9Cuisine.com team believes that the protein level is not as important as the kind of protein used in dog food. That’s why the use of byproducts automatically disqualifies a food from the site.

Honestly, a lot of a poor quality protein cannot be as good for your pet as less of a good quality (and biologically usable) protein. The better the protein source, actually, the less a dog truly needs. And, all that unusable stuff left behind by icky proteins can be tough on a dog’s kidneys.

Since the goal of dog nutrition is to support — not challenge — a dog’s basic biological processes, starting with a good quality protein is key.

What constitutes protein quality is an interesting science. Proteins can be measured through “chemical scores” and “biological values.” Chemical scores basically compare one protein to another used as a reference point. Typically, that’s an egg. So, if an egg scores 100 on a 100-point scale, then other proteins earn scores compared to eggs. It’s much more complicated than I can get into here, but the score ends up being based on just a few “limiting” amino acids, rather than all that may be provided by the tested protein.

Ranking proteins based on “biological value” isn’t perfect either since it defines how much (%) of absorbed protein gets retained. However, it does not take into account digestibility.

Name That Protein

Check pet food labels, which we know can be confusing, for an actual “named protein.”

What do we mean by that? Well, the label should call the protein by its real name: chicken, beef, lamb, etc.

Calling it merely “meat,” or worse “meaty” in an advertising application, means very little. Remember all those cafeteria jokes about “mystery meat”? It’s a bit like that.

Protein Science

Just as carbohydrates are classified, based on their complexity, so are proteins.

Essentially, proteins get built in nature when amino acids team up from the hundreds of options. Yet, we find just 20 amino acids in most proteins. Once combined, they get classified like this:

  • Peptide (two amino acids)
  • Dipeptide (three amino acids)
  • Polypeptide (more than three)

Your dog’s body breaks these peptides down into either:

  1. Usable basic amino acids from the bonded ones consumed
  2. Precursors that can be synthesized into what the dog needs

Dogs need essential amino acids in their diet because they simply cannot make them themselves through any biological process. Nonessential amino acids are the ones that dogs can make for themselves, if provided with building blocks through their food. Some amino acids are conditionally essential, meaning that certain diseases or other health issues make them more important.

Dog Food Protein Enhancements

To combat any deficiencies in protein sources used in dog food, manufacturers sometimes balance the amino acid profile by using several sources (called “protein complementation”). Some use “amino acid fortification,” which essentially means they add any missing amino acids.

Questions – Proteins in Dog Food

As always, I’m happy to hear any questions you have about protein in dog food so that I can research the issue and get you answers … or at least open up a discussion.

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 4 Comments »

Carbohydrates: Dog Food Basics

February 10th, 2010

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Carbohydrates (carbs) in dog food come from the energy contained inside plants. Remember learning about photosynthesis back in school? Well, that’s were carbohydrates are born. When plants turn sunlight energy into chemical energy, they store the energy as what we could call “sugar.”

Carb Classification

Basically, carbs fall into one of four categories:

1) Monosaccarides: also called “simple sugars.” Famous ones include glucose and fructose.

2) Disaccarides: basically two monosaccarides lumped together. Regular table sugar is a combo of glucose and fructose.

(Quick trivia tangent … lactose found in mammal milk links glucose and galatose together. It’s the ONLY carb of animal origin.)

3) Oligosaccarides: a big clump of 3-10 monosaccarides. They can be harder to digest, causing gas.

Oddly enough, though, those that contain fructose (fructooligosaccarides) tend to do good things in a dog’s intestines, including better stool quality and reduced odors.

4) Polysaccarides: the big boys made up of thousands of monosaccarides. That’s why they’re often called “complex carbohydrates.” Typically, they are either what we would deem “starches” or “dietary fiber.”

Dog Food Carbohydrates

In the dog food world, cereal grains like corn, wheat, sorghum, barley and rice most often provide this carb/starch component.

Dogs of various digestive temperaments have varying success with these carbs. Some do OK. Others suffer terrible food-related allergies.

Since K9Cuisine.com serves so many canine families with such allergy issues, the use of corn, wheat and soy are automatic disqualifiers. None of the foods sold on the site include these ingredients.

In last week’s blog post, Dog Food Basics we covered the metabolic role of carbs in a dog’s diet, including a “protein sparing effect,” where protein can be used in cell repair rather than for energy needs. Some may argue against having any carbs in a dog’s diet, but they do many things inside the canine body.

In addition, these starches function as binders in dog food. They kind of hold everything together. To fill both dietary and functional needs, some dog food makers have gone to potato or even pea starch as a carbohydrate source in their foods.

Questions – Carbohydrates in Dog Food

I’m happy to field any questions you have about carbs in dog food so that I can research the issue and get you the answers you need. Let me know. Won’t you?

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Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 3 Comments »

Dog Food Basics

February 3rd, 2010

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Dog food typically combines carbohydrates, fats and proteins, along with vitamins and minerals. Each element plays a starring role inside the canine body, where all kinds of important processes take place. We’ll open up the discussion to Dog Food Debates later, but for now, let’s simply look at how these nutritional elements work from a purely physiological standpoint.

cartoon dog with bowl

Dog Food Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates provide a key source of dog food energy that in addition to other bodily functions has a “protein-sparing effect.” That means carbs free up the body to use protein in tissue repair and growth, rather than the protein getting burnt up to meet a dog’s energy needs.

Carbs also:

Dog Food Fats
Fats make food taste better. Trust me. Your dog understands that.

Palatability aside … Fats can provide a main form of energy storage in the body. In excess, of course, that’s not ideal, but in normal amounts, fat storage insulates the body from heat loss and protects major organs.

Dietary fats in dog food also supply essential fatty acids (EFAs) as well as carry fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K).

In addition, fats serve metabolic and structural roles, including:

Dog Food Proteins
In broad terms, dogs require protein because it supplies essential amino acids that form, fix and replenish bodily proteins that truly hold everything together. That means hair, skin, nails, tendons, ligaments and cartilage.

Beyond structural support, proteins do many other things:

And, if that wasn’t enough, proteins work inside a dog’s immune system to generate antibodies that combat potential disease.

Inside your canine friend (and inside you, too) body proteins undergo a constant renewal and decline process, which requires a regular supply of dietary protein.

While you might be thinking, “Hey, protein is king!” know this … water is the single most important nutrient for survival. (Someday soon, we’ll talk all about it.)

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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.
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