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Allergies and the German Shepherd
Allergies have to be one of my biggest “pet peeves”. Be them in humans or dogs, they are an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disorder is a condition where the body has developed a sensitivity to itself and its ability to resist sensitivity to outside stimuli. Put into layman’s terms, an allergy is a GENETIC problem. There is nothing worse than living with a dog with allergies, really. Money can fix hip dysplasia, can treat EPI without having daily recurrences and can cover the cost of surgeries associated with bloat. Money however cannot treat allergies. Please know that I am speaking about dietary allergies... not seasonal allergies that not only affect dogs but also humans.
Typically a “dietary allergy” is more of an autoimmune response rather than an allergy. By definition, an allergy is a reaction by the immune system to a foreign body wherein the body overreacts in a manner which shows “symptoms of an allergen” - like sneezing, swelling of tongue, swelling of throat and the inability to breathe. An autoimmune response however is different - the immune system actually “thinks” a part of the body is actually a foreign body and attacks it. Often an autoimmune dietary reaction is blamed on an allergy because it is “caused” by the introduction of a foreign body, however unlike true allergies, the reaction DOES NOT go away NOR does the body “learn” how to deal with the allergen and eventually “outgrow” the allergy.
Dietary “allergies” have been a MAJOR player in the German Shepherd Dog breed for a VERY long time. They have been the MAJOR factor for MANY breeders who have changed over to a RAW diet and they have been a HUGE money maker for the dog food industry. Let me make my perspective very clear. It is MY job as a breeder to create the BEST dog I can possibly create. In MY opinion, a dog with dietary restrictions due to allergies IS NOT the BEST I can create and frankly I do not expect my puppy parents to increase the profits of a dog food company by spending extra money each year through the purchase of “specially formulated”, “no-grain” or “holistic” diets. Don’t get me wrong, if you WANT to feed a holistic diet, more power to you, however your should never HAVE to feed a specialized diet because the dog cannot digest and function within the same normal range of any other dog out there.
My opinion, based upon my personal knowledge, I COMPLETELY disagree with a diet that is void of grain for a dog. If you watch a wild dog scavenge, you will see that the FIRST thing they do when they come across another dead animal is that they rip open the stomach and eat the stomach AND its contents, including ALL of the grains (grasses, etc). After they eat the stomach, they eat the other internal organs, followed by the muscles and then the bones. At NO time do the wild dogs come across a dead animal and consider if the hind is more nutritious and palatable than the foreleg and then find somewhere to clean the animal before they eat it. Sure, you may argue that those dogs also live shorter lives than the dogs in domestication, and I would absolutely agree, however I would disagree that their life span has anything to do with their nutrition.
Studies have been published for years regarding dog foods and their nutritional contents. If you look at ANY of the “holistic” foods you will see several notices of “Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Nutrient Profile”. There have been all kinds of new “holistic” diets cropping up all over the place, and the reality of these new foods is that MANY are processed and distributed by the SAME companies that process and distribute foods for many of the dog foods that there have been so many recalls for... sounds like a BIG scam to me!
So, what is this AAFCO Dog Nutrient Profile and why is that important? AAFCO is the acronym for the American Feed Control Officials - these are the “officials” in charge of the regulation of dog food within the United States. AAFCO is comprised of Veterinarians, members of the Department of Agriculture, members of the US Food and Drug Administration, Chemists, department heads of several of the nations top veterinary colleges & members of the Center of Veterinary medicine. These “people” have combined decades of knowledge of what actually is needed by the animal to not only survive, but also thrive within the commercial food industry.
AAFCO has a standard (not too different from our “food pyramid”) for the animal’s nutrition - actually it is far greater than our food pyramid - it is very specific in the amounts of nutrients, minerals, etc. that are needed for our animals.
Any dog food label that is labeled “complete and balanced” MUST meet the standards established by AAFCO by either meeting a nutrient profile OR by passing a feeding trial, some companies do both while other companies do one - the reality is that it is MUCH easier to meet the nutrient profile than it is to pass the feeding trial.
Unfortunately in this “day of the internet” too many people “believe” anything they read without actually researching it. AAFCO has SPECIFIC definitions for the actual ingredients list on any AAFCO approved meal. There are several articles circulating regarding ingredients that have absolutely NO merit - especially when you actually know the definitions of the ingredients. Following AAFCO Definitions of Dog Food Ingredients:
Alfalfa Meal - the aerial portion of the alfalfa plant, reasonably free from other crop plants, weeds and mold, which has been sun cured and finely ground.
Animal Digest - material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed.
Animal Fat - is obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words “used as a preservative”.
Barley - consists of at least 80% sound barley and must not contain more than 3% heat-damaged kernels, 6% foreign material, 20% other grains or 10% wild oats.
