The Perfect Guide to Protein For Dogs

Protein is an essential nutrient for dogs, and without enough of it, your pet may experience a range of health issues. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of protein for dogs and how to provide them with the right amount. We’ll also discuss the different types of protein and which ones are best for your dog’s health. So whether you’re looking to feed your dog the perfect diet or just get them the recommended amount of protein, read on to learn more about the importance of protein for dogs.

Protein requirements of dogs and cats is an important and often misunderstood aspect of pet nutrition.  “You are what you eat” is a saying we’ve all heard and it surely has some truth to it.  Every responsible dog owner I’ve talked to has real concern about feeding a high quality diet to his or her dogs.  Remarkably, no two dog owners seem to agree as to which dog food is “the best”.  A large part of the disagreement regarding “the best” food to feed centers on the often ambiguous,  mysterious and sometimes incorrect information we all see regarding the substance we call Protein.  Let’s get the facts straight about the importance of protein in the dog’s diet.  Then we can better judge which food would be “the best” for own dogs.

Importance of Protein For Dogs

Our feline friends are classified as true carnivores because they must consume meat in order to survive. Canines are just slightly different from cats in their conversion of foods for life maintenance; dogs are classified as omnivores.  They can survive on a diet of either plant or animal origin if it is balanced and diverse.  But to thrive and not merely survive, dogs should have a source of animal protein – MEAT – in their diets.  There is a huge difference between survive and thrive!  Nature made the rules of biochemistry and nutrition and we mortals have no power (and no business, for that matter) to try to bend those rules.  For that reason there are truly no adequate vegetarian diets for cats.  For that reason dogs thrive on diets based on meat.

Every single day in practice I see dogs that are not thriving because Nature’s rules are not being followed.  Overweight dogs, dogs with itchy, flaky skin, dogs with coarse and brittle coats, dogs with poor energy levels and resistance to infection. . .  95% of the time these dogs will be consuming diets low in animal origin tissues and high in grain-based products.  Inexpensive, corn-based diets are some of the worst.

FOODS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN	FOODS OF PLANT ORIGIN
Meat by-products:  heart, liver, spleen, intestines (emptied of their contents), blood, kidneys	Grains…  corn, wheat, rice, barley, soybeans, oatmeal
Lamb	Fiber…  The non-digestible cellulose parts of plants such as peanut hulls
Beef	Nuts and seeds
Fish… salmon, herring	Fruits
Poultry… chicken, turkey, duck	Vegetables
Dairy…  eggs, milk, cheese	Legumes

Dogs need meat!  Dogs thrive on meat-based diets.  (Caution:  an ALL meat diet is hazardous too!)  Dogs can and do assimilate grains such as corn, barley, oats, wheat and soybean meal.  Remember, though, that grains provide mostly carbohydrates and only limited amino acid (protein) profiles.  Extra carbohydrate intake, above the immediate needs of the dog (which occurs often with grain-based diets) prompts internal enzyme factors to store that extra carbohydrate (sugar) as fat. 

Give that same dog extra protein and it is excreted through the kidneys and NOT stored as fat.  Knowing this, what do you think would make a better “weight loss diet” for a dog. . . one with grain as the main ingredient or one with a protein-rich meat source as the main ingredient?

Ahhhhhh. . .  I know what you’re thinking!  Too much protein!  Kidney damage!  Well, guess what? The very early research that pointed a finger at protein as being a cause of kidney failure in dogs wasn’t even done on dogs!  It was done on rats fed unnatural diets for a rodent… diets high in protein.  (Were we tinkering with Nature during these “tests”?)  Rats have difficulty excreting excess protein in their diets because they are essentially plant eaters, not meat eaters.  Dogs are quite able to tolerate diets with protein levels higher than 30% on a dry weight basis.  Dogs are meat eaters; that’s how Nature made them!  Rats are not.  So some of the early research on rats was assumed to be true for dogs… and the myth of “too much protein in a dog’s diet causes kidney damage” was started.  And just like any seemingly valid rumor or assertion, it derived a life of its own and is only recently being accepted as untrue.  Here is just one of many references that recently have appeared asserting the lack of data indicating that reducing the protein level in a food helps to protect the kidneys…  Kirk’s Veterinary Therapy XIII, Small Animal Practice, page 861, written by Finco, Brown, Barsanti and Bartges  “…restriction of protein intake does not alter the development of renal lesions nor does it preserve renal function.  Considering these (research) findings, the authors do not recommend reduction of dietary protein in dogs with renal disease or reduced renal function in order to achieve renoprotective effects.”  They do recommend, though, that once a Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) level reaches 75, which is very elevated, that some restriction of protein intake be considered for beneficial effects unrelated to kidney function dynamics.  These authors point out that Phosphorus blood levels can play a major role in the health status of dogs with compromised kidney function.

