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Protein for Dogs
 

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What do you think?  Do dogs need an almost total protein or meat diet?  (GROWL or WAG?)

The American Association of Feed Control Officials recommends that dog foods for growth should contain at least 22% protein on a dry matter basis and for adult maintenance the dog food should contain 18% protein.  So the answer is Growl - dogs also need carbohydrate and fat.  In fact, dog food should provide about 3 parts carbohydrate (cooked cereal is a good source) to 1 part food quality protein.

So what is a good quality protein.. Not all proteins are created equally.  A good quality protein provides all the amino acids that make up protein in adequate amounts and proper balance.  If a poor quality protein is missing 1 or more amino acids - it often can't be used to repair and make new protein. 

Good quality proteins include animal tissue from poultry such as chicken and turkey, fish, beef, lamb, livers, lungs, and spleens.  Cereal grains also provide protein in dry pet foods.  Rice, corn, wheat, barley, soybean meal and corn gluten meal are other sources of protein and amino acids, but typically not as good quality as meat based sources because they may lack certain amino acids.  Two grains can be combined to provide all the amino acids - corn and soybean meal is an example.  Corn is low in lysine and tryptophan and soybean meal contains adequate amounts of these amino acids, so combining these ingredients makes a complete protein. Rest assured that commercial pet foods that list the AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) nutrition statement on the package have a balanced formula to supply the required amino acids.

Proteins that are good quality or complete proteins contain all the amino acids in good proportion.  Take a look at the list below and what do you think is the correct answer?

Which of the following is a good quality protein to add to a dog's diet?

a. Gelatin (WAG or GROWL?)
b. Egg white (WAG or GROWL?)
c. Collagen (WAG or GROWL?)
d. All of the above (WAG or GROWL?)

Gelatin is a poor quality protein that is derived from animal collagen.  It's is poor quality because it is deficient in the amino acid tryptophan.  The WAG answer is (b) Egg white.  For humans and dogs, egg white is the protein that all other proteins are compared to.  It's an excellent protein source.

BACK TO THE WAG OR GROWL GAME

Read the Dog Food Label - What do Certain Descriptive terms on the label mean?

Read the Dog Food Label - Let's look at ingredients