Barley Flour - soft, finely ground and bolted barley meal obtained from the milling of barley. It consists essentially of the starch and gluten of the endosperm.
Beef (meat) - is the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle, and is limited to that past of the striate muscle which is skeletal or that which is found in the tongue, in the diaphragm, in the heart, or in the esophagus, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh.
Beet Pulp (“beet pupl, dried molasses” and “beet pulp, dried, plain”) - the dried residue from sugar beets.
Brewer’s Rice - the dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3%.
Brown Rice - unpolished rice after the kernels have been removed. Not a complete AAFCO definition.
Chicken - the clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or the whole carcasses of chicken or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, head, feet and entrails.
Chicken By-Product Meal - consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.
Chicken Liver Meal - chicken livers which have been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size.
Chicken Meal - chicken which has been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size.
Corn - unspecified corn product. Not a complete AAFCO definition.
Corn Bran - the outer coating of the corn kernel, with little or none of the starchy part of the germ.
Corn Germ Meal (Dry Milled) - ground corn germ which consists of corn germ with other parts of the corn kernel from which part of the oil has been removed and is the product obtained in the dry milling process of manufacture of corn meal, corn grits, hominy feed and other corn products.
Corn Gluten - that part of the commercial shelled corn that remains after the extraction of the larger portion of the starch, gluten, and term by the processes employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup.
Corn Gluten Meal - the dried residue from the corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.
Corn Syrup - concentrated juice derived from the corn.
Cracked Pearl Barley - cracked pearl barley resulting from the manufacture of pearl barley from clean barley.
Dehydrated eggs - dried whole poultry eggs freed of moisture by thermal means.
Digest of Beef - material from beef which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed tissue. The tissues shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.
Digest of Beef By-Products - material from beef which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed tissue from non-rendered clean parts, other than meat, from cattle which includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth or hoofs.
Digest of Poultry By-Products - material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed tissue from non-rendered clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.
Dried Animal Digest- dried material resulting from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed animal tissue. The animal tissue used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must correspond thereto.
Dried Kelp - dried seaweed of the families Laminaricae and Fu-caeae. If the product is prepared by artificial drying, it may be called “dehydrated kelp”.
Dried Milk Protein - obtained by drying the coagulated protein residue resulting from the controlled co-precipitation of casein, lactalbumin and minor mild proteins from defatted milk.
Dried Whey - the product obtained by removing water from the whey. It contains not less than 11% protein nor less than 61% lactose.
Feeding Oatmeal - obtained in the manufacture of rolled oat groats or rolled oats and consists of broken oat groats, oat groat chips, and floury portions of the oat groats with only such quantity of finely ground oat hulls as is unavoidable in the usual process of commercial milling. It must not contain more than 4% crude fiber.
Fish Meal - the clean, dried, ground tissue of un-decomposed whole fish or cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil
Ground Corn - the entire ear of the corn ground, without husks, with no greater portion of the cob than in its natural state.
Ground Whole Brown Rice - the entire product obtained by grinding the rice kernels after the hulls have been removed.
Kibbled Corn - obtained by cooking cracked corn under steam pressure and extruding from an expeller or other mechanical pressure device.
Lamb Bone Meal - (steamed) dried and ground product sterilized by cooking un-decomposed bones with steam under pressure. Grease, gelatin and meat fiber may or may not be removed.
Lamb Digest - material resulting from the chemical and or enzymatic hyrdolysis of clean and un-decomposed lamb. The tissue used shall by exclusive of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed.
Lamb Fat - obtained from the tissues of the lamb in the commercial processes of the rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of the glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words “used as a preservative”.
Lamb Meal - the rendered product from lamb tissues, exclusive of blood, hair, horn, hoof, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Linseed Meal - the product obtained by grinding the cake or chips which remain after removal of most of the oil from flaxseed by a mechanical extraction process. It must contain no more than 10% fiber. The words “mechanical extracted” are not required when listing as an ingredient in the manufactured food.
Liver - the heptic gland (of whatever species is listed)
Meat and Bone Meal - the rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Meat By-Products - the non rendered, clean parts, other than meet, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.
Meat Meal - the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of blood, hair, horns, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Poultry By-Product Meal - consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Poultry Digest - material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed poultry tissue.
Poultry Fat (feed grade) - primarily obtained from the tissue of poultry in the commercial process of rendering or extracting. It shall contain only the fatty matter natural to the product produced under good manufacturing practices and shall contain no added free fatty acids or other materials obtained from fat. It must contain less than 90% total fatty acids and not more than 3% of un-saponifiables and impurities. It shall have a minimum titer of 33 degrees Celsius. If another antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the word “preservative(s)”.
