Your Dog's Nutritional Needs: The Basics of a Balanced Diet 🥩🍗

Cats and dogs are classified as "carnivores" within mammals based on their feeding habits. Cats are considered obligate carnivores, while dogs are classified as facultative carnivores. This difference stems mainly from their digestive systems and nutritional needs. Cats have a digestive system optimized for a carnivorous diet, allowing them to process proteins, fats, and vitamins more efficiently. Dogs, on the other hand, have a digestive system more suited to an omnivorous diet and can benefit from plant-based foods as well.

To ensure your pet is fed in a healthy and balanced way, it's essential first to understand their nutritional needs. This knowledge will help you correctly interpret the type, content, and labeling of the diet you choose. Selecting the right diet can vary depending on your pet’s age, breed, health status, and activity level. For this reason, it’s crucial to carefully read the nutritional labels when choosing diets and evaluating packaged or processed foods. This is a critical step for ensuring your pet’s long-term health and happiness.

Cats and dogs require specially formulated diets at different stages of their lives. Nutritional diseases are rarely seen in cats and dogs that are fed high-quality commercial diets. On the other hand, simple, single-ingredient foods or homemade diets often fall short nutritionally and can lead to various health issues. Pet-owner-prepared natural, organic, or vegetarian diets may cause malnutrition syndromes in cats and dogs. Homemade diets are often inadequate in terms of palatability, digestibility, and reliability. They tend to contain excessive energy, salt, and phosphorus while lacking in protein, calcium, vitamins, and trace elements.

Before delving into cat and dog nutrition, it will be helpful to explain some commonly used basic terms in this area.

- Pet Food: A balanced, nutritious, ready-to-eat food specially formulated for pets.

- Diet: This usually refers to the total food and drink a living being consumes daily or periodically. "Ration" is a term specifically used in animal feeding and refers to the total amount of food a pet should consume daily.

- Complete Feed: This term refers to a balanced feed that meets all basic nutritional needs of a specific animal. Complete feeds are typically tailored according to an animal’s age, health status, activity level, and specific nutritional requirements.

- Complementary Feed: These are nutrients used to help complete pets' basic nutritional needs and are given as an addition to the main pet food. They can aid in general health, address specific deficiencies, or help manage special health conditions.

- Special-Purpose Feed: These products, formulated by veterinarians, meet the special dietary needs of pets (cats, dogs, birds, fish, etc.) and are used according to veterinary guidance and recommendations. They may contain specific nutrients tailored to an animal's species, age, health status, activity level, or special needs.

 1) ENERGY REQUIREMENTS

The energy needs of cats and dogs vary depending on age, weight, physiological status (pregnancy, lactation, activity, environmental temperature, etc.). The energy and nutrient requirements for their basic metabolism are referred to as maintenance needs. Adult dogs require between 45 (large breeds) and 140 (small breeds) kcal of metabolizable energy (ME) per kg of metabolic body weight, averaging around 132 kcal, while adult cats need between 60 (sedentary) and 80 (active) kcal ME per kg, with an average of 70 kcal.

On pet food labels, you might see "ME," which stands for metabolizable energy; this is the energy remaining after subtracting the energy lost in feces, urine, and gases from the gross energy. In other words, it represents the usable portion of the feed energy for your pet. The more digestible a diet is, the less energy is lost in feces, and the more energy your pet can utilize, which means energy efficiency for the diet.

Each animal species has different rates of digesting nutrients. For instance, while cows can highly digest fiber (cellulose)-rich feeds, this rate is lower in dogs and cats. Cooked (extruded) fiber-containing diets are more digestible for pets, thus increasing the diet’s energy efficiency.

It is crucial to adjust your pet's diet and feed intake according to age and physiological condition. Some low-quality foods on the market do not provide enough energy, particularly for animals in the growth phase or those that have recently given birth or are lactating. Pets may eat until they feel full but may not receive sufficient energy, leading to a negative energy balance. In this case, the pet compensates first from its body fat and then from protein tissue (muscle). Both compensation mechanisms can have harmful effects on the body.

 2) CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates have limited practical value in cat and dog nutrition. In cats and dogs, simple carbohydrates like sugars and starch can be broken down easily by endogenous enzymes, making them an effective energy source in small amounts. However, complex carbohydrates like cellulose are not as easily digested by cats and dogs.

However, fibers offer various benefits in cat and dog nutrition:

v  Firstly, fibers contribute to a feeling of fullness, which can help control overeating, especially in animals prone to obesity.

v  Secondly, fibers help regulate bowel movements, which can prevent diarrhea and ease constipation.

v  Lastly, fibers support colon health by producing short-chain fatty acids through fermentation. These acids serve as an energy source for colonic cells and may reduce inflammation. Such interactions play an essential role in maintaining the overall digestive health of cats and dogs.

The cellulose content in cat and dog diets is generally assessed as part of dietary fiber, and this ratio may vary depending on specific nutritional needs and health conditions. Normally, cellulose in diets does not exceed 2-5%.

Amylase is an enzyme with a key role in the digestive system, breaking down complex carbohydrates into simpler sugars. The amylase activity in dogs is three times higher than in cats. Therefore, dry dog foods contain 30-60% carbohydrates (fiber, hemicellulose, lignin, starch, and sugar) without any adverse effects.

Pregnancy and lactation are periods of particularly high energy demand for dogs. Studies show that this increased energy requirement can be met partly with dietary carbohydrates without any negative impact.

For cats, carbohydrates are not essential nutrients. As natural carnivores, cats primarily rely on protein and fat for energy. However, carbohydrates can be included in balanced amounts in their diets according to their needs.

 3) PROTEINS

Proteins are vital components that make up the structure of cells, play a key role in enzyme and hormone production, and fulfill various biological functions. They are the primary source of essential amino acids, which the body needs to produce and renew nitrogenous structural components.

Functions of Proteins:

- Structural Functions: Proteins perform structural and mechanical roles throughout the body, from cell walls to muscle tissues.

- Catalysts: Enzymes, which accelerate specific chemical reactions, are proteins. These enzymes allow metabolic processes to proceed efficiently with low energy consumption.

- Transport and Storage: Proteins like hemoglobin transport oxygen from the lungs to tissues, while others like ferritin store iron. These transport and storage functions are crucial.

- Immune System: Antibodies are also proteins that protect the body against pathogens by recognizing and binding to foreign molecules (antigens) and neutralizing them.

- Hormones: Some hormones are proteins, regulating various functions within the body.

Cats and dogs use proteins composed of 22 different amino acids, ten of which are essential and cannot be produced by the body. Thus, it is essential that the diets of cats and dogs provide these ten essential amino acids in sufficient amounts.

Essential Amino Acids:

- Phenylalanine

- Valine

- Threonine

- Isoleucine

- Leucine

- Lysine

- Methionine

- Tryptophan

- Histidine

- Arginine

Foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy are rich in essential amino acids. For this reason, chicken or poultry by-product meal, lamb meal, and other animal sources are included in cat and dog diets. Plant-based foods also provide some essential amino acids, with legumes, nuts, seeds, and certain grains being good sources of plant-based essential amino acids.