FarmDogDietL4

• Apparent Nutrient Digestibility


  Perceived ability of dogs to digest nutrients
• Energy Expenditure


  Amount of energy used by working dogs
• Requirements


  Necessary energy and nutrient needs of farm dogs
• Farm Dogs' Value


  Example: Jack sold for $10,000 at auction
• Dog Diet Composition


  Proportions of dry food, homekill, canned food, etc.
• Nutrition Importance Rating

  Farmers' rating of nutrition, variety, cost, balanced diet, convenience, and acceptance
• Median age


  Reported as 3 years, with a high proportion of younger dogs
• Average working dog diet consists of:

  40% dry food and 40% homekill. Remainder canned food, dog roll or table scraps
• The most common diet of a working farm dog in the surveys was primarily:

  Homekill combined with dry food (TUX)
• Digestibility trials


  Essential in establishing nutrient requirements for proper animal nutrition
• How are digestibility trials conduncted?

  Feeding an animal a diet, collecting feces and analyzing food and feces
• What does the digestibility trials establish?

  Amount of nutrients an animal is absorbing and utilizing form it's food
• What are the benefits of feeding biscuits with homekill?

  Dogs receive high protein/fat from the meat/offal portion. Vitamins and minerals from the biscuit portion
• What else does biscuits provide?

  CHO - may aid in recovery by replenishing glycogen stores in muscles after working hard
• Energy Expenditure (EE) work:Energy is the first limiting nutrient. Diets are formulated according to energy. Measured with the "gold standard" isotope method
• Doubly- Labelled Water method


  Uses isotopes to measure energy expenditure in free-living animals
• DLW technique relies on the O2 in CO2 being in complete isotopic exchange equilibrium with O2 in body water. 18O is lost in CO2 & H2O but the 2H is only lost in water.