Dog Nutritional Needs

The nutritional needs of dogs are divided into energy (carbohydrates, lipids), proteins, minerals and vitamins. After water, energy components are those whose loss affects the faster the dog's health. The ration energy wealth comes mainly from carbohydrates and lipids. The daily energy expenditure include those due to basal metabolism * (* energy cost of the animal when it is at complete rest), which represents 60% to 70% of total energy expenditure, which is compounded by the loss of Work-related muscular energy, digestion and thermoregulation.

The dog's energy needs are of the order of 132 kcal ME / kg PV0.75
(ME: metabolisable energy - PV0.75: metabolic weight).

Carbohydrates (sugars (glucose) and starch)
They provide energy to the body. The liver and muscles absorb glucose from the blood to assemble them into glycogen, which is a form of energy storage in animals. The digestion of starch is a factor to take into account, due to a low amylase activity in dogs. A physical-chemical treatment will yield a suitable maximum digestibility of it. Lipids (made from the fat) are the preferred concentrated source of energy. They release about twice as much energy per unit weight compared to carbohydrates. They are essential to the agency not only for their role in energy but also for their visual and functional roles.

LIPID
They provide what are known as EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) polyunsaturated fatty acids to long chain (C18 to C22), a constituent of cell membrane structure, they are indispensable to the maintenance thereof and cellular function, they have a role on the growth, beauty, hair, and the preservation of the skin, the liver and heart function, and also on fertility and coagulation.

PROTEINS
Essential elements of food, their role is first to provide the body with the elements needed for its construction. They provide the necessary amino acids for the synthesis of tissue proteins in the body, and as such are involved in growth and tissue maintenance "lean" muscles, nervous system and skeleton. Among these amino acids, some can be synthesized in sufficient quantities by the body and must therefore be supplied by food, are the essential amino acids. The amino acids involved in many biochemical pathways essential to life. By chemical modification, some amino acids are converted into biologically important molecules in the intervening phases of growth, neurotransmission, allergic reactions and in many other hormonal functions.

MINERALS and VITAMINS
They are essential for the proper functioning of the body. They participate in numerous metabolic reactions. As with other food ingredients, excesses prove as dangerous as the shortcomings, hence the importance of a food just right.
Essential for cell maintenance, vitamins perform many functions. They help to transform food into assimilable substances and participate in the development of blood cells, hormones and various chemical components of the nervous system. They come in many different functions such as vision, growth, reproduction, cell protection, growth of blood cells and in almost all metabolic reactions and energy. Minerals constitute the bulk of the skeleton and teeth. They are used to maintain the immune system, blood clotting and metabolism of oxygen in the body. They also arrange transportation of energy, water balance, and they come in bone metabolism and epidermal.

The main qualities of the food will meet all those needs and be attractive to the animal. The concept of need, should then take into account not only the level of expenditure of the animal (with all its factors of variation: physiological, physical activity) but also yields with which food intake will be used, again with many variation factors, related both to the animal (breed, individual ...) than the food (quality of components, manufacturing technology, nutritional balance, ...).

A balanced diet will cover the quantitative requirements (energy) and the qualitative requirements (substances essential).