What You Should Know About Dog Feeding

A balanced diet should contain not less than zoo percent fat. An dog living on prey often eats 3o percent or more fat. The amount of fat dog can utilize depends on the amount of exercise they are getting. Sled dogs can eat pemmican consisting of 70 percent fat which would sicken a house dog. Bitches giving huge amounts of milk fat to their puppies need higher percentages in their food to remain in good condition while nursing a large litter.

CO.' milk, with the water omitted, contains about 25 percent fat;and milk is an excellent food for many pets - almost a criterion of what food should be. But note that it contains a goodly amount of milk sugar. Feed milk sugar alone and the pet's stools become almost liquid.Feed fat alone and the same thing happens. Feed the two as whole milk and the stool is perfect.

Physiologists say that fat bums in the flame of carbohydrates. When you feed fat, always see that there is sufficient carbohydrate present.On the other hand, if you fail to provide enough fat, the pet has to manufacture its own from proteins and carbohydrates in its diet - a less efficient and more costly process.

The economy of fat in pet food can be easily and conclusively demonstrated. One pound of rendered suet contains about 4,00o calories;one pound of the best dehydrated foods contains about 1,55o calories;and the fat costs less than the dog food. Fat in the diet contributes two and one quarter tunes as much energy as either proteins or carbohydrates.

For those who wish to compute the calories in any food formula, this is how it is done. Consider only the protein, carbohydrate (which maybe expressed as nitrogen - free extract), and fat. Disregard the rest. Multiply the protein and carbohydrate by four, because a gram of protein,when burned, yields four calories. Multiply the fat by nine; a gram of fat burns to yield nine calories. This will give you the number of calories in root grants of food. Since there are 454 grants in a pound, you can convert the answer to pounds by multiplying by 4.5.

How many calories in a one - pound can of a certain canned fish food?The guarantee says:

Protein 9%

Carbohydrate 11%

Fat 2%

Fiber 2%

Water 74%

As hI%

Protein9 X 4 equals36

Carbohydrate11 x 4 " 44

Fat2 X 9 " 18

98 x 4.5 equals 441 calories in pound.

How many calories in a pound of top round? It contains about 21percent protein, 10.5 percent fat, and the rest is mostly water.

Protein21 x 4 equals84

Fat10.5 x 9 " 94.5

178.5 x 4.5 equals 803.25 calories in a pound.

How many calories in a pound of a certain dehydrated dog food? It has 25 percent protein, 57 percent carbohydrate, 4.5 percent fat.

Protein25 x 4 equals100

Carbohydrate57 X 4 "228

Fat4.5 X 9 "40.5

368.5 x 4.5 equals 1,658.25 calories per pound.

It is also necessary, however, to consider what part of the total calories volume is actually usable, because sometimes the protein and carbohydrates may not be as completely available as those in other foods.Even so, a dehydrated ration that furnishes 1,600 calories certainly should recommend itself for consideration, especially since some fat could readily be added to it.

LAXATION

There often is considerable residue in the indigestible fiber and in part of the proteins and ash in massy ingredients of pet foods. For a long while it was thought that the amount of this fiber determined how laxative a food would be. It is now known that it is more a matter of the presentation of the fiber than the amount.

There is no evidence that garlic destroys worms, but without doubt that herb does stimulate tapeworms to produce segments more rapidly,and it must nourish the parasites. If you think you have seen a tape segment, feed one well - crushed garlic clove to your dog daily. By the end of a week you may see many well developed segments on each stool.