Tuesday 8 October 2019

What are you fuelling your canine athlete (or pet) with?

Many of you that follow me know I'm a little geeky. About most dog stuff. But I'm super geeky about diet. It has been something that I have been interested in since switching my first dog Brody off kibble because of horrendous allergies. He was scratching out his fur until he was bald and bled, and we had him on Prednisone. When the vet suggested a vet diet allergy food, and I had to feed him a piece at time by hand, and he STILL had horrendous skin I looked for another way. I was lucky to find Lyn who started Raw Essentials, and with a diet change alone we got him off medication and looking amazing.


Since then I've tried to learn about appropriate dog food, and reading labels. There was a small nutritional component in my CCFT course, but I've really learnt the most from following Sascha at The Balance Canine Sydney.  I'm also currently working through an online nutritional certificate.

Also.... do you think it would be good for you, and you would be happy with a 'perfectly balanced' one fits all diet from a box? I know I wouldn't. I love food! I love variety, textures, and difference. I also highly doubt that one box of food is suitable for me, and my dad, and my little nephew. How can one food suit those very different people? So isint it the same for our dogs??

Why should you look at what you are feeding? 



For performance dogs (and pets!) the nutritional choices that we make have an impact on their health, behavior, and performance. A dog with less than ideal nutrition often cannot generate, and maintain muscle mass and power. A dog with less than ideal nutrition may not be physically able to run as fast at the end of a day of agility competition.  Just like children, some dogs can display ADHD like behaviors on some diets (particularly those high in synthetic colours and flavours). Some dogs with certain gut microbiomes may exhibit an increase in aggressive and anxious behaviours. We want our performance dogs to do more than survive, we want them to thrive. 

For me diet is more than just fuel. It's important for behaviour, enrichment, and keeping them physically in top condition. This means that food should provide nutrition, but also provide an opportunity to sooth with chewing, and also enable some ‘hunting’ to occur, in order to meet both physical and behavioral needs. Remember that most countries' standard of care and animal welfare codes includes the criteria of allowing animals to carry out their normal and natural behaviors. Dogs and related species in the wild are not satisfied with food in a bowl. They want to scavenge, hunt, and work for their food.

What do you need to consider?


The commonly talked about standard for pet nutrition standards is the AAFCO (The Association of American Feed Control Officials). This is an association that provides certification for a certain food meeting their definition of the minimum nutrition requirements, and that the ingredients listed are accurate. The nutrient profiles that they produce give the minimum and maximum nutrient levels. Some things for you to consider in deciding if an AAFCO certification is a valid source of information for you in choosing a pet food: 
  • AAFCO is funded by American pet food manufacturers such as Hills, and Purina. 
  • AAFCO only certifies if the MINIMUM requirements for sustaining life are met. Not the optimum levels for an animal to thrive. 
  • AAFCO only states the nutrient source, but not the specific details or quality of nutrient sources. For example ‘Chicken’ could be chicken waste products of low quality, including beaks, feet, feathers. 
  • Bioavailability. This means how much of the nutrients in the food source is actually able to be digested by the organism and available for use in the body. Despite some dry foods testing acceptably for certain nutrients, the treatment of such products can sometimes mean that your dog may literally poop them out, as they are not in a form that is digestible.

I'm a big fan of looking carefully at labels. Are the top three ingredients biologically appropriate? If that's way too much for you consider taking a look at this website, which analyses the Pet Food’s ingredients, recall history etc. and gives a rating and recommendation to food: https://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/ 


So what do I feed?  

I feed a raw and fresh food diet, trying to keep a variety of fresh foods, colour, and rotating through animal protein sources. I’m working to the bone / muscle / organ / fruit and vegetable proportions. I occasionally add a oil that is a specific omega-3 and omega-6 mix, though prefer to get my omega’s through the fresh food. I add a joint supplement that I think has great research behind it - 4CYTE Canine. 
I enjoy making meals with a variety of interesting ingredients which keeps meals nutrient-rich, but also engaging, interesting and enriching for the dogs. I often use slow feeder puzzle bowls to up the enrichment value, and often put larger bones into boxes to add to the tearing / hunting instincts. 
My dogs also get a breakfast frozen kong (or similar food enrichment toy), dry food toy puzzles and scatters in grass, and I treat my training food as a nutritional source, therefore, feed food I think is great - my current favourite is Kiwi Kitchen air dried, and I also like Ziwipeak.


What about behavior?

Many of the performance or pet dogs I see also have small (or not so small) behavioral issues. There is a huge impact on the behavior of dogs from their gut microbiome, and diet. One of my most admired international trainers Sarah Stremming (of The Cognitive Canine) often talks about nutrition as being one of the four steps to behavioral wellness.


So... are you happy with what and how you feed your canine athletes? Or can you make it better?



REFERENCES / RESOURCES

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