Too Much Protein In Diet

[Bokezu]

I think I am giving my dogs too much protein, is that harmful? Is there any long term affect from too much protein?

Would welcome your comments

[Cavandra]

The only way you can feed too much protein to a carnivore is to feed processed dry foods..........Some of them have abnormally high amounts, so high you couldnt feed a dog that much in a natural form!!!! These processed abnormal diets can cause aggression/fear type behaviour in dogs, amongst other health issues.

Another reason I choose to feed a raw diet to all mine

[Sheridan]

The only way you can feed too much protein to a carnivore is to feed processed dry foods..........Some of them have abnormally high amounts, so high you couldnt feed a dog that much in a natural form!!!! These processed abnormal diets can cause aggression/fear type behaviour in dogs, amongst other health issues.

Another reason I choose to feed a raw diet to all mine

Some dogs do very well on processed foods without any aggression or fear type behaviour. If you're going to state your opinion as fact, best back it up with an actual source.

[Flaves]

There can be Bokeku

It can happen and does happen more often if you mix meat and dry together as teh ratios are off.

Pups can grow too quickly and have joint issues.

[Stitch]

As Flaves said, too high nutritional intake can cause rapid growth and weight gain. Some processed foods have a large breed puppy food to try to address that problem. It can also cause growth deformities and contribute to some problems like Legge Perthes disease.

Edited April 16, 2009 by STITCH

[Sagittarian]

Does protein really cause a pup to grow too fast - or is it too many calories?

Animal based protein on its own is not the bad guy that it is sometimes made out to be. I'd be more concerned about protein from grain sources in an already adequate diet. Grain = carbs = calories. Not knocking the inclusion of some grains if they are there for the proper reason rather than propping up protein levels.

Love to see some links to properly researched information as well.

Sags

Edited April 15, 2009 by Sagittarian

[Sandra777]

I've never been too convinced about the connection between protein and aggression/fear - the presence of preservatives, the presence of sugars, the presence of 'additives' or inferior protein chains from inferior sources, yep I'd buy into that, but it makes absolutely no sense to me that a carnivorous social predator would become aggressive through eating meat-derived protein.

"Excessive protein" and irregular growth patterns I believe is a problem but is the protein the problem or the lack (or excess) of other things in a diet derived from sub-standard sources?

[alanglen]

The kidneys wear out well before they should.

[Sagittarian]

alanglen - what is that information based upon? As has been said previously, it is hard to understand why a carnivore - designed to have a protein based diet - would overdose on it.

OP - what kind of levels of protein did you have in mind with your question? This is a really interesting subject and I hope a lot of good quality info will come out of it.

Sags

[morgan]

"Excessive protein" and irregular growth patterns I believe is a problem but is the protein the problem or the lack (or excess) of other things in a diet derived from sub-standard sources?

Don't know that that is the case. Had one litter with knuckling over issues, fed on meat + RC adult food (the junior varieties have higher protein levels) which normalised in 10 days after being switched over to what I consider hugely inferior dry food based mainly on grain. I would have thought that the RC food was derived from much better sources. The pups stayed fine on any food with low protein levels regardless of sources. Subsequent litter was raised on a dry food with 22% protein levels and raw meat with absolutely no knuckling over, to the amazement of another breeder who had always found this to be a problem in the breed. The raw meat was the same as the one fed to the first litter.

When the RC Babydog came out it was supposed to have lower protein levels to address these issues and I had an 8 week old pup with deformed front legs as a result. Put him onto dolomite and low protein dry and he was perfect within days. Would never have fed Bonnie Puppy ordinarily, but the low protein kept his legs normal and none of the others developed the problem. The higher protein levels must have affected the calcium balance for the dolomite to have helped so quickly. (It was started a couple of days before the change in diet)

I have found no difference in fear/aggression issues between dogs fed on 32% protein and 18% protein dry food..

[Stitch]

I had a problem years ago with overnutrition in a pup.

