Canine Nutrition: Essential Amino Acids and Fatty Acids
I have learned so much in the past nine years when it comes to canine diabetes and nutrition because of Lucy’s diagnosis. I just realized that she was diagnosed nine years ago this month, and while my sweetest girl is no longer here her legacy lives on through the Facebook group, the DDO-U and these blogs. She is after all the reason that I am here and have continued my education. I love sharing what I have learned so that I can impart a bit of knowledge to the canine diabetes community!
My last blog was part one of my Canine Nutrition series and was about essential vitamins and minerals. Today we are going to go over essential amino acids and fatty acids, nutrients that are crucial to the growth, maintenance, reproduction and repair of the canine body.
Grab a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and let’s jump right in!
Anything living requires nutrients to survive and there are many sources that macronutrients and micronutrients come from. Just a quick refresher – nutrients include protein, fat, carbohydrates, water, vitamins and minerals. Nutrients are broken down into macronutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).
Let’s look at where macronutrients and micronutrients come from. Please note I did not add water to the list but water contains minerals.
What are amino acids and what do they do?
Amino acids come from protein that can be found in animal, plant and dairy sources. They are the building blocks of protein. Amino acids are necessary for almost all body tissues for growth and maintenance, this includes hair, skin, tendons, ligaments and cartilage. Enzymes are proteins made up of amino acids and are responsible for all the body’s chemical reactions, hormones and antibodies.
There are twenty amino acids but only ten are essential for dogs. The essential amino acids for dogs are arginine, lysine, methionine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.
Below is a chart of the ten essential amino acids that dogs require along with food sources (please note that not all food sources listed are acceptable for diabetic dogs, the list is for reference only):
What are fatty acids and what do they do?
Fat also known as lipids, comes from animal, dairy and plant sources. Fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol. Fatty acids are used for many different bodily functions which include: allowing absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, skin and coat health, structural components of cell membranes, joint health, supports the immune system, brain development and function, participates in the transport of nutrients and metabolites across membranes, surrounds myelinated nerve fibers and aids in transmission of nerve impulses, and help to maintain the heart and liver.
There are four essential fatty acids for dogs that are omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids are linoleic acid (LA), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Below is a list of these fatty acids along with sources (please note that not all food sources listed are acceptable for diabetic dogs, the list is for reference only):
As you can see amino acids and fatty acids are critically important for the health of dogs, so feeding a balanced diet is important. This is a lot to digest and think about and my next blog will be about carbohydrates and how to read nutrition labels for human grade foods.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please start a conversation below.
For a printable version of this blog click here.
Until next week stay comfy, don’t stress and you got this!
Michelle Miller-Matlock
AAHA Certified Diabetes Educator
Founder/Administrator of DDO: Diabetic Dog Owners University
Administrator of Diabetic Dog Owners on Facebook
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