|
dogs feeding
To live and grow any creature shall eat. Food is used to get energy, build tissues and organs, and regulate all inner physiological processes. Adult animals are comparable less sensitive to hypoalimentation, while growing or lactating individuals have the most need for energy and nutrients, while shall consume much more food in relation to body mass. So they stronger react deficit of nutrients.
• history in brief
As a result of long period of accompanying a human, dogs have greatly extended nutrition range, to compare with other predators. So they can be called omnivorous. Predators eat not only muscle meat of their victims. They also consume their bowels: liver, lungs, stomach with it's content; intestines with rich microflora, ferments and vitamins; victim's bones and even skin with hair. They do not also miss small creatures — mice, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, gulping them whole. Predators can also eat some wild herbs, but the most of carbohydrates and cellulose comes from herbivorous victims' stomach content.
Pet dogs lack this variety. Long time living near the human they well adapted to consume scraps. Firstly it was mostly soft-bone food. Later due to farming expansion phytogenic food started to prevail. Kind and intensiveness of metabolism often differ for unpedigreed dogs and thoroughly artificially selected (mostly following decreasing viability features). Living in large cities, hypodynamia and stresses correct these needs own way. So that's quite hard to properly establish dogs' nutrition.
Rations of service dogs from police and military kennels do not suit pets what belong to privates and live in houses or flats. Most dogs' owners believe to feed dog well is to give one a lot of food. As a result of this mistake about 70% of service and decorative dogs are overfed and can hardly bear any considerable exercising.*
*
 Dog's average heartbeat rate is 70—80 beats per minute.
Dog of average keep has heartbeat rate value increased up to 77—83 beats per minute on easy exercising; 109—120 on medium, and 150 on heavy load.
Long run further multiplies this index by 6—7 to the state of rest.
 This functional test for overstuffed unexercised dogs invokes heavy exertional dyspnea, great increase of heartbeat rate (up to 230 beats per minute) and blood pressure. Maximal exertion may become the end of such pets.
It's known, that some deficit of high-caloric food, especially during infancy, increases pets' vitality. Proved, that dogs which got rations with limited caloric content, were healthier and more active, than ones who had no nutriment limitations. Definitely, dog then shall get all elements to maintain life and metabolism.
• obesity
Obesity first strikes cardiovascular system, and these disorders are so determinate that actually makes them not complication, but one of the main signs of obesity. Distinct obesity disorders complicate heart action due to abdominal excessive fat cumulation what presses diaphragm, blocks it's movement and reduces chest excursion.
Cardiac muscle size increases proportionally to body weight increase degree, sometimes up to 1,5—2 times over. Clinically it appears as exertion dyspnea, short pains in the heart area. General sign is dullness or hollowness of transients, heart widening. 80% of puppies have functional diastolic noise, higher blood pressure. Electrocardiogram indicates conductivity retardation, heart rhythm disorders, leftward declination of electric axis (due to heavy load of left heart ventricle). These changes are reversible and appreciably improve on obesity liquidation.
Obesity causes distinct respiratory disorders. Lung capacity may appreciably decrease comparing to normal, what depends not only on bounds change and squeeze of lungs, but also on breathing difficulties due to metabolic disorders in the lung tissues. It leads to lack of lung blood supply, affection of some sites of the lung by microorganisms. Overstuffed pets suffer frequent and long-lasting acute and chronic respiratory diseases (bronchitis, pneumonias). Drug treatment (antibiotics) is usually inefficient. It may be explained by higher intensiveness of stall-fed dogs' metabolism what leads to increased vulnerability and decomposition of cytoplasm. As a result these pets are less resistant to infectious and noninfectious diseases. Overfeeding leads to overload and anatomic changes of gastrointestinal tract: ventricle enlargement, proliferation of gastric mucosa, hypertrophy of small intestine and increase of it's weight by 20—40%. Firstly it causes increment of food digestibility, and later it's decrement. More than 55% of obese have gastrointestinal tract function affected. Proved that in 64% of obesity cases there's hypertrophy of gastric secretory function and development of chronic gastritis. More than 20% of affected by obesity have chronic colitis diagnosed, together with lack of pancreas secretory function.
Liver is frequently affected. Lipid synthesis and metabolism are often corrupted then, what leads to excessive fat cumulation in the tissues of the organ. At the same time bileary system function is also broken resulting to gall stone disease, cholecystitis, and cholangitis. This altogether favors gall stones formation. Appreciable changes of hepatic function, reduce of protein– and cholesterogenesis.
Blood circulation system doesn't stay untouched also — lymphocytosis, as well as blood compound. Most dangerous is increase of coagulation what leads to clots formation and disorders of blood supply of organs and systems. If clots form in coronary vessels it invokes infarct. Affected is susceptible to cholesteremia, function disorders of some endocrine glands which take part in different metabolic processes.
Water metabolism instantly depends on obesity degree. Balance shift which lies in increase of total amount of water contained susceptible to in the organism and extracellular liquid is noted. Sodium-kalium relation changes to sodium prevail.
So, obesity distinguishes many hormonal, biochemical and other changes in organs and systems.
The only rule to avoid your rottweiler's obesity is proper feeding and well-measured exertion. Optimal rations for puppies and adult dogs, nutriment characteristics and it's eating quality can be found in this section of our site.
• food allergy
Relation between nutriment and dermic diseases is traced by nutriment allergies. Lack of nutrients (zinc or vitamin A, for example) is quite rare case. Sometimes secondary zinc insufficiency is found if puppies got dry dog food enriched by calcium and phytin acid with small content of zinc.
On food allergy suspicion the easiest way to check the diagnosis is anti-allergic diet.
Though there are some wrong views of this issue between pet owners. For example, it's considered to be essential to decline any additives. As most of additives have low molecular weight they may go as haptens, but never as allergens.
As many researchers report, most cases of food allergy are invoked by meat and corn proteins. Easiest anti-allergic diet is change to food pet had never got before, for example, hare or horsemeat. After three weeks distinct improvement shall come. During this period no other food neither substitutes shall be given to pet. Owner shall also be especially headed to strict decline of mineral additives and vitamins. At the end of diet course one shall try for food which causes no allergic relapses.
|
|
