The problem: Protein in diets

It seems to me that protein levels in diets obsess people. I admit to being confused as to how much dogs need. So, how much? Vet’s advice Neil McIntosh SG’s gundog health expert

- JACK HAFREN

Regrettably, I only have a couple of pages in which to answer, when really what is required is a book or two. Canine diets have six main nutritional components. Perhaps considering them in turn will help.

Water

Water is quite simply the most important nutrient. Animals can survive after having lost all their fat reserves and half their protein, but a 10% loss of water leaves them seriously debilitated and a 15% loss results in death. Dogs receive water by ingestion, whether from a water bowl or in food. Remember “wet” or canned diets contain 65-80% water, while dry diets are around 6-10%. Clearly then, dogs fed a dry diet require more water. Metabolic processes within the body also produce water as oxygen combines with hydrogen ions cleaved from carbohydrates, proteins or fats when they are used for energy. Water consumption will increase with:

• habit

• increased salt or electrolyte intake

• anything that increases body water loss (for example, increased temperature, exercise, pyrexia, diarrhoea, vomiting, lactation, haemorrhage)

For practical purposes, good quality water should always be available.

Carbohydrates