Protein, fats and carbohydrates for dogs

Protein

Do you know that dogs require 10 essential amino acids?

Protein is composed of bonds from 22 amino acids. A complete protein source will supply all the essential amino acids in sufficient amounts. The most complete protein sources for dogs are from eggs, meat and fish. It is good to feed your dogs eggs at least once a week as eggs are a complete source of protein loaded with all the essential minerals and vitamins. You can either lightly scramble the eggs or give soft or hard boiled eggs. Our dogs look forward to their weekend breakfast of lightly scrambled eggs topped with a teaspoon of Greek or non fat yoghurt or fruits like blueberries or chopped apples.

Fats

Do you know that dogs use fats as an energy source before carbohydrates?

In dogs, fats supply more than 2 times as much energy as carbohydrates. Dogs need fats for many of the important vitamin functions in the body. Fats are the carriers for vitamins A, D, E and K. It also promotes the absorption of vitamin A and calcium. Essential fatty acids include omega 3 and omega -6 which can be obtained from food sources like cod liver, fish and shellfish.

Carbohydrates

Do dogs require carbohydrates?

Dogs are designed to be primarily meat eaters with little or no carbohydrates in their natural diet. The natural dog diet would be about 14 -20% carbohydrate content. Remember, dogs can survive without carbohydrates, but they cannot survive without protein and fat in their diets.