[CARE TIPS] Importance of a good diet for Athletic Dogs in Dubai

If you are an athlete you will know the term 'carb loading'. It refers to a practice, that is used by endurance athletes, where they increase the percentage of carbohydrates in the diet a few days before an event and the Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in muscle tissue, and provide the required energy to the muscles, and takes away the fatigue and tiredness. Well, if you are a owner of athletic dogs in Dubai you might be attracted to give your canines a plenty of carbs to improve their performance.

Humans and canines have a very different muscle physiology as per a research paper published in 1998, which says:

Canine metabolism is exceptional. Mammalian muscle fibers have been classified into types I, IIa and IIb based on their metabolism. Type I fibers contain less ATPase activity compared with type II fibers. Types I and IIa are characterized by oxidative metabolism, whereas type IIb fibers are characterized by anaerobic glycolytic metabolism. Canine muscle contains mainly oxidative fibers…. Relative to metabolic body size, dogs also metabolize free fatty acids at twice the rate observed in humans. Dog muscle is, therefore, more adapted to use more fat than human muscle and conclusions derived from human experiments may not be valid in dogs. Therefore, in canines, carbohydrates stored as glycogen do play a pivotal role in their short bursts of exertion, exercise that lasts for more than just a few minutes depend on fatty acids for energy. Therefore, owners need to pay particular attention to how much fat their canine athletes consume, especially Golden Retrievers in Dubai, who are often very athletic dogs despite the warm weather in Dubai.

Commercially available dog food, such as the type you will get at your Pet Store Dubai is designed for adult maintenance and have a high dietary fat level. Food that is designed for weight loss tend to have about 10 percent fat or even lower as opposed to diets designed for extremely active dogs, which contain about 25 percent fat.

Owners who are increasing the fat content of their dog’s diet, should do it gradually, at least a month before their best performance is expected. This is because the food needs time for the necessary changes to happen, and as such sudden changes in the pet's diet, especially those that involve high levels of fat, put your pet dogs at risk of developing gastrointestinal distress and pancreatitis, which is a fatal and life threatening condition. Therefore, before putting your dog on a commercially bought high fat diet in the pet shop in Dubai you need to take a look at the canines activity level. Most dogs are not born athletes. They do have an occasional high level of activity and the next minute you see them having a long cozy nap. Of course, dogs love to play a game of catch, jog or run around the block a couple of times, but by no means are they athletes. In fact, it would be better to have your dog on a normal diet than have them eat a high fat diet and have them drag it around, needing lots of exercise to ward off that extra fat.

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