High Protein Diets for Dogs

There has been a fair bit of interest in a couple of new brands of dog food which seem to be bucking the trend with protein/carbohydrate. Firstly there is Orijen whch comes packaged with a whole load of marketing to persuade owners to feed what is a very high protein diet compared with the vast majority of commercially available dry foods on pet shop shelves. Now Applaws has entered the same market.

So where's the research that these foods are actually better than convential dog foods?

They seem to be aimed at least in part at those who would like to raw feed their dog. Which seems a bit of a contradiction, because I would have thought a commercial dry processed food would not be that attractive to someone who is into the whole raw feeding philosophy and associated catering problems.

There are a lot of web sites promoting this type of food, and the benefits of high protein/low carb foods, but the best I can find is the description of Orijen from the suppliers.

"ORIJEN's Biologically Appropriate concept is simple: include the fresh, whole foods that nature intended cats and dogs to eat, and exclude ingredients like cereal grains that your dog or cat is not evolved to eat. High-protein, low-carbohydrate and Grain-FREE, ORIJEN diets feature farm-fresh ingredients in a Biologically Appropriate ratio of 70 percent meat, 30 percent fruit and vegetables, and zero grain"

I have searched the internet for independent research on the feeding of high protein/low carb diets to dogs but drawn a blank so far (although there is anecdotal data from people who have fed these foods, and I have not come across adverse comments).

However there is research that a high protein/low carb diet is good for weight loss.

The research comes from Waltham (http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/134/8/2087S) who looked at this type of diet for weight loss, as it resembles the Atkins diet favoured by many humans to lose weight.

Waltham's conclusion was 'Several studies showed the potential benefits of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet on reducing body weight in humans. These diets are also associated with decreases in serum TG as compared to diets high in carbohydrates. The results of the study reported here suggest that these same benefits can also be obtained in dogs fed high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets.'

So it may be that if you are feeding these high protein/low carb dog foods then you need to keep an eye on weight and body condition to make sure that the food is suiting your dog. If you have an overweight dog, and let's face it there are are plenty of overweight dogs in the UK then it may well be worth experimenting with Orijen or Applaws to se if they might help with weight loss.

Click links for the best online offers