Dog’s Nutrition | Strong Dog

Dog Health & Nutrition: History of Dog Nutrition Supplements

Dog Nutrition

There are literally thousands of dog health and nutrition products on the market today. Vitamins, minerals, pills, potions, magic, fairy dust and more with a boasting claim of being the best for dog health and nutrition, but where did all these dog nutrition supplements come from?

Before we look back, lets take a look around us right now. If you own a dog, and care about their health and nutrition then you have most likely found yourself wondering the seemingly endless aisles of big box and local pet palaces around the nation. They seem to be popping up quicker than Starbucks in Seattle and for good reason, even in a down economy, pet owners seem to spend more money on the well being of their dogs and cats than they do for themselves. In short, dog health and nutrition is big business. It’s not that dog health and nutrition supplements are new on the market, quite the contrary actually, it’s just that they are being put in front of us more often.

It’s sort of like when you buy a new car and all of a sudden it seems like everyone else in the word is driving the same car because we notice more of them even though the fact is that they have been there all along. Dog health and nutrition supplements are similar in that sense.

Why Only Now?

Although these “mega” supplements may seem new, human grade dog supplements have been around for decades, its only their applications that have become more widespread. For over a half century, teams of scientists from highly regarded universities have established the ability of certain nutrients to enhance dog health and nutrition to unprecedented levels.

It begs an obvious question, if such convincing evidence exists supporting these optimized dog nutrition findings, why haven’t I heard about these life changing dog supplements before? There’s really two main reasons dog nutrition supplements have been lurking in the dietary shadows of canine well being.
For one, most of these tests, and there are many, use dogs as case studies for the benefit of human products. That means these studies are buried in obscure scientific journals usually without the phrase “dog nutrition” even in the title because that wasn’t the focus. Moreover, some of these tests are so old, they won’t even show up in most computer searches…I know, can you believe it?

Scientists have chosen dogs and their nutritional make up as test “pilots” due to the similar metabolic rate shared with humans and they therefore make great test cases.

The second reason we haven’t heard about these extraordinary dog health and nutrition supplements, ironically enough, are veterinarians. Vets are the link between dog nutrition research and the general public and they are largely unaware of these discoveries. It’s understandable when one considers that veterinarians are rewarded for engaging in the practice of medicine and not reading isolated scientific entries that again, are usually under the title having to do with human instead of dog nutrition. Also, and it’s sad in my opinion, the rapidly growing venue of dog health and nutrition is not taught in veterinary school, nor is it required knowledge after graduation.

Dog is My Test Pilot

The earliest know testing on dogs using human quality supplements for health and nutrition purposes dates back to the 17th century when a French scientist, Dr. Magendie studied the effects of feeding sugar, olive oil and water to dogs which resulted in nutritive failure

This is early proof that dogs have long been the model for advances in insulin therapy, heart transplants and other medical developments. Early canine models were also significant in the fundamental understanding of metabolic changes caused by burns and infection.

Modern dog health and nutrition testing for the benefit of humans is pegged in the early 1900′s when Drs Abderhalden and Loewi examined the scientific validity of feeding predigested proteins to dogs which evolved to two other medical notable, Drs Abbott and Rose to continued to refine that theory until they established the defined formula for medical foods.

Today’s Special: Hospital Food!

The number one principal of medical foods is their predigested nature. In other words, medical foods are a highly concentrated, more easily absorbed energy sources in the form of a smaller molecular unit. First tested on dogs, these nutritional supplements are now widely used on stressed humans such as burn victims.

In the 1920s began the existence of modern exercise physiology. Again, first tried on dogs, nutrition aimed at optimizing muscle movement lead Dr Benedict of Cornell University to report his findings on the use of creatine some 70 years before it’s popularity exploded in human athletes. Creatine is a muscle energy nutrient abundant in the wild food chain diet but depleted in modern foods.

Manifesting in further advancement, the 1930s saw Dr Dill use the famous dog “Joe” to determine if additional calories in the form of carbohydrates could help extend endurance. Using dogs, these nutrition advances were evident when “Joe” was exhausted after 2 hours of exercise, but when provided carbohydrates in water every 30 minutes, “Joe” with a brief break, was able to exercise for upwards of 17 hours!

Recently, that similar test proved that human grade, predigested medical foods increased muscle repair and growth 30% in dogs after strenuous workouts of 150 minutes further enhancing the study of dog nutrition.

In the early 1940s, Dr Elman formally defined the use of medical foods by treating a wide range of recipients from premature infants to burn patients to post surgery to food allergies to digestive disease. These recipients all share hyper metabolic circumstances, or abnormally rapid metabolic rates which waste muscle tissue as their nutrient needs are 30% to 200% greater than normal. The same application in human grade dog nutrition supplements today, was a literal life saver to these individuals over 7 decades ago.

One Small Step for Dogs

With medical advancements in nutrition tapering off by the middle of the 20th century, the next place we find the science of today’s dog nutrition supplements at work is with NASA in the 1960s. Space flight was unknown and terrifying. How would the body respond to weightlessness? Doctors took medical foods out of hospitals for the benefit of another stressed population-astronauts. This was huge because this was the first time the medical foods were used for performance and health not fight disease or atrophy.

This time, instead of nutrition being tested on dogs, 24 astronauts were given an average of 300 calories of medical foods and closely monitored. The results yielded the following findings as a benefit of eating medical foods: Higher nutrient density, extreme ease of digestion, great nutrient absorption, lower fecal output and the flexibility to eat it under weightlessness conditions.

The history of dog health and nutrition supplements is far reaching; way beyond what one might find in an attractive package on a shelf at the local pet store. Although we may see the end result, at eye level on aisle two, the evolution of dog nutrition is long withstanding and continuing to evolve.

