Feeding Your Canine Athlete

by Gretchen Reynolds

Many people who run or walk with their dogs treat them like human running partners, offering them sips of Gatorade or half of a sports bar during a workout. But the latest science about performance nutrition for canines underscores that dogs are not people. They have more fur and cellular mitochondria, the small structures in cells that generate energy; lower body weights; and fewer fecal-related inhibitions than their human companions, each of which affects their nutritional needs.

To learn more about sports nutrition for dogs, I spoke recently with Dr. Joseph Wakshlag, a professor of clinical nutrition and sports medicine at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, N.Y., and the author of a comprehensive new review about nutrition for active dogs, published this month in Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice. Among its many tidbits of knowledge, the article notes that dogs are endowed with more endurance-related muscle fibers than cats, making them better running companions; competing in a Frisbee or agility competition is, for a dog, glorious fun but relatively little exercise, requiring only about 25 percent more calories than lying on a rug; and consuming sports drinks tends to cause dogs to empty their intestines soon afterward, often with little warning.

This is all useful information, as were Dr. Wakshlag’s replies to my questions. What follows are excerpts from our conversation.

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=55895

Posted by chesliepickett on Aug 25 2014. Filed under Health & Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.