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The News At Home
So, I’m standing next to a large old tree in our yard, Tori on leash for some training, when I hear a loud thud and feel the earth move just a bit. A squirrel, as long as the puppy but of course, not as large all around, lands not more than 6” away from Tori. Visibly shaken by the fall from what must be at least a 60’ height, the squirrel takes one look at Tori and shakes his/her tail. Having never seen a squirrel in person before, Tori leans in to sniff. The squirrel stands still and leans in, its little nose obviously sniffing too. Next thing I know, the squirrel scampers back up the tree and Tori decides that she has some prey drive after all and tries to go after it
A few days later I saw something that looked like flea dirt on Tori. Sure enough, I found two fleas crawling on her and of course, we treated both dogs right away. I’m thinking that the fleas were shaken off that squirrel or perhaps, told each other to abandon ship when they realized that their free ride was a klutz that fell out of trees.
What’s New at monicasegal.com
New Booklet: Nutrient Metabolism
You’re not a newbie. You know your stuff when it comes to feeding dogs a home-prepared diet but you want to learn more. One of the most interesting questions I receive is ‘what happens to food once it’s been consumed?’- and the answers are in this booklet. We know that what goes in must come out but what exactly happens in between? How do nutrients arrive at their destinations and how does the dog actually use them? Do dogs really and truly make use of carbohydrates despite the Internet rumors of this being unlikely? Can a better understanding of nutrient metabolism help you to create a diet plan that suits the dog with a certain disease? You bet it can!
Nutrient Metabolism is the first booklet aimed at an audience that understands the basics and wants to keep learning. While this piece is not light reading, I encourage you to continue expanding your knowledge base and applaud you for it.
Nutrient Metabolism joins our growing library as of today and can be purchased on its own or as part of our bundled savings packages.
Fact of the Month
Raw Diets Don’t Need to Have Supplements Added
True, some don’t - but most do. I suppose it’s all about what your particular belief system might be. Mine is that in order to know how to help a dog that needs dietary modifications, we need to be able to apply nutrient values to the existing diet first. Should the current diet be lacking or supplying too much of a vitamin or mineral, correction becomes easy if we know the problem from the start. Without having some kind of guideline, it’s nothing short of a guessing game. I prefer to guess less when attempting to help a dog and in fact, prefer to make the diet right to begin with so there’s less risk of problems down the road. For this reason, I use the National Research Council (NRC) guidelines. Don’t confuse NRC with AAFCO. The latter is a different body. NRC is independent study with no affiliation or representation at pet food companies.
Whole prey meets the 1985 NRC guidelines (we now have 2006 guidelines) and it may seem logical that feeding whole prey will indeed meet the needs of a dog. But reality is quite different. Firstly, we don’t have access to fresh prey. Instead, most of us by food at grocery stores, butchers or food co-ops. The nutrient value of these farmed animals is not the same as those in the wild. But even if it was, not many people can feed an entire elk, goat or what have you. Further, while that whole animal may meet requirements, most dogs don’t consume it in its entirety.
Here is a diet for a 62 pound dog, fed over a 2 week period, that I analyzed recently:
6 oz chicken carcass
24 oz chicken quarters
2 oz chicken neck
6 oz chicken wings
2 oz chicken feet
16 oz lamb rib
8 oz lamb shank
16 oz whole rabbit
8 oz turkey neck
8 oz turkey thigh
8 oz turkey wing
1 turkey gizzard
1 turkey heart
1 turkey liver
16 oz ground turkey meat
3 oz lamb pancreas
4 oz lamb spleen
8 oz lamb tongue
10 oz lamb meat (shoulder and leg)
4 oz lamb brain
6 oz lamb heart
7 oz lamb kidney
3 oz lamb liver
6 oz lamb lung
16 oz pork rib
2 pork ears
1 pork heart
2 pork kidneys
4 oz pork liver
2 oz pork tail
16 oz ground pork meat
4 oz pork tongue
2 large eggs with shells
This diet provides 970 calories that break down as 40% from protein, 1% from carbohydrates and 59 % from fat. It provides more than 200% of calcium requirement, and almost as much excess of phosphorus. While the zinc content is perfect on paper, excess calcium binds zinc, making it far less available to the body (interestingly, this dog has skin problems and zinc is very important for skin health).
Magnesium is provided at only 50% of requirement, potassium at only 80% of requirement. The copper content is sitting at 95% of requirement and while you may be thinking that this is close enough, consider the days when a dog may not eat for one reason or another. Where is his copper reserve to help him out? Iodine is not supplied at all (sad news for the thyroid gland!). Iron is 150% of requirement - a very risky level. Manganese, important for skeletal health, is less than 10% of requirement. Unfortunately, this dog has arthritis. He’s 2 years old and has been fed this diet, albeit in different amounts, since he was a puppy.
So, do all raw diets meet a dog’s requirements? No, not even today’s version of ‘whole prey’ diets can assure us of that. Once you know what a diet provides, the importance of supplements or a better diet becomes clear.
Until next time...
Monica
“He that lieth down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”
-- Ben Franklin