The canine body hasn’t changed much in a long time, however understanding the dog and how nutrition plays it’s roll is undergoing a modern revolution. Dog health and nutrition supplements may have their roots in human improvement, but isn’t that just like a dog?

Dog Health and nutrition: Dog Food Nutritional Content

Dog Food Nutritional Content…Is it Sufficient?

For those of you lucky enough to own a dog, the bond and the companionship we receive from our shaggy friends is the driving force behind the pride of canine ownership. Most owners treat that bond the very same way they would a bond of marriage, but what if we had control of the whole “till death do we part” portion of that bond and could do it through increasing a dog’s nutritional uptake?

Would you want your dog to live longer? Does what we feed our dogs and our dog’s nutritional make up have anything to do with how long and how well they live ? You might be surprised by what our dogs are eating.

Is it really possible that commercial dog food is destroying our dog’s nutritional make up due to the ingredients used in it? What about all those wonderful commercials showing real beef and fresh vegetables and even a fish being poured into that huge back of epitomized dog food nutrition? That’s not real?

Afraid not and based on our, albeit unscientific, findings we think dog food nutrition is really one of the last considerations for the mass producers with their primary focus on dollars and cents.

Where’s the Beef?

With the recent economy we are are painfully aware of how much beef, chicken and fresh produce cost, but have you ever considered how a commercial dog food manufacturer can include all those ingredients into a 50 pound bag, sell it for $25 and still make a profit for themselves and the retailer? At those prices, maybe we should all be eating the stuff, but that would be like eating fast food for every meal, every day. Could you imagine?

Taking it a step further, it’s also plausible that vets, as a group, are unknowingly recommending these mass produced dog foods for perceived dog food nutrition that could be killing dogs sooner than necessary. Although unable to confirm, it appeared that “Dog Food Nutrition” and “Optimal Dog Nutrition” are classes offered by many vet schools, but offered as and elective, not a required class.

Major producers of dog food are also involved and active in vet schools across the nation. Some even “sponsoring” young vets by giving them food for their dogs. Is this good will or good marketing?

Would You Eat This?

Were you aware that some commercial dog foods were found to contain up to 6 preservative chemicals that have been banned from human consumption because they’ve been know to cause kidney, bladder, skin and stomach cancers along with a host of other deadly diseases; yet the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition has link recommendations on their website for 3 major commercial dog food manufacturers. Why?

When we checked a 3rd party dog food nutrition analysis who has ratings on over 1500 dog foods for the best dog food nutrition, those brands weren’t even in the top 100 for dog food nutrition.

These sad instances are based solely on the ingredients found in dog food nutrition levels for the mass produced. Don’t believe me? the proof is in the label, right? Well, not so fast, it appears the labels themselves can be manipulated and it is perfectly legal. Do you know how to read a dog food nutritional ingredient label? Are you familiar with “ingredient splitting” for the benefit of making a label look better? These business practices are nothing short of astounding and what’s worse is how it affects our dog’s nutritional intake all when we think we are being diligent in reading the labels on what we feed.

Speaking of astounding, and I mean it in the heart breaking sense, watch the below video at your own risk. It speaks directly to dog food nutrition, and what it can legally be called. As the saying goes, viewer discretion is advised!

Pass the Buck, Please

How can this happen? Sadly, it’s not hard to figure out and what mass produced dog food nutrition boils down to is a high stakes game of old fashioned “pass the buck” where the “buck” eventually ends up in the hands of the one entity that has the most to gain, the manufacturer. Reminds me of a Wall Street vs. a mortgage broker story I recently heard.

There are two governing parties when it comes to dog food manufacturing and dog food nutrition requirements; the FDA and the 102 year old AAFCO or Association of American Feed Control Officials.

I’ll spare you the long drawn out version because when you get right to it, dog food nutrition is the victim of two governing parties stating that they don’t regulate the industry, they just make the rules.

The AAFCO makes the following statement: “The AAFCO has no statutory authority to regulate pet products” Really? well aren’t you the association of….oh never mind, I’m sure the FDA is the enforcer here, they’ll do the right thing. Well…

The FDA, at least, has an ingredient guideline, but they also unfortunately adhere to an acronym called GRAS or Generally Recognized As Safe. Wow. Well I suppose a car is “GRAS” until you put a falling down drunk person behind the wheel, then its a deadly weapon. Is it the same for dog food nutrition? Is that what gets referred to as a loop hole?

This is Crazy, What Should We Do?…BARF!

It’s a terrific question. Part of me wants to scream from the roof tops as it seems that proper dog food nutrition has given way to “proper” profits and it’s generally accepted because the public is either not aware or doesn’t want to be aware. The reason everyone uses commercially produced dog food is because it’s quick and easy, but at the risk of years taken off our dog’s life and increasing the vet bills along the way, it’s just not worth it.

The only way to truly get away from this situation while keeping your dog’s nutritional health in mind is to feed a BARF dog diet or Bones And Raw Food, AKA Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. At least that way we know exactly what our dogs are eating and it is arguably the healthiest dog diet on the planet today, at least we think so despite the minority nay sayers and those whom have maybe drank too much of the commercial dog food nutrition “kool-aid”.

The BARF dog diet is most likely the best “anti-venom” we have, yet some loving dog owners will still stray from it’s benefits in favor of an easier way, and that’s fine.

But if that’s you, there is a way to at least take the necessary steps to help your dog’s nutritional uptake while they eat that crap in a bag and after that last under cover video, that may be a literal statement.

Often proven and often over-looked, optimized dog nutrition is the key to a long, happy and vet bill free life that we simply wont get through commercial dog food nutrition.