The specialist vet said to me that it was fairly common to see overnutrition and subsequent bone/growth problems because of the type of dry food which was available to be fed to pups.

He said they rarely saw these kind of problems before the proliferation of 'premium' dogfoods was available and that if you wanted to feed dry food to go for the one that had the lowest protein level.

Since then I rarely feed dry food except in certain well controlled circumstances, I prefer to feed raw all natural but even that has its problems but in a different area. I do realise however that the source/quality of the protein is important as well as what it is mixed with.

[k9katz]

I think I am giving my dogs too much protein, is that harmful? Is there any long term affect from too much protein?

Would welcome your comments

I would be interested to know why you think you are giving too much protein?

It is not so much the amount of protein that is a concern but the QUALITY of the protein. The higher the quality of the protein, the more digestable it is and therefore the dog's system does not have to work as hard. The liver processes the protein and the waste is filtered through the kidneys. It stands to reason that if you feed a diet high in poorer quality protein then the dogs system could be put at risk from the extra stress needed to process the waste. A diet that is high in quality, highly digestable protein will put less stress on the dog. Bottom line, a food that has a protein content of 30% and has an 85% digestabilty, will be far better for your dog than a food that has a protein content of 30% and has a 50% digestabilty.

[Stitch]

Have a look at this website, it may be help to explain somethings but not everything.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=protein_myth

[sas]

The only way you can feed too much protein to a carnivore is to feed processed dry foods..........Some of them have abnormally high amounts, so high you couldnt feed a dog that much in a natural form!!!! These processed abnormal diets can cause aggression/fear type behaviour in dogs, amongst other health issues.

Another reason I choose to feed a raw diet to all mine

Some dogs do very well on processed foods without any aggression or fear type behaviour. If you're going to state your opinion as fact, best back it up with an actual source.

The poster didn't actually say processed foods cause aggression, they said 'some' have abnormally high amounts & 'can' cause aggression.

High protein diets 'can' be attributed to aggressive behaviours (I guess there are also many a variable to look at here too), you can find scientific data on protein amounts v behaviours if your wanted to, whether or not you wanted to go with that path is another matter

[sas]

I had a problem years ago with overnutrition in a pup.

The specialist vet said to me that it was fairly common to see overnutrition and subsequent bone/growth problems because of the type of dry food which was available to be fed to pups.

He said they rarely saw these kind of problems before the proliferation of 'premium' dogfoods was available and that if you wanted to feed dry food to go for the one that had the lowest protein level.

Since then I rarely feed dry food except in certain well controlled circumstances, I prefer to feed raw all natural but even that has its problems but in a different area. I do realise however that the source/quality of the protein is important as well as what it is mixed with.

For example in giant breed pups, we grow them nice and slow on low-mid protein %, grow too fast and you may end up with growth issues.

In small-medium sized dogs I'm not sure they have the same issues with protein levels as pups?

[k9katz]

I had a problem years ago with overnutrition in a pup.

The specialist vet said to me that it was fairly common to see overnutrition and subsequent bone/growth problems because of the type of dry food which was available to be fed to pups.

He said they rarely saw these kind of problems before the proliferation of 'premium' dogfoods was available and that if you wanted to feed dry food to go for the one that had the lowest protein level.

Since then I rarely feed dry food except in certain well controlled circumstances, I prefer to feed raw all natural but even that has its problems but in a different area. I do realise however that the source/quality of the protein is important as well as what it is mixed with.

For example in giant breed pups, we grow them nice and slow on low-mid protein %, grow too fast and you may end up with growth issues.

In small-medium sized dogs I'm not sure they have the same issues with protein levels as pups?

The original poster did not say if her dog was a Large Breed Puppy, merely that she thought she was feeding too much protein, however it seems to have sparked a debate about too much protein in the growth stage of Large Breed Puppies. For those who are interested in some factual information, read this link and follow up on the actual studies that have been performed. http://www.sonic.net/~cdlcruz/GPCC/library...d%20puppies.pdf