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Nutritional Diseases In Dogs
from: Kyle BesserBoth healthy dogs and sick dogs need to eat to supply energy and nutrients for growth, for replacement and repair and to meet their ever changing needs. Nutritional requirements for a dog that is sick usually do not differ greatly from the nutrition requirements for a dog that is healthy. Nutrition requirements for a dog with some diseases, however, can become substantially different from those of a healthy dog.
Diseases in which the nutrition requirements for a dog will need to be changed are often those nutritional diseases in dogs where the diet itself is responsible for the disease. Most of the true nutritional diseases in dogs are nutrition deficiency diseases. Nutrition deficiency diseases means that they are diseases caused by a diet that does not contain a sufficient amount of one or more needed nutrients. Most of these diseases are the result of an inadequate or improperly balanced homemade dog food.
Since cost effective commercial dog food became more and more nourishing, most of these nutrition deficiency diseases gradually disappeared. Vitamin or mineral deficiencies are rarely seen as a primary disease any more. Both vitamins and minerals are inexpensive and are needed in such small amounts that today, most commercial dog foods contain vitamins and minerals in adequate amounts.
Although energy and protein continue to be a problem with some dog foods, the number of brands that still contain insufficient fat or poor quality, indigestible protein become fewer every year. When a deficiency of fat occurs, it most often appears as an insufficient amount of total energy in the diet. Various symtons of poor dog nutrition result, such as weight loss, sluggishness, dry and dull hair coat, poor physical condition and, in some extreme cases, emaciation and uncontrolled diarrhea.
A deficiency of essential fatty acids may also occur, although it is unlikely. The total amount of the fats most often used in commercial foods can drop to as low as 1% of the diet, and that diet will still contain sufficient fatty acids. The only exception to this might be in cases of dry foods where larger quantities of fat have turned rancid.
When a deficiency of fatty acids does occur, symtons of poor dog nutrition appear as a loss of weight and condition, a dry, dull coat, and more specifically as eroded areas on the skin. These eroded areas on the skin will most likely show on the pads of the feet, between the toes and over the bony protuberances of the body where pressure reduces the blood supply.
Eroded areas on the skin from a deficiency of fatty acids may superficially resemble "hot spots," but they differ from them in four major aspects. They do not respond to routine steroid therapy. They appear on both short-haired and long-haired dogs. They require an average of three months to heal. Adding fatty acids to the diet promotes their recovery because a deficiency of fatty acids was what caused them.
A deficiency of protein in the diet is still sometimes seen. A deficiency of protein causes symtons of poor dog nutrition such as weight loss and dull, dry hair coats. A deficiency of protein may also produce anemia, reduce the body's ability to cope with and recover from infections. If left neglected, a deficiency of protein will eventually lead to the dog's death.
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