Chronic enteropathy (CE), the name for gastrointestinal disorders lasting three weeks or longer, is a common problem in older dogs. Investigating potential causes and factors, a team has found that diet at a younger age may play a role in these problems in later life.
“Diet has a key role in the homeostasis of the gut microenvironment, influencing the microbiome, the gut barrier, host immunity and gut physiology,” the team wrote. “Yet, there is little information on the role of early diet in the onset of inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders later in life, especially in dogs.”
The team used data including a total of 16,607 answers from the DogRisk food frequency questionnaire created by the University of Helsinki in 2009. The questionnaire includes a number of questions about owners’ dogs, including their breed, environment, health status, and lifestyle. As well as this, owners were asked questions about the dog’s diet and diet habits, and whether they have had “suffered from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic gastrointestinal symptoms and/or food ‘allergies’ resulting in chronic gastrointestinal symptoms” as well as questions about the frequency of symptoms, and what age those symptoms began to occur on.
“We found that feeding a non-processed meat-based diet and giving the dog human meal leftovers and table scraps during puppyhood (2–6 months) and adolescence (6–18 months) were protective against CE later in life,” the team concluded. “Especially raw bones and cartilage as well as leftovers and table scraps during puppyhood and adolescence, and berries during puppyhood were associated with less CE.”
“In contrast, feeding an ultra-processed carbohydrate-based diet, namely dry dog food or ‘kibble’ during puppyhood and adolescence, and rawhides during puppyhood were significant risk factors for CE later in life.”
The team believes that processing of the food may be a factor.
“The absence of a significant protective effect on CE later in life when feeding a home-cooked diet that is composed partly of similar, but cooked, food items as the non-processed meat-based diet, suggests that the lack of processing of the ingredients may be of importance.”
“Proactive owners can influence their dogs’ gut health by providing a variety of fresh, ‘real’ foods for the puppies and young dogs, even as an addition to a kibble-based diet,” said first author of the study Dr Kristiina Vuori in a statement. “However, the study only suggests an association. Finding out detailed mechanisms and confirming the causal relationship would require diet intervention studies. We have these under way.”
Another recent study suggested that with careful planning and balancing to ensure the right nutrients are present, even a vegan diet can be given to dogs. In that study, dogs were fed a diet of whole foods, including lentils, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and fruit. Testing the dogs’ fecal matter, they found dogs had lower circulating cholesterol, indicating that overweight dogs could even gain health benefits from the diet.
The study was published in Scientific Reports.
Source Link: Giving Your Puppies Table Scraps Might Be Good For Their Tummies
