Veterinary: The hunting dog, also defined as "athlete dog" or "working dog", carries out an activity that requires a considerable expenditure of energy, an expenditure that must be reintegrated with a healthy diet.
For years, studies have been underway that deal precisely with the ideal diet of the hunting dog, a diet no less important than that of humans, since any food error can seriously compromise the health of our most trusted friend. The hunting dog's diet is significantly different from that of the domestic dog. If the latter, in fact, must avoid diets rich in fat, the "hunter" dog must, on the other hand, be fed a diet rich in fat.
What we all know as "fats" are actually acids fats or lipids, molecules composed of carbon bonds that the dog's organism, but also that of man, exploit to produce energy and reserve tissues (fat).
If in the domestic dog fats tend to accumulate in the tissues, originating adipose accumulations and therefore making the animal fat, in the hunting dog they are used to maintain the energy metabolism and to support the muscular effort of the animal in activity.
In hunting dogs, unlike humans, physical effort must be compensated for precisely with fats and not with carbohydrates.
We can say that i fats are the essential components in the hunting dog's diet, together with proteins, substances that are mainly used by the dog during muscular efforts. Specifically, the fats prevent the dog from losing too much weight and energy during the hunt, while the proteins facilitate the muscular effort of the same during the phases of capturing the prey (on the ground or in the water). It has been shown that hunting dogs with a low-fat diet tend to lose weight during and after hunting. This happens because the dog is essentially an "HDL mammal", as opposed to man who is an "LDL mammal". The terms just used indicate that humans tend to produce more bad fats, the so-called LDL cholesterol, while dogs, on the contrary, tend to produce good fats, ie HDL cholesterol. It is difficult, in fact, for a hunting dog to encounter problems of hyperlipidemia, that is, of excess fat, even if this eventuality is always possible, especially if the hunter or the owner does not know the correct ration of fat to be given to his dog. to work. In hunting dogs, a daily intake of fats equal to 20% of the total ration is expected, to which 35% of proteins must be added.
I fats, in the dog's diet, have the advantage of making food tastier and improving, in the same animal, also the brightness and brightness of the coat.
The fat ration can be increased or decreased according to the breed to which the dog belongs and the type of physical effort to which it is subjected. To feed the hunting dog with a correct intake of fat, mathematical formulas are used that can be provided by your veterinarian. Through these formulas, based on the type of dog, its weight, hours of activity and the application of some coefficients, it is possible to determine the daily caloric requirement of the animal and the correct ration of fats. The working dog needs both saturated and unsaturated fat.
The former are known as “bad” fats, because they tend to clog veins and arteries, being easily metabolized, while the latter are called “good” fats because they are less assimilable. In hunting dogs, the excess of saturated fats, that is "bad", can cause phenomena of olfactory loss and the sense of smell, for an animal that must recognize the prey "by nose" (ie with the nose), is really essential . The ideal would be to provide the animal with a fair share of omega 6 and omega 3 unsaturated fats, making sure to respect ratios between 5: 1 and 10: 1. These ratios, of course, can vary based on the breed and the type of hunting activity the dog is engaged in. We must not exceed even with unsaturated fats, which can cause inflammations that are harmful to the movements of the animal.
On the other hand, a lack of "good" fats can cause a series of serious diseases in the dog, including: delay in development and growth; energy deficit for muscle activity; loss of reproductive capacity; opacity of the skin and hair; weight loss. To ensure that the working dog assimilates saturated and polyunsaturated fats better, it is better to resort to short-chain fats, that is, soluble in water and easily used to produce energy during efforts.
I Useful fats in the dog's diet are contained in foods such as tallow, lard, chicken, corn oil, linseed oil, sunflower oil, fish oil, saffron oil and soybean oil. The fats must be administered to the dog at least one month before the hunting activity, to allow their storage in the tissues and their transformation into energy during the efforts to which the animal will be subjected.
The hunting dog must have its share of fat for both summer and winter hunting trips. The summer heat causes an increased fatigue of the animal, while the winter cold tends to slow down its metabolism. During the summer months, fats and oils, in order not to deteriorate, must be stored in a cool and dry place.