Nutritional Management in Dogs
At Nestlé PURINA PetCare, our vision is to lead the world in improving the lives of cats and dogs. Groundbreaking discoveries in canine and feline nutrition help us to develop innovative new products and make important advances in pet health and well-being – many having redefined the pet industry’s nutritional standards.
The PURINA VETERINARY DIETS® range of clinical diets has been created for veterinary surgeons, like yourself, to enable you to strengthen the effectiveness of your overall treatment protocol with targeted, science-based and proven effective formulas.
Our diets are formulated using the latest discoveries from veterinary surgeons and scientists who are experts in the nutritional management of canine conditions such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, struvite urolithiasis, food allergies, skin disease, compromised joint mobility, intestinal disorders and renal disease.
Nutrition is an important therapeutic intervention in the management of critical care patients1. During illness hormonal and cytokine changes interfere with the normal adaptive responses to a reduced caloric intake. Thus, energy requirements are not down-regulated, and a metabolic shift also causes preferential use of body protein rather than fat to meet ongoing energy demands1.
Canine dermatological disorders comprise a substantial proportion of cases seen in small animal practice. Nutrition has a vital role in the management of these disorders:
Irrespective of the underlying cause, most small intestinal disorders are associated with some degree of malassimilation (maldigestion and/or malabsorption). It is this malassimilation that results in
undigested/unabsorbed nutrients within the GI lumen that osmotically attract water and contribute substantially to diarrhoea.
Probiotics are defined as live organisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. Successful probiotics should be1,2:
Food allergy (food hypersensitivity) is widely recognised in dogs, and results in clinical signs affecting the skin, gastrointestinal tract, or both. Food allergy is reported to be responsible for to up to 20-25% of cases of non-seasonal allergic dermatoses, and for many cases of gastroenteritis.
Joint mobility is suboptimal in as many as 20% of adult dogs3. Irreparable cartilage modification can occur before clinical signs (such as lameness) are recognised, making early diagnosis challenging. Early dietary intervention is an important part of the recommended management of dogs with suboptimal mobility. Dietary interventions have been proven to improve radiographic signs of osteoarthritis and gait1,3-9.
Renal disease is a frequent cause of illness and death in dogs, affecting approximately 1% of all dogs and up to 10% of canine patients over ten years of age. The hallmark of chronic renal failure (CRF) is a gradual decline in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR).
Current estimates of obesity in dogs suggest a prevalence of around 20-40% in various countries1. While some diseases (such as hypothyroidism and hyperadrenocorticism) predispose to obesity,
in most cases the underlying cause is a mismatch between energy intake and energy expenditure.
A wide variety of diseases are associated with obesity in dogs1,2. Importantly, Nestlé PURINA recently
completed a lifelong study of dogs that provided crucial information showing excess bodyweight
is detrimental to their longevity as well – in that study even moderately overweight dogs were at
greater risk for earlier morbidity and a shortened lifespan3.
The most common canine uroliths are composed of magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) or calcium oxalate1. The relative proportion of these two types of urolith has varied between different countries and over time but they account for more than 80% of all canine uroliths2.
