http://www.mushing.com/articles/content.php?vw=,,,620
A good article to read concerning canine performance nutrition. There is a section that describes the effects of carbohydrates in the canine performance diet. A good read. Very adaptable to how we feed. EWO
The dogs need some type of carbohydrate, that's usually why folks use rice as it's a cheap way of obtaining that. Dog's don't need many carbs, but they do need some.
I agree. The dogs do not need a lot and loading is a waste. Rice works well as it is slower in digestion. I looked for the other article by Arleigh Reynolds that discusses the rice/carbs slower digestion rates offset the shiver-weight loss during the cold nights. So it can serve as a valuable part of the diet.
Along the same lines with the article coming full circle on feeding fat, the rice/carbs are the same. Lots of 'older keeps' used them, maybe thinking they were valuable to the dog like the human, then got away from as science suggested they had no nutritional value to the dog and in turn found they were useful after all. Sort of ironic. EWO
A lot of keeps that I know from active participants still use rice in their keeps, but what they got away from simply was the carb loading as the science for so many years was thought that the dog's body used carbs the same as a human's body. I can see how that would be true for something like a greyhound for it's chosen profession, so to speak. I use rice, and I also use the maltodextrin immediately after work as he suggests.
Feeding kibbles and all of them contain carbohydrates. Also giving maltodextrin so im not going to say i would keep em out. But i assume the TS wasn't talking about keeping a dog for a show with chicken and rice only.
I sometimes rotate my outside bulldogs food but, I have an English Bulldog that lives inside. He gets boiled chicken with organ meat but, no cooked bones, vegi pasta blend with diced carrots, broccoli and green beans, collard greens. Sometimes blueberries, strawberries, organic peanut butter but, no nuts! Cheese as long as it's not a flavored variety such as Pepper Jack. Plain yogurt, cottage cheese, sometimes I use other meats such as beef or even deer meat and sometimes I'll dry it out to make a jerky for my dogs..
No potatoes cause they are hard to digest. Dogs love frozen green beans!...Throw them a chunk and they will gnaw away.
I know there are some things I am leaving out that we use but,...maybe I can think on it for a few.
Our English Bulldog is over 80 pounds and he's straight muscle, not fat...most people keep theirs fat. Ours like to run the yard and play without stopping every few secs to breath hard and fall flat on the ground, blown out.
I feed similar, 3 days a week to my outside bulldogs...the other days they eat River Run feed and I like it a lot for the price and the quality.
Good info, I've been looking at jacks DVDs on raw diets, very intricate and detailed. You should grab them. Jmo
-Listen to the dog, and you'll go further.
According to the Merck Manual, a dog has no nutritional need for carbohydrates; consequently there is no "minimum" dietary requirement established for dogs in a normal, unstressed state.Originally Posted by FrostyPaws
To paraphrase, the brain does need glucose for function, but dogs are able to convert glucose from glucogenic amino acids and glycerol, so again there is no "need" for carbohydrates in a non-worked, non-stressed environment.
However, the article goes on to say, "Carbohydrates can become conditionally essential when energy needs are high, such as during growth, gestation, and lactation." Therefore, under the rigors of work, or of gestation, etc. a dog does actually need some kind of carb supplementation, for which rice or maltodextrin will suffice.
Here is the article.
Jack
thanks for postin this jack, i was debating somebody on another forum about this very topic.....
I, personally, would rather give them some type of carbs so that the CNS is readily fueled everyday as opposed to not giving them some and having them divert things away that could hinder other metabolic pathways by adding a strain on fat and protein metabolism. Given the way some bulldogs are actively running their chains everyday, I would say it's not a bad idea to give those dogs carbs either. I think that's the main reason when feeding dogs, a person should look at the activity level of the dog and make a proper determination on what is needed. A dog like my Jasper dog is almost always a high stress individual, even when in a pen. So he gets more of everything in order to offset his energy requirements. For ME, it's not always about the stress of working. A lot of dogs are stressed simply by their existence.
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