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Our dogs need excellent and balanced nutritional support<\/p>\n
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New Delhi, November 24, 2019: Our unique relationship with our canine friends has evolved through the ages. Over this time span, both humans and canines have developed a relationship that\u2019s helped each to better survive. As one epoch of mankind\u2019s history melted into the next, the purpose within these relationships re-adjusted and the dog tailored himself to the needs of his human. This adaptation ensured that sustenance was provided for both man and dog. <\/p>\n
For over 11,000 years, our dogs ate what we ate. The more affluent we were, the better off our dogs fared. The diet of a typical working-class dog that lived a couple of centuries ago may have consisted of bread, potatoes and boiled cabbage, while the elite and privileged would lavish their dogs with roast duck and consomm\u00e9.Table scraps and grains had not yet become bad words. Nowadays, there\u2019s a popular assertion stating that dogs should eat mostly, or only, raw meat. It\u2019s based on the premise that the wolf is the dog\u2019s closest relative and, therefore, dogs are virtually wolves.
\nWolves don\u2019t have pots and pans and stoves in their dens and they eat raw meat. Other Internet sites state that dogs do not have the enzymes to digest starch so they shouldn\u2019t be fed carbohydrates. I\u2019m a holistic veterinarian and I\u2019ve seen how adamant people can get about their dogs\u2019 diets. We can become awfully opinionated about our diets with one fad replacing another. We seem to get just as dogmatic, forgive the pun, about our dog\u2019s diets. Dogs were domesticated and began living lives that were quite different from their wild wolf cousins well over 100 centuries ago. A lot can change in the canine genetic makeup over that period of time, and it seems that it has. Our dogs have co-evolved, along with us, to be able to eat what we eat. Early on, novel adaptations in their genes allowed the ancestors of modern dogs to digest and assimilate starches. So let\u2019s move away from Internet supposition to scientific facts\u2014 which we\u2019ll get from some pretty impressive genetic research done in Sweden. Eric Axelsson, an evolutionary geneticist at the Uppsala University in Sweden, compared the DNA from dogs and wolves. Unlike wolves, dogs had developed genes for digesting starch.<\/p>\n
Dogs have up to 30 copies of the gene that makes amylase, a protein that starts the breakdown of starch in the intestine, while wolves have only two copies. The multiple genes for amylase are 28 times more active in dogs, showing that our canine friends are many times better at digesting starches than wolves. There\u2019s also another gene that codes for an additional enzyme\u2014 maltase\u2014important in thedigestion of starch. It was found that dogs produce a longer version of the maltase digestive enzyme. In fact, it\u2019s the same type of elongated version seen in herbivores, such as cows and rabbits, making it even more efficient in its ability to digest starch. Geneticists and evolutionary biologists became
\nvery excited about this rather recent discovery. The bottom line is that dogs can eat starches and they have adapted to a diet that\u2019s quite similar to a balanced human diet. In fact, in my 30 years of clinical practice, I\u2019ve found that carbohydrates are good for dogs. It\u2019s my opinion that dogs, like humans, require a combination of meat, starches, and vegetables to meet their basic nutritional requirements. If dogs eat only protein, they\u2019ll lack important vitamins, which can lead to deficiencies. Vitamins and minerals are the tools that cells use to repair themselves and prevent disease. Vitamins are abundant in colored fruits and vegetables. Starches, like sweet potatoes, are also filled with many healthy vitamins and minerals.<\/p>\n
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Our dogs need excellent and balanced nutritional support New Delhi, November 24, 2019: Our unique relationship with our canine friends has evolved through the ages. Over this time span, both humans and canines have developed a relationship that\u2019s helped each to better survive. As one epoch of mankind\u2019s history melted into the next, the purpose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[162,318,413,465],"yoast_head":"\n