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Science Diet Dog Food Nutrition Article
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Energy Sources Used In Dog Food
from: Kyle BesserOriginally dog owners who fed their dogs natural ingredients were attempting to replace the natural dog nutrition. Natural ingredients used today are no longer the foods eaten by a dog naturally in the wild, but have become modifications of those original foodstuffs.
The human diet consists of a large selection of such modified natural foods, and many have been tried for natural nutrition for dogs. Besides human foods, there are still a few natural ingredients available to the dog owner that are not normally considered to be human foods, such as horse meat, bone meal and other animal parts not used for human consumption for those seeking natural dog nutrition.
Meat is the most common natural ingredient used for natural dog nutrition. Meat is the most common source of protein for dogs, but meat is not the only source of protein available and meat isn't necessarily the best source. Eggs, milk and plant proteins are also good sources of protein available for natural dog nutrition.
All natural foods containing nutrients are energy sources, since most nutrients can become energy. Some natural foods supply more energy than others and are customarily used as energy sources. These are the foods containing larger quantities of fats and carbohydrates. Fats are the primary energy source in any dog diet. Most meats come with fat included, especially in the chopped and ground varieties. Fats also can be found in vegetable oils, tallow and lard.
Carbohydrates are not as concentrated an energy source as fats. Carbohydrates are useful to dilute the protein in high meat diets or lower the caloric density of diets containing too much fat. Carbohydrate dog nutrition sources are usually less expensive to use than dog nutrition fat sources.
Probably the most universal source of energy for a dog is corn oil. Corn oil supplies 9 calories per gram, 250 calories per ounce, 124 calories per tablespoonful, 62 calories per teaspoonful. When used as the only fat in a food, corn oil also furnishes about ten times the amount of essential fatty acids needed by a dog. Corn oil is inexpensive, easily obtainable and has a reasonably good keeping quality. Other vegetable oils that can be used satisfactorily as an energy source for a dog are olive oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and soybean oil.
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