Term
| What are some internal and external signals affecting energy intake? |
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Definition
Internal - gastric distention, physiological response to stimuli, physiological satiety, hunger cues
External - food availability, timing and size of meals, food composition and texture, diet palatability |
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Term
| Water intake is regulated in dogs and cats by: |
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Definition
Dogs: thirst response to body water stores and exercise, diet (protein and carbohydrates will help retain water), sodium intake.
Cats: cannot regulate water intake but adapt to dehydration better through concentrating their urine. |
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Term
| What is the difference between minimal requirement and adequate intake? |
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Definition
Adequate intake is the minimal amount fed leading to no deficiencies (when no MR has been demonstrated).
The minimal requirement is the minimal concentration of maximally bioavailable nutrient to support the animal's physiological state. |
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Term
| How can feeding animals raw food diets affect humans? |
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Definition
| The raw food could bring in diseases due to bacterial contamination of the food that can be transferred to humans. People who would be especially at risk would be the elderly and people with autoimmune diseases. |
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Term
| What are 3 qualities that carbohydrates provide in the diet? |
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Definition
1) Energy - carbohydrates are a quick source of energy
2) Texture - makes kibble "puffy", increases palatability
3) Fibre - fermentability, improves GI health |
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Term
| True or False: Most mammals (except cats) can elongate and desaturate fatty acids toward the methyl end. |
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Definition
| False. Most mammals (except cats) can elongate and desaturate fatty acids towards the carboxyl end, NOT the methyl end. |
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Term
| What are some specific nutrient concerns when comparing the composition of homemade diets with commercial diets? |
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Definition
- Low vitamin D levels suggest no fish ingredients, therefore probably not getting any DHA/EPA either
- Low vitamin E levels, suggesting poor antioxidant levels
- Feeding liver - potential for excess vitamin A
- Feeding raw eggs - binds biotin and makes it unavailable for absorption
- Feeding bones - potential for calcium deficiency due to the misbalance of minerals in bones
- Feeding raw fish - thiamine deficiency |
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Term
| Provide reasoning for why high quality diets may have a higher metabolizable energy (ME) content than what is calculated and listed on the label. |
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Definition
| High quality diets may use more high quality fermentable fibres. These fibres will produce short chain fatty acids/volatile fatty acids which can proviude up to 10% of the animal's energy requirements. Fibre is not included in ME calculations, therefore the energy harvested from these high quality fermentable fibres will cause the true ME content to exceed the calculated ME content. |
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Term
| What 2 enzymes are either low or missing in cats in the elongation/desaturation pathways of n-3s and n-6s? |
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Definition
| D-6-desaturase and D-5-desaturase |
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Term
| True or False: Vegetable proteins are more consistent in nutrient content than animal sources. |
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Definition
| True. The nutrient content of animal sources is more subject to the composition of foods that they consume themselves - "you are what you eat". |
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Term
| What are 3 pieces of information that would be ideal to know for a given ingredient in order to determine its exact amount of metabolizable protein? |
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Definition
1) The amount of protein present
2) The amino acid profile of that protein
3) The relative amounts of anti-nutritional factors and their effects on digestibility and metabolic availability |
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Term
| When reading the ingredients list on a feed what is the significance of the placement of salt in regards to nutrients? |
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Definition
| Our feed formulations include both macro and micronutrients but generally contain more of the macronutrients, salt is usually the divide between the macro and micronutrients with those listed after salt generally making up <1% of the feed. |
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Term
| Will increased fibre intake in diet increase water intake in cats? |
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Definition
| No, because cats are nearly incapable of determining water balance. If you increase the fibre in a dogs diet, they will seek additional water |
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Term
| What are the four classes of lipids, explain each class and provide an example for each. |
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Definition
1. Simple lipids: esters of fatty acids and various alcohols. ex. waxes, oils,
2. Compound lipids: esters of fatty acids containing nonlipid substances. ex. phospholipids, lipoproteins, glycolipids
3. Derived lipids: Substances derived from hydrolysis of simple and compound lipids. ex. fatty acids, glycerol, and other alcohols.
4. Sterols: lipids with complex ring structures. ex. Cholesterol, (7-DHC) 7- dehydrocholesterol, bile acids. |
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Term
| Why is there a need to use multiple protein sources in a pet food, compared to just using one single protein source? In what life stages is this more so important? |
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Definition
| There is a need to use multiple protein sources in order to achieve a balanced amino acid content within the food. We can look to the limiting amino acid theory, which shows that it is not always a completely balanced amino acid content in the protein from only one protein source. We can add in other protein sources that are high in one amino acids, that another may be limiting in, to complete the protein. It is very important, especially in growing (developmental) life stages, during lactation and gestation. All of these life stages are highly demanding in order to lay down lean muscle tissue, as well as protein deposition into milk for the new pups/kittens and maternal protein deposition in order to support the growing pups/kittens. |
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Term
| What are some challenges (list 4) to determining energy requirements of your pet? Explain and provide examples for each |
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Definition
1. Age- depending on what stage of development the animal is in, largely dictates their nutrient requirements. For example, a puppy who is growing is going to have a higher energy requirement than a senior dog.
2. Breed- whether the animal is large or small can influence whether the animal has a smaller or larger energy requirement. For example, a chihuahua's energy requirement is going to be a lot smaller than a Great Dane's energy requirement.
3. Environmental Conditions- If it is very cold or very warm, the animal needs to expend energy to either shiver or pant (sweat) in order to maintain thermoregulation. For example- a husky in the arctic is going to have a higher energy requirement than a beagle in a heated/ air conditioned home.
4. Activity level- Expending energy during exercise increases the energy demand in the diet. For example, a dog that is walked 2-3 times a day is going to have a higher energy requirement than a dog that lays inside all day long. |
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Term
| Feeding raw diets to pets may pose a higher risk to some subsets of people that are required to handle the diet or are exposed to it. Name 2 of these at-risk subsets of the population. |
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Definition
- children
- elderly
- immune deficient people
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