Interest in animal nutrition and diet is growing. Despite the wide range of commercial canine maintenance diets, many dog owners want to have a better understanding of what their dog eats. To do it properly requires research, going back to the basics, like finding nutritional guidelines and understanding nutrients.
But looking into the nutrients required in the canine diet, isn’t as easy is it seems: internet information can be conflicting, confusing – even blatantly incorrect, particularly where lines are blurred between human and canine nutritional studies. Definitely one to watch out for. That said, I found plenty of scientific studies specific to canine gut health, probiotics and functional foods, which provide a great resource of reliable information and healthy recipe ideas.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms Renowned for their flavour and medicinal properties, mushrooms have been long been prized not just for their versatility but also for their exceptional nutritional and therapeutic value. High-fibre, low lipid, low-fat fungi have consequently been recognised both as a [...]
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Turmeric
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a root from the ginger family that is used as a spice and food colouring and has long been one of the most popular herbs in traditional medicine because of its potential health benefits. This is [...]
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Nutrition and Joint Health
Joint health is critical for maintaining mobility, comfort, and quality of life in our dogs. That’s not limited to ageing dogs with conditions like osteoarthritis (OA). Liigament injuries, joint instability, cartilage issues and inflammation can also impact younger and otherwise [...]
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Food and mood: Tryptophan
Food and mood We know that diet affects mood and behaviour in humans and animals – and it may reduce unwanted behaviour in dogs. Foods demonstrated to influence behaviour include beet pulp as a source of fibre, or salmon oil [...]
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Functional Foods and their effects: studies
Functional Foods In my “Functional Foods” post, I promised a list of studies showing how food has been used to a dog health. Studies I will keep updating this list as I discover more studies or as new studies emerge. [...]
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Functional foods
What is functional food? For hundreds of years, herbs have been used as a medicinal remedy. Many of our medicines today originate from natural remedies, with the best-known example probably being aspirin, derived from the white willow tree[1]. Functional food [...]
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Lutein – the eye vitamin
Lutein for eyes and brains Lutein is thought of as the eye vitamin. And the brain vitamin. It is a xanthophyll carotenoid, renowned for its role in eye health, especially in filtering blue light and supporting macular pigment. Lutein is [...]
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Collagen: a booster
Collagen In recent years, the role of collagen has garnered increasing attention due to its potential health benefits. Whilst much of the research on collagen has focused on human health, there is growing evidence suggesting similar benefits for our canine [...]
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Why sprouting is worth it
Sprouting: what is it? “Sprouts” (Regulation (EC) No 208/2013) are “the product obtained from the germination of seeds and their development in water or another medium, harvested before the development of true leaves and which is intended to be eaten [...]
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