Can I Feed My Dog Meat Only?
There are a few dog feeders who irrationally claim that meat is the only thing a dog should ever be fed. Meat only is totally insufficient for a dog. The leading deficiency in a diet of meat is its lack of calcium. lf the meat is trimmed of fat there is also likely to happen a deficiency in energy. There are several other deficiencies, but none as dramatic as these two.
Meat, however, is the single most vital source of protein fed to dogs. Thousands of tons of horse meat and beef are used each year in producing commercial dog foods. Hundreds of tons more are fed as a enhancement to commercial foods or in home-made rations.
When fed as an addition to a balanced commercial food, meat can be added up to 10 percent of the weight of the combination. When added in any larger amounts it will weaken the commercial food to the level that the diet will no longer be balanced or sufficient. When used as the only source of protein in a home-made portion, meat should comprise at least 25 percent of the total weight of the diet. Nevertheless, home-made rations should ever include more than 75 percent of its weight as meat
All meats excluding pork can be fed to a dog either cooked or uncooked, but will typically furnish more diet in the raw state. Vitamins are damaged by the heat of cooking. Fat also is driven out of meat throughout cooking, and except it is poured back into the ration, it will become vanished as an energy basis. The only real justification for feeding a dog cooked meat in a homemade ration is since it is pork, or since the dog does not like raw meat. Dogs having a actual dislike for raw meat are few and far between.
The nature of the animal from which the meat comes does not appear to be too significant where protein is concerned. Nutritionally, most proteins from different animals appear to be about equal. For years it was contended by some dog owners that pork could not be fed to dogs. Feeding experiments do not find this to be accurate. In fact, pork liver is perhaps among the most nutritious livers normally available to dogs. The only limit which pork has when being fed to dogs is that it be cooked.
Technorati Tags : commercial cooked weight percent
Tags: dog diet nutrition, dog food nutrition, dog health nutrition, dog nutrition guide, dog nutrition requirements, dog nutrition supplement, dog nutritional needs, dog nutritional requirements, dogs nutrition, maximum nutrition dog food, NUTRITION FOR DOGS, nutritional requirements for dogs, senior dog nutrition