Diet Diversity

Brenda Hagel © 2003

The first principle of a healthy diet is based on variety so it’s difficult to believe that many pets eat the same diet, day in and day out, for most of their lives. Is it right to assume that one particular formulation should meet the requirements for all dogs when we would never eat this way ourselves?

Although the basic anatomy and physiology of a dog remain the same as a wolf, domestic pets have come to experience many of the same diseases that humans experience today. Cancer, allergies, skin atopy and inflammatory bowel disorders top the list followed closely by autoimmune diseases, diabetes, urinary and bladder disease, epileptic seizures, and growth related skeletal diseases. Most dogs’ breath could knock you over and oral health is mostly maintained through veterinary intervention. Obesity is common in spite of the fact that a low fat diet may be fed. Diet related health problems are seen every day by veterinarians that in turn provide pets with medicine as the cure, and a bag of “prescription” food.

The market for prescription pet food is a multi-billion dollar business and despite ongoing research that continues validating these products, “complete and balanced” pet foods remains a key to many diseases. There should not be a need for therapeutic diets if pet foods were truly “complete and balanced” for dogs in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, the concept that typical pet food formulas provide complete nutrition is an ongoing saga. The food may be complete and balanced for labeling guidelines, but that doesn’t recognize the individual needs of the dog eating it. Just like people, the nutrient requirements for one dog may not be adequate for another. Furthermore, as grains are the primary ingredients in most dry commercial pet diets, they couldn’t possibly provide the best possible nutrition.

Knowing that there is no such thing as a single ‘perfect’ food, or pet food, it’s hard to believe that many dogs eat basically the same meal on a constant basis. While this keeps feeding effortless for the owner, we all know that the first principle of a healthy diet is simply to eat a wide variety of foods. If you do feed the same food to your dog all the time you might want to think about the benefits of feeding various animal derived sources along with some different plant foods. By rotating foods in your dog’s diet you reduce the chances of providing excessive amounts of a particular nutrient that might be harmful, and help your dog receive a wider variety of useful nutrients.

Meat is classified as a source of high quality biological protein. Protein quality is a measure for the ability of a food to provide a balanced pattern of essential amino acids. The dog has a physiological requirement for 22 different amino acids, which are the building blocks for protein. Only 10 of the 22 amino acids are essential amino acids that must be supplied in the diet. Different meats provide slightly different levels of essential amino acids.

Rotating foods may also help prevent the development of allergies to new foods. Any food if eaten repetitively has the potential to cause sensitivities in allergy-prone individuals. A diversified rotation of foods will give your dog the best nutrition possible with the least chance of provoking intolerances.

Meat contains a number of fatty acids. For instance, lean beef contains more monosaturated than saturated fatty acids and smaller amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Poultry contains more monounsaturated fatty acids with smaller but equal amounts of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a naturally occurring fatty acid derivative of linoleic acid that is found predominately in range fed beef, but not in useful amounts in poultry. CLA is valuable because of its anticarcinogenic benefits.

No single type of meat will provide the same amounts of specific nutrients necessary for a healthy and well-balanced diet. As an example, beef is only an average source of niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and vitamin B6, but it is an excellent source of zinc. Beef and goat supply more zinc than does lamb and chicken. When compared to chicken and lamb, rabbit is higher in iron. Australian lamb rates lower in selenium than chicken or beef. Different animals may supply various ranges of nutrients depending on what they are fed and the time of year they are slaughtered. Winter feed may not provide the same nutrient levels to livestock that summer feed can provide.

Rather than thinking of achieving complete nutrition for your dog per meal, consider that the basic premise of any good diet is variety, balance and moderation over a period of time. After all, this is the way we attain good nutrition for ourselves. It should be no different for our dogs.

For permission to reproduce this article email bhagel@quadrant.net