Powdered Cellulose - purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared by processing alpha cellulose obtained as a pups from fibrous plant materials.
Rice Bran - the pericarp or bran layer and germ of the rice, with only such quantity of hull fragments, chipped, broken or brewer’s rice and calcium carbonate as is unavoidable in the regular milling of edible rice.
Soybean Hulls - consists primarily of the outer covering of the soybean.
Soybean Meal (De-hulled, solvent Extracted) - obtained by grinding the flakes remaining after removal of most of the oil from de-hulled soybeans by a solvent extraction process.
Soybean Meal (Mechanically Extracted) - obtained by grinding the cake or chips which remain after removal of most of the oil from the soybeans by a mechanical extraction process.
Soybean Mill Run - composed of soybean hulls and such bean meats that adhere to the hulls and such bean meats that adhere to the hulls which results from normal milling operations in the production of de-hulled soybean meal.
Tallow - animal fats with titer above 40 degrees Celsius.
Turkey Meal - the clean ground combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of turkey or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails.
Wheat Bran - the course outer covering of the wheat kernel as separated from cleaned and scoured wheat in the usual process of commercial milling.
Wheat Flour - wheat flour together with fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ and the offal from the “tail of the mill”. This product must be obtained in the usual process of commercial milling and must not contain more than 1.5% crude fiber.
Wheat Germ Meal - consists chiefly of wheat germ together with some bran and middlings or short. It must contain not less than 25% crude protein and 7% crude fat.
Wheat Mill Run - coarse wheat bran, fine particles of wheat bran, wheat shorts, wheat germ, wheat flour and the offal from the “tail of the mill”. This product must be obtained in the usual process of commercial milling and must contain not more than 9.5% crude fiber.
Whey - the product obtained as a fluid by separating the coagulum from milk, cream or skimmed milk and from which a portion of the milk fat may have been removed.
The AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profile (as of 2008) follows:
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Nurient
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Units of DM Basis
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Growth & reproduction Minimum
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Adult Maintenance Minimum
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Maximum
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Protein
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%
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22.0
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18.0
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-----
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Arginine
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%
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0.62
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0.51
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-----
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Histidine
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%
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0.22
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0.18
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-----
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Isoleucine
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%
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0.45
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0.37
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-----
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Leucine
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%
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0.72
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0.59
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-----
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Lystine
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%
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0.77
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0.63
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-----
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Methionine-cyctine
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%
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0.53
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0.43
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-----
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Phenlalanine-tyrosine
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%
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0.89
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0.73
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-----
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Theonine
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%
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0.58
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0.48
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-----
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Tryptophan
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%
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0.20
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0.16
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-----
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Valine
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%
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0.48
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0.39
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-----
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Fat
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%
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8.0
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5.0
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-----
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Linoleic acid
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%
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1.0
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1.0
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-----
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Calcium
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%
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1.0
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0.6
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2.5
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Phosphorous
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%
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0.8
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0.5
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1.6
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Ca:P ratio
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%
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1:1
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1:1
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2:1
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|
Potassium
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%
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0.6
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0.6
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-----
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Sodium
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%
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0.3
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0.06
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-----
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Chloride (CI)
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%
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0.45
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0.09
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-----
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Magnesium
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%
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0.04
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0.04
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-----
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Iron
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mh/kg
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80.0
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80.0
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3,000.0
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|
Copper
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mg.kg
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7.3
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7.3
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250.0
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Manganese
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mg/kg
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5.0
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5.0
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-----
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|
Zinc
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mg/kg
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120.0
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120.0
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1,000.0
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|
Iodine
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mg/kg
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1.5
|
1.5
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50.0
|
|
Selenium
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mg/kg
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0.11
|
0.11
|
2.0
|
|
Vitamin A
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IU/kg
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5,000.0
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5,000.0
|
250,000.0
|
|
Vitamin D
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IU/kg
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500.0
|
500.0
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5,000.0
|
|
Vitamin E
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IU/kg
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50.0
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50.0
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1,000.0
|
|
Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
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mg/kg
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1.0
|
1.0
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-----
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|
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
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mg/kg
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2.2
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2.2
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-----
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Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
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mg/kg
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10.0
|
10.0
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-----
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|
Vitamin B3 (niacin)
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mg/kg
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11.4
|
11.4
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-----
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|
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
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mg/kg
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1.0
|
1.0
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-----
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Folic Acid
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mg/kg
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0.18
|
0.18
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-----
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Vitamin B12 (cyanocabalamin)
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mg/kg
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0.022
|
0.022
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-----
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Choline
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mg/kg
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1200.0
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1200.0
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-----
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