PROTEIN requirements in dogs and cats

A fable that has finally been debunked is the one that states that dogs acquire kidney problems from eating too much protein. This fable was repeated so often that it became self-sustaining and axiomatic. Finally, experts in animal nutrition have buried this myth. It simply is not true that high protein levels in dog food cause kidney problems.”The dog can digest large amounts of proteins, especially those of animal origin” stated Prof. Dominique Grandjean DVM, Ph.D., at the Fourth Annual International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Association Symposium (page 53 of 1997 PROCEEDINGS).

The following statements are quoted from CANINE AND FELINE NUTRITION   by Case, Carey and Hirakawa,  Published by C.V.Mosby, 1995

“The protein requirement for the cat is significantly higher than that of the dog.” (page 131)

“There is no conclusive evidence showing that protein intake actually contributes to the development of kidney dysfunction in healthy animals.” (page 117)

“It is recommended that the protein in the diet of geriatric dogs should not be restricted simply because of old age.” (page 256)

“In general, high-quality animal source proteins provide superior amino acid balances for companion animals, compared with the amino acid balances that are supplied by grain proteins.” (page 174)

Current, and even ignored thirty-year-old research by Dr. David S. Kronfeld and others, spells out the evolutionary need for canines to have sources of high quality protein such as is found in animal tissues.  Meat (muscle tissue), organ tissues such as liver, kidneys, spleen, and heart are particularly rich in the complex molecules called Amino Acids that end up as protein.  There are 22 Amino Acids involved with the dog’s metabolism and of these the dog requires 10 different Amino Acids to be supplied by the diet.  The other 12 required Amino Acids can be manufactured internally in the dog’s liver.  Grains tend to be better sources of carbohydrate, a quick source of energy.  Animal-derived tissues are more easily digestible and have a more complete array of Amino Acids than do grains.  Meats and meat by-products (meat by-products are blood and organ tissues and do not include hide, hair, hooves and teeth) are exceptionally high quality protein sources for dogs.  (That’s right!  Meat by-products are excellent sources of nourishment for dogs.  By-products do not contain floor sweepings, old flea collars, gasoline or machine parts.  We all need to have an open mind and take a look at what by-products really are.)

“But too much protein is bad, right?” you ask.  Do your own research and poll half a dozen nutrition specialists (not the guy who runs the local pet shop) and here is what you will find: There is no general agreement among expert nutritionists regarding what constitutes “too much” protein in the dog’s diet.  Research shows that dogs have a high capacity for digesting and utilizing diets containing more than thirty percent protein on a dry weight basis.  (Dry weight basis means the food with no moisture present.  Dry dog food in a bag usually has 10 percent moisture and canned food has about 74 percent moisture.)  If left to catch and consume prey to survive, as wild canines do every day, dogs’ diets would be even higher in protein than what is generally available commercially.

Think about it… do you ever see a stray dog grazing in a corn or bean field to allay its hunger?  Nature has created a meat-eating machine in the dog and every day in practice I see the health benefits displayed by the feeding of meat-based diets.  Dogs fed poor quality diets look and feel great only if their caretakers also feed table scraps such as chicken, meat, eggs, cottage cheese and other “left-overs.”  Meat such as chicken, poultry, beef or fish should be the first ingredient listed in any dog food you judge to be “the best”.

“But what about the older pet?” you might ask.  “I’ve always been told that high protein diets are bad for an older dog’s kidneys; even my veterinarian says so.”  What researchers have proven is this:  In dogs that actually have kidney damage or dysfunction (regardless of their age) and that have a BUN level greater than 75, restricted protein intake may be beneficial but not because of any adverse impact on the kidneys.  The protein these impaired dogs ingest should be of high quality such as is derived from eggs, poultry, and meat.   On the other hand, high protein levels in a food DO NOT cause kidney damage in the normal, healthy dog or cat!  

PROTEIN AND HYPERACTIVITY

Most dog caretakers at one time or another have heard this pronouncement… “High protein diets can make dogs hyper!”   I have searched the literature and contacted nutrition specialists regarding this myth and nowhere can I find any scientific study that proves this unfounded contention.   There are no biochemical or nutritional factors that would even make this supposition appear to be credible.  Hyperactivity in dogs has numerous potential motivators, including genetic temperament predispositions, but a link between high levels of protein in a dog’s diet and hyperactivity has yet to be proven.  I listened to a canine “expert” once tell me that Purina Hi Pro was causing hyperactivity in dogs and that he’s seen it happen.  I politely pointed out that Purina Hi Pro is in fact not high in protein at all… and yet the myth goes on.

Feed your dog a high quality, meat-based diet and, just as Nature set things up, your dog will thrive.  Fear not the feeding of Protein.

Protein is an essential nutrient for dogs, and a deficiency can result in problems like poor hair coat, wheezing, slow growth, and even digestive issues. Fortunately, there are many types of protein available that can be easily incorporated into a dog’s diet. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of protein for dogs and provide tips on how to best provide them with the nutrient they need. If you have any questions or would like to share your own experiences with protein for dogs, please feel free to leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!

Frequently Asked The Questions