The Web can provide a wealth of suggestions and info on pet food. Sadly, it offers much more pet food myths and misinformation. Right here’s a sampling of dog-feeding city legends populating the Net and the precise truths behind them.
Pet food fable No. 1: “Never feed dogs pork!”
My preliminary response to this was “hogwash!” However then I began to surprise why so few industrial meals contained pork. A perusal of the Web discovered a number of websites warning me off the killer pig, together with the thought that pork’s excessive fats content material will trigger pancreatitis in canines (but pork incorporates just a little over one-third the fats content material of beef), that it incorporates one thing poisonous to canines’ livers (a thriller element), that pigs eat disgusting issues together with bugs (but it surely’s OK for individuals to eat them), and that pig meat is tough to return by (more durable than bison?).
I discovered that a number of pet food corporations do provide pork-based meals. Its shortage could merely be as a result of so many components of a pig are used for human consumption, so snouts and toes and such don’t make it to the pet food plant. And due to the potential of trichinosis in raw pork, no person goes to recommend it as an amazing raw-food ingredient.
Nonetheless, I wanted a extra authoritative supply than my very own musings, so I contacted one of many corporations that provide a pork-based meals. I spoke to Eagle Pack workers veterinarian Al Townshend, DVM, to get the thin on pork. “Pork is a highly digestible animal protein, an excellent source of amino acids, and a unique protein source that not all pets are typically exposed to,” he instructed me. “It’s less likely to cause an allergic reaction that some pets may have to other proteins. We recommend pork as a protein because it contains more calories per pound.” Moreover, it’s the opposite chicken.
Pet food fable No. 2: “Lamb is hypoallergenic.”
There may be nothing inherently much less allergenic in a single meat in comparison with one other. Lamb was initially utilized in hypoallergenic canine meals as a result of it was a meat most canines had not eaten earlier than, and subsequently had been unlikely to have developed meals allergy symptoms to. Now, with so many individuals feeding lamb as a daily weight loss plan, producers have needed to discover extra unique meat sources comparable to duck or bison.
Pet food fable No. 3: “High-protein diets cause kidney failure.”
The concept that extra protein causes kidney failure arises from the truth that excessive ranges of protein have traditionally been ill-advised for canines with kidney failure. Failing kidneys enable urea, a byproduct of protein metabolism, to construct up within the blood, making the canine really feel sick. That’s why the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is used as one index of kidney operate. Lowering dietary protein can lower the BUN. But when the protein degree is just too low, the physique merely attracts by itself protein supply, its muscle tissue, inflicting extra hurt.
In actual fact, there’s an enormous debate about whether or not restricted protein is the way in which to go for canines with kidney illness, with research disagreeing about whether or not it helps kidney sufferers stay longer. Researchers do agree that protein sources with excessive organic worth produce fewer waste merchandise and are higher selections. Egg protein has the very best organic worth, adopted by milk, meats, soybean, and grains.
However what about protein ranges for canines with regular kidney operate? The thought bought out that you would protect kidney well being by not taxing them with an excessive amount of protein. There’s little or no help for this precaution, nevertheless. We will begin by taking a look at conditions in people the place individuals eat a high-protein weight loss plan. Bodybuilders, for instance, have a really high-protein weight loss plan however a current research confirmed they don’t have any protein-related kidney issues.
Even traditionally, members of the Lewis and Clark expedition reportedly ate a weight loss plan of principally buffalo meat every day with no ailing results. Greater than 1,600 girls adopted for 11 years had no important variations in glomerular filtration charge (GFR), a measure of kidney operate, associated to protein consumption. In rats receiving a weight loss plan of fifty p.c protein, no anatomical adjustments had been famous within the kidneys in comparison with rats on a 14 p.c protein weight loss plan.
There’s nonetheless disagreement in regards to the ideally suited degree of protein, however the backside line is, feed a reasonable degree of high-quality protein, and your canine will probably be simply positive.
Pet food fable No. 4: “Meat is more nutritious than meat meal.”
If you happen to’re evaluating ingredient lists, do you have to select the one with meat or with meat meal listed first? In case your purpose is to have essentially the most meat vitamins, select meat meal. Elements seem in descending order of their weight; that weight consists of any water within the ingredient. Once you see rooster listed as an ingredient, it means unprocessed rooster, full with water. Rooster meal means rooster with the water and fats eliminated. It weighs lower than rooster however really can comprise a better share of protein.
Pet food fable No. 5: “Grain, especially soy or corn, is bad for dogs.” – “is protein bad for dogs”
Some individuals blame grains for allergy symptoms, and it’s true some canines may be allergic to some grains, simply as some canines may be allergic to some meats. However for many canines, grain is okay, and often incorporates extra vitamins than alternative substances utilized in grain-free diets. Additionally bear in mind that the FDA is investigating potential hyperlinks between grain-free diets and coronary heart illness in canines.
Pet food fable No. 6: “Feed raw eggs for a shiny coat.”
I’ve heard this since I used to be just a little child. And I’ve by no means discovered one research displaying it to be true. The thought isn’t with out advantage; eggs comprise numerous protein, fats, and nutritional vitamins, all important to hair progress and pores and skin well being. A type of nutritional vitamins is biotin, which is necessary for cell progress and fatty-acid metabolism. Biotin is broadly accepted to be useful for human hair, although that could be just because deficiencies could cause hair loss. Whereas egg whites comprise avidin, a biotin inhibitor, the yolks comprise sufficient biotin to make up for it. However diets excessive in fats have been proven to lead to glossier and softer coats in canines, and would possibly do the coat extra good than eggs would.
As for feeding them uncooked, it’s true that cooking will dispose of the avidin, however some individuals really feel it additionally destroys nutritional vitamins. And naturally, the uncooked egg/salmonella debate rages, with most meals authorities cautioning towards feeding eggs uncooked and plenty of canine naturalists advocating it, stating that the coyote that raised the rooster coop didn’t hassle to prepare dinner them. And, I assume, had a shiny coat.
The underside line is an egg is an effective supply of protein and different vitamins, however most likely no higher than any good weight loss plan at selling a shiny coat.
Pet food fable No. 7: “Dogs don’t like variety.”
No matter pet food firm first promoted this will have truthfully thought so. It’s true that canines raised on a non-varied weight loss plan favor to remain on it and don’t settle for new meals readily. However canines raised on a diverse weight loss plan favor selection. From a dietary standpoint, it is smart for an animal to crave vitamins its present weight loss plan lacks.
Whereas the Web generally is a nice supply of knowledge, bear in mind to make use of at all times search for reliable sources and search scientific analysis backing up any claims your social media mates could also be making earlier than hitting that share button.
“is protein bad for dogs”