Aside from the possiblity of traumatic injury incurred by something like being hit by a car most dog issues today result from something as controllable as poor nutrition. We recently looked at some of the physical differences between dogs and humans that might play on your dogs nutritional requirements. The difference in the number of teeth. The inability of the dog to work his jaw side to side and the short digestive system that is reflected by the dog's inability to digest raw vebetables and many uncooked grains. We drew the conclusion that dog's, perhaps even more than humans, needed a healthy natural food source. I prefer to take it one step further and insist on human grade dog food for my own 4-legged friends. Please do not allow poor nutrition to cause challenges for your dog.
Certain additives that we take for granted, can create liver and kidney damage. Liver and kidney diseases are amongst the leading causes of illness in dogs. For example, our water contains fluoride. Dogs do not get cavities so they sure do not need fluoride in their water. Although generally considered safe for humans 10 European countries have banned flourination of water. In dogs, fluoride alters serum calcium/phosphorous balance and can damage bones and kidneys. Because of the high amount of flourinated water in canned food, dogs should definitely drink filtered water and avoid canned dog food whenever possible. These contain high levels of concentrated fluoride.
Are you aware that dogs actually produce their own Vitamin C? Dogs use trace minerals in the liver to produce their own supply of this vitamin. Humans cannot do this. Supplementing Vitamin C for dogs can create pH imbalances in the kidney. Adding Vit C can also damage the liver. Many manufacturers use vitamin C because it is a cheap preservative that prevents discoloration, not because it benefits the dog.
There are many differences between dogs and humans and we can take a look at them in later articles, dog's sense of smell, sight and hearing is all dramatically different and bears looking into. Most people realize that dogs see motion better than humans but did you know that your dog has a third eyelid? It helps to protect the eye and remove debris. Dogs have flatter lenses and larger pupils so you see that when you delve a little deeper into your four-legged friends physiology that you need to learn more about how dogs are built in order to understand the "why" of what they might need.
Despite highlighting the nutrional and digestive aspects of your dog's needs we also need to know as much as we can about our dog's physiology in order to insure they will be around and healthy for as long as possible. I hope you have enjoyed this comparison and that it helps you make informed decisions about how and what to feed your best friend. We all need whole, natural, unprocessed food. You can see that dogs need high quality, human grade dog food for healthy absorption and digestion.
Amongst other things we will be covering how to read labels in future articles.
Dr. Janice Elenbaas
Always remember, Health comes from the inside out!
