Nutritional Diseases You Do Not Want Your Dog To Get

As with healthy dogs, a sick dog also has to eat to give his body the energy and nutrients it needs for growth, recovery, as well as his always-changing needs. A sick dogs nutritional requirements are usually not that much different than a healthy dogs. Although, his dietary needs can be substantially different from that of a healthy dog.

Most diseases in which your dog's diet will have to be altered are often caused from nutritional diseases. This type of disease is usually caused from the diet itself, and nutritional diseases are a form of a deficiency disease, which means that they are diseases usually caused by a certain diet that does not contain a sufficient amount of needed nutrients.

This is usually made up of homemade foods the owner has prepared, or table scraps that are improperly balanced and given to the dog. Since commercial food has become more nourishing, almost all these deficiency diseases have gradually vanished. You hardly see vitamin and mineral deficiency as a primary disease today. This is due to the fact that the price of vitamins and minerals is so minimal, and the amount needed is such a small amount, that many commercial dog food retailers produce the dog food with adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals.

We still have a small problem with energy and protein with some commercial dog foods, Although, the amount of brands of dog food that still contain inadequate fat or mediocre quality, nondigestible protein is becoming less and less each year. When there is a deficiency of fat, it most usually is the result of an insufficient amount of energy in the dogs diet, which will result in the dog losing weight, some sluggishness, dull or dry hair coat, very poor physical condition, emaciation or uncontrolled diarrhea. Sometimes a deficiency of essential fatty acids can occur, although, this is not likely. The amount of the essential fats used in commercial dog food can be as small as 1% and will contain a sufficient amount of fatty acids.

Whenever a deficiency of fatty acids occurs, it usually appears as weight loss and poor condition, a dry or dull looking coat, and almost always as an eroded area on the skin. This will most usually show up on the pads of his feet, between his toes and around the bony parts of his body, where the blood supply is reduced due to pressure.

Although, these types of erosions may resemble "hot spots," they are quit different from hot spots, because they do not react to steroid therapy; it can also appear on short-haired and long-haired dogs; it usually requires an average of three to four months to completely heal. If a deficiency of protein is present, it can cause weight loss and dull, dry hair coats. It can also produce anemia. This will also cause the dogs body to not be able cope with and recover from infections as well, and, if this is left neglected, it will eventually lead to a dog's death.