Your pet dog needs many essential vitamins and minerals in its diet. It may not be getting them through its regular dog food. Is there a way to know if our pet is getting sufficient nutrition from his meals? This article brings you all that is worth knowing about dog food nutrients and how to tell if your pet dog lacks them.
Contents
Here Is How You Can Discover If Your Dog Lacks Nutrients
Live Enzymes
These are biological molecules that help sustain and support life. A large number of enzymes are proteins that resemble catalysts in their functioning and also help maintain homeostasis. If there’s any change in production, the risk for disease is there. Mammals’ cells are scheduled to produce enzymes within their lifetime. Your pet can get a lot of energy from food.
The body becomes endangered and deficient in dysfunction and diseases after producing enzymes. It occurs mainly when the dog ages.
Enzymes
There’s no quick or straightforward way to diagnose enzyme deficiency as every animal is affected differently and can show up with any metabolic diseases. Live enzymes mutate by cooking food and cause the dog enzyme deficiency. Tests for EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) are done only in severe cases. Dogs can avoid a low-grade enzyme deficiency for many years.
A raw diet provides enzymes that dogs obtained for many years of evolutionary growth. If a dog can’t have a raw diet, then give them a good quality enzyme supplement, improving organ function, digestion, allergies and metabolism, and much more.
Unaltered High-Quality Protein
The proteins define your dog’s health best. Proteins found in meat products that are not for human consumption are not lean, fresh, and of good quality, and you should not serve them to your dogs. Cooked meats reduce live enzymes, due to which your dog can consume the nutrients in its food. We should know that the dry food for a dog is processed at very high temperatures. Low-quality or cheaper food rates should not be given to your pets as it causes their health to decline. Providing the best quality and fresh food will keep your dog healthier.
Water
Never keep your dog thirsty. Just like an average human has 70% of water level in the body and consumes a lot of water. Your dog also needs to be hydrated by drinking water. As dogs eat dry food mostly, they become dehydrated and thirsty and may get kidney and liver problems. So to replenish fluid in and around the cells, they need a lot of water.
The Balance
A properly balanced diet of raw, fresh foods is all that your dog needs to be healthy. They should get all the essential nutrients which their body demands.
Supplements Your Dog Might Be Missing In Their Diet
Zinc
Zinc provides various vital body functions, including stabilizing cell membranes and DNA/RNA structures, protein synthesis, skin, and wound healing. Zinc may also help with the immersion of many other minerals if your dog takes it in adequate quantities.
Choline
It plays a crucial role in the dog’s nutrition and directly impacts their liver function. Choline is a macronutrient in the structure of lipoproteins and cell membranes, necessary for fat/lipid transfer in the body. This deficiency may also cause inflation of liver fat in your pet’s body.
Vitamins D and E
We have two major and worth knowing vitamin D types: vitamin D3 and vitamin D2. Vitamin D maintains the regulation of calcium homeostasis in your pet’s body and adds intestinal immersion of calcium and phosphorus.
Vitamin E is one of the leading antioxidants that are fat-soluble and prevents your DNA/RNA structures and cell membranes from getting damaged due to oxidation in the body tissues. In dogs, vitamin D deficiency can lead to bone issues and rickets, whereas vitamin E deficiency leads to degenerative muscle diseases. Such diseases can cause reproductive failure and muscle weakness.
Copper
Copper is absorbed in many enzymes and proteins, which perform vital functions in the body of your dog. It also has side effects like loss of hair pigmentation and connective tissue disorders.
Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA are mainly found in algae and fishes in cold water, necessary for the brain and retina normal function and vital cell membrane parts involved in the signaling of the cell.
Calcium
Diets that mainly include meat (chicken and rice) without additional calcium is a prevalent cause of calcium deficiencies. Low levels of calcium in a dog’s blood, known as hypocalcemia – may lead to a critical condition that results in nerve damage and bone fractures.
Conclusion
Get a well-known brand that supplies you with a specially formulated vitamin mix and recipe that provides you with a safe and balanced diet. Consult a highly reputed veterinary nutritionist about nutrition to give to your dog and a good recipe that can be kept for long term feeding. Bring balanced, fresh home-cooked meals made for your dog.
