The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-26
Feeding

To feed correctly and on lucid plan first, you must study the breed of the
 dog; secondly to what extent he is exer-
 cising the functions of his variety and
 the work he is receiving; thirdly his state
 of health, and consequent special require ments; and fourthly, his individual pecu- liarities. since hardly any two dogs of ,, particular breed will feed exactly alike. The dog, domesticated has, or should have at his disposal, three main groups of food--flesh. with which, for conven- ience we may include fish, vegetable and
 roots; farinaceous foods, such as wheat oats rice, etc, and their various prepa- ra tions.
 The general value of the first named
 consists in it's nutritive and muscle-form- ing properties with a minimum disposi- ton to produce adipose tissue or fat Vegetables tend to lay on flesh, primer pally fat, but are also corrective in their action with the digestive organs and purify the blood. Of farinaceous foods
 the principal virtue, beyond their nutri- tive and flesh-forming qualities, is that they are heat-giving, satisfying and serve to adulterate undesirable richness in other
 kinds of food. while not unduly stimula tive.
 As regards meats and the proportions to be given, the amount varies according to the breed. age, health. amount of ex- ercise. strain on the constitution such as that of a stud dog or a brood bitch. time of year and countless other things On the basis that dog is naturally a very active animal, and that to meet such conditions of life an all-wise Providence {, has ordained that flesh Is certainly the 1 best if not the only food, it must be ob l vious that Pointer or a Hound in full 1 work, having regard to the nature Of | 1t, must relatively require more flesh than
 a Terrier, and that Toy, who gets next l to no exercise, can do with a very little.
 Moreover, the latter, being very excitable. meat stimulates him easily.
 l It will be equally obvious that when l the Hound is not working, the same | amount of flesh must put his system out 1 of order. A puppy who is maturing nat | urally wants more animal food compa-
 ratively than the adult who is simply 1 marking time, so to speak. A brood 1 bitch or a stud dog, having a special ] drain upon them. need food to repair l wastage. dog should have more gen.
 erous food in winter than summer: if he l is recovering from illness or generally run down, there is nothing that will set him ! on his feet so rapidly as a diet largely of flesh, which his digestive organs were
 constructed to assimilate more easily than
 an other food.
 | In a nutshell, then. the amount of flesh
 is to be strictly regulated according to ! the muscular energy or vital force either expended or lacking
 1 It may perhaps be of use if we give short description of the natures of the
 various foods that are usually given to l dogs. There may be said to be four groups into which various foods may
 roughly be divided 'nitrogenous foods.'' l or albuminnoids,' carbohydrates"
 fats" mineral substances. From the
 name of the first it is evident that nitro- 1 gen IS the chief element that enters into l the composition of the foods in this group Albuminoids are found in all the | important and most general articles of | food, such for instance eggs, milk and
 lean meat, and their work is to build up
 the system. All cereals contain a large percentage of nitrogen, but oats are by
 Tar the richest, and that is why oatmeal
 is so excellent a food for puppies after
 leaving the mother, in that it contains so
 much bone and muscle forming food. It IS certainly to be preferred to rice which only contains about one-third as much ni- trogen as do oats Raw, lean meat, of course, contains high percentage of ni- trogen, ana should always form part of a dogs diet; besides, it is his natural. food in the wild state, and we cannot go
 far wrong if we initiate nature closely.
 l The second large group-the carbohy- idrates-cover principally sugar and starchy substances. They are closely al-
 lied to fats, and are also necessary for growing dogs. A high percentage of car
 bohydrates is present in vegetables. such as turnlps and potatoes which contain both starch and sugar-also in milk There 1 IS also certain amount of fat in milk. and that is why milk is so good for pup- pies. All dogs need fat to keep them in | health but a surfeit is bad, as also ia
 surfeit of starch. Foods containing a
 large amount of starch, and also of fat VIII not raise puppies to perfection in limb
 development by themselves, unless coun-
 terbalanced by nitrogenous clements.
 Lastly, food contains mineral matter
 phosphorous, iron. lime. potash, etc.
 whlch enter into the composition of bone | substance This is only a very brief outline but no doubt it will be useful 10 those who desire to have a general
 idea as to what the foods they give their
 dogs are composed of. Success often de- pends upon an organized system of feed-
 ing so that the dogs may have good va riety of food, deficient in none of the necessary elements.
 On the question of raw flesh, against which some are foolishly prejudiced. I am by no means certain that it should moi
 always be given in that state. The draw
 pack, however is that if a dog's meal consisted or raw meat, vegetab bles and
 bread, he would probably gulp the for
 mer and decline the residue consequent " the whole has to be cooked together. 1 emphatically believe that dogs do bet
 ter Who have feed of raw flesh once or twice week. which remark applies
 to pregnant and sucking bitches. and
 even the youngest puppies. Certainly for a dog who has turned the corner in dis l temper you can give him nothing more to ms liking. nor anything which will do
 nm so much good as a little scraped
 raw lean beef.
 some fortunate animals are regaled with
 legs of mutton and ribs of beef. and of ] course nothing can compare with such alet; but the great army of dog own
 CTS can hardly run to it. nor is it neces l sary though commendable for incorrigibIv pad feeders. Tripe and cowheel are invaI | uaDie, the former, apart from it's nu l tr1tlous properties, being more digestible
 than perhaps any other form of food. the latter is one of the best possble
 TOT stamnia. and largely used for train-
 Ing purposes Both are strongly recom- mended for invalids. Paunches are ay. cellent things, most nutritious and dipes-
 tipie, either raw or cooked, and need not l De too carefully cleaned; dogs relish clean filth occasionally and also aco,,ire
 more pepsine when in the raw state IF | cooked, the liquor should not be wasted
 put used to soak other food-biscuits and 1 such like. ""N Of vegetables, onions, carrots. turn,n. and beet root are the most nutritious 9 nd
 fat-forming. Cabbages and similar kinds are good for the blood. but contain fa,, positive properties. Oatmeal is fattan;nr