Performance Dog Nutrition: Optimize Performance with Nutrition
Active dogs competing in sports (or those engaging in the physical and mental demands of service work.) burn more calories and have different energy needs than companion dogs. Performance-dog owners who want to keep their canine athletes at peak health and fitness need to understand their dogs special nutritional needs. Written by veterinarian, Performance Dog Nutrition covers the dog s digestive system, various commercial diets (there s little information on home-prepared diets) dog food labels and nutrient evaluation. Through it includes valuable information for all dog owners like a very clear explanation of a dog s digestive process, reading a dog-food label, and determining ingredients digestibility this book is really intended for the owner of performance dogs. Each chapter highlights how its contents apply to performance dogs, with whole chapters devoted to how food is converted to energy, the importance of fats, and carbohydrate needs specific to performance dogs. There is also information on the importance of water ( the most essential nutrient to the performance dog ), on conditioning, and a chapter recognizing physical problems (and solutions) in performance dogs. The final two chapters help readers apply what they ve learned in the book. Practical Label Examples describes three performance dogs and how to determine if a diet is right for them, and Performance Dog Case Examples offers a quartet of anecdotal problems, and how they were treated. In addition, case studies from the author s veterinary practice are sprinkled throughout the book, as are beautiful black-and-white photographs of performance dogs of many breeds. Dr. Jacobs writes clearly and smoothly about a complicated topic that, in a different author s hands, might be snooze-inducing. If you have a performance dog and a keen interest in keeping your dog in tip-top shape, this is an essential addition to your library. --Janine AdamsThis book reflects Dr. Jacobs dedication to dogs and their health. Kudos to her for this thorough discussion of canine nutrition and for writing the first book that addresses nutrition for the canine athlete. --Chris Zink, DVM, PhD author of Peak Performance: Coaching the Canine Athlete