One of the most common questions with healthy dogs is why a dog doesn’t gain weight on a certain food even when given in large amounts. This often comes up…
Once upon a time, a peculiar concept known as holism appeared in dry foods. Holistic is a beautiful idea. It means a whole where the combined effect of the parts is greater than their sum. In other words, 1+1=3. This system is also called synergy, which is the same thing said differently: a cumulative combined effect. In dog foods, it means that the ingredients together do much more than they would separately.
In feeding dogs, organs play an important role alongside meat. This doesn’t even depend on the feeding method, as organs are visible in both dry foods and meat-based raw feeding, at least in advertisements. Still, it’s not always clear what the term “organ” actually means.
Most often, dry dog foods are criticized for having so many carbohydrates. If the carbohydrates come from grains, the situation is even worse. This is a mix of several different things, spiced with confusion, misunderstandings, and beliefs. Let’s make it clear right away: carbohydrates are not dangerous or even harmful to dogs. But they are often unnecessary.
I was once asked (several times, but recently) when I move the little puppies away from four feedings a day. Usually at the stage when the mother is weaned –…
Vitamin E is the most commonly used antioxidant, essentially acting as the body's own preservative. It is not a vitamin whose benefits should be visibly apparent in a dog, but…
50/50 feeding is a method where dry food and meat are mixed. The ratios can be half of each or something entirely different. The name doesn’t mean that the foods must absolutely be half and half, but it’s just a descriptive name that means one thing: most often, dry food and meat are mixed together.
Vitamin B12 is obtained only from a meat-based diet. A dog may not necessarily need it every day, but vitamin B12 is practically always obtained.
In a dog’s 50/50 diet, meat and dry food are mixed. The idea is to get proteins and fats from the meat, and use the dry food as a source of trace elements and vitamins.
The use of dry food is the most common way to feed dogs in Finland and around the world. Raw feeding is the most prominent on social media, but in terms of quantity, it is probably the rarest method in terms of market share, despite its loud presence. Of course, there is no researched statistical data on the subject, at least publicly. Overshadowed by raw feeding is the more common feeding method, the 50/50 style.
Cobalamin is the most complex vitamin and the only one that dogs can obtain solely from meat products. Every plant-based form of vitamin B12 is an antagonist of cobalamin, meaning it acts as an inhibitor or counteragent. These are also known as pseudo-vitamin B12.
Vitamin Bs are a loosely related group of vitamins with similar functions. Chemically, they have nothing in common except being water-soluble. They all participate in the body’s enzyme functions as coenzymes, essential precursors for enzymes. B vitamins are especially involved in energy production because, without B vitamins, the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins suffers, particularly in energy metabolism. B vitamins are also involved in the functioning of the nervous system.
Bioavailability is a term that one encounters reasonably often. It is primarily a poor translation of the meaning of being available, and the term bioactivity is often used instead – which, on the other hand, is a slightly different matter.
Vitamin A, or retinol, is a collective term for naturally occurring retinoids and those carotenoids that have retinol activity, such as beta-carotene. Retinol, the pure form of vitamin A, is only found in animal products, especially liver and eggs. In vegetables, vitamin A only appears in its precursors, usually as beta-carotene. Breast milk contains a lot of vitamin A and is the most important source for a puppy. This should be considered for bottle-fed puppies.
This informational piece was provided by the alternative world, written by Danish chemist and dog trainer Mogens Eliasen. Or I don’t know about the informational piece, it’s more like going in the direction of a comedy sketch.
In the past, the concept of balance in food was introduced for feeding dogs. Balance is something that humans seem to have an innate need for. Chaos is bad and must be balanced. The feeling of chaos is also inherently related to ignorance.
Calcium is the most common mineral in the body and a very important electrolyte for muscle and nerve function, while also being the main building block of the skeleton. In puppy nutrition, it is perhaps the most studied component, as researchers have sought to understand its role in bone development and growth disorders.
There are a few eternal memes in dog feeding. Chicken bones kill, the dog is an omnivore, or the calcium to phosphorus ratio is the most important thing. None of those are true. The belief in the high phosphorus content of meat is also not true.
Phosphorus (P) is the second most common mineral in the body, but it can be confidently called the most common mineral in nutrition. Phosphorus is everywhere, and it is impossible to find food that does not contain phosphorus.
The basic rule of weight loss is to eat less than you expend. For gaining weight, you eat more than you expend. Every adult knows this, even if their own beach body remains at the level of a walrus. When you start to increase the weight of a thin or lean dog, one general rule applies: fatten the dog with fat.
The two most common questions in the dog world are which dry food to buy and how to transition to raw feeding so that the dog gets everything it needs. The first is the easiest to answer, because there is no answer. No one can know what to buy, because “worthwhile” depends on an overwhelming number of factors and, most importantly – whether brand X suits the dog – no one knows in advance. Starting raw feeding is a slightly broader topic, but it is reasonably easy too. The prerequisite, of course, is that you master the basics of multiplication.
(more…)
Beta-carotene is one of the carotenoids, which are practically a minor source of antioxidants for dogs from a typical canine diet.