Diet And Your Dogs Behavior

There's tons of diet tidbits that can be linked to behavior.  We'll look at some of the more obvious ones and even explore simple herbs that can be added to the diet to make noticeable difference.   For today, let's take a peak at corn and protein.  

Enjoy!

Corn
A long time ago I had a very large Coonhound who developed diabetes.  There's nothing quite like discovering this after that 145 pound dog has had a huge, wet, sticky accident in the house!   YUK!!  Diabetic urin can be very sticky, like spilled soda pop.  Long story short (novel for me!), the vet prescribed a veterinary kibble for this dog that was targeted for diabetes (along with daily insulin shots, of course).

I'm a very trusting soul and I purchased a bag of this diabetic kibble without question.  I switched his food over within a matter of just a few days.  And then the accidents started happening again.  WTH?   I was stumped!  There was no reason for this mess to be happening again.  I chatted with a close friend of mine about this (who happens to own a feed store & really knows her dog foods!) and she woke me up to the realization that I should read the ingredient label on the dog food.  Hey,  good idea!  

Well, there it was as plane as day on the food label; the first ingredient was CORNMEAL!  Are you familiar with what corn really is?  Yeah, it's a vegetable and it's high in fiber (which is why the manufacturer put it in the diabetic dog food), BUT corn is also a carbohydrate and though it's a "complex" carbohydrate, it is the rocket fuel of complex carbohydrates!  Cornmeal has the highest glycemic index of all the natural carbohydrates out there, beating out wheat, barley, oatmeal and brown rice.  It also has a rather unremarkable nutritional value and low digestability unless it's ground, and grinding it increases the glycemic value as well as the digestibility index = rocket fuel.

A dog on a corn based diet (first ingredient on the label) can be hyperactive, unfocused, unbalanced and a host of other issues along with taxing the pancreas and spiking his blood sugar on a regular and ongoing basis.


Protein
We've all heard the ads and manufacturers have us thinking that "more is better", right?  Nope, not really.  Too much protein in the diet can certainly affect behavior:  anxiety, aggression, restlessness, light sleep and depression.  It can also exacerbate existing health and nervous system issues such as PTSD.  This comes from a lack of serotonin in the brain which regulates mood.   Serotonin comes from tryptophan, present in fish, eggs and wheat flour.

The average, everyday adult dog living in the family home has a protein requirement of about 18% to maintain weight.   On the other end of that scale is the working dog, such as search and rescue, competition, hunting, protection dogs require a 25% amount of protein in their diet ~ they actually use it.

Most dog foods out there are marketing protein levels closer to the 25% mark and most dogs just do not need that much.  These higher protein foods are typically expensive because they're using higher quality meat sources.

Lower protein foods (where most dogs are at), while affordable, often times contain lower quality protein sources which actually drops the protein percentage further because it's basically crap and less digestible.

Protein sources labeled as, 'animal', 'meat', or 'poultry' is very likely to be a low quality source of protein.  Look for actual animals such as 'chicken', 'beef', or 'lamb'.  ....The word specifics manufacturers use can be very misleading.   (Don't even get me started on the whole commercial egg market!).

So, what do you do to level out the protein intake while keeping the quality up?  Look into "mature" foods which are typically lower in protein.  Poultry and eggs are excellent sources of protein and tryptophan, so finding a good chicken based food of suitable protein percentages will help.  You can also supplement a low quality protein dog food by adding an egg white.  Eggs are an excellent source of protein and tryptophan without adding a lot of calories.



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