FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Weve all heard the saying you are what you

eat but have you considered the impact of diet
on your pets behaviour? Just as a child can
get hyperactive after eating too much sugar,
energy highs and lows can affect your dog too.
Nutrients are the building blocks for hormones
and neurotransmitters that influence mood,
activity, levels of aggression plus cognitive
function. What if an enhanced diet could
increase a puppys ability to learn? Or
decrease the rate of cognitive decline in older
dogs?
In a survey of owners with normal dogs
(Mills unpublished data), 51.8% said their dog
had an annoying habit and 25.3% said their
dog had a behaviour problem. The natural
behaviour of dogs is often seen as anti social in
our modern day lifestyles. Anxiety and stress
can manifest as a
variety of unwanted
The single biggest killer
behaviours
like
of pets is not infectious
aggression,
destructive
disease, it is behavioural
behaviour
and
problems
separation anxiety.
Voith
What if we could
better equip them
for dealing with our
world through improved nutrition?
The
following article explores current opinions on
how nutrition affects behaviour in dogs.

F EELING FULL
The degree of satiety in pigs has been shown
to affect behaviour, including aggressive and
stereotyped behaviour. I believe that hunger
plays a role in a lot of unwanted behaviours in
dogs too. Coprophagia, scavenging, begging
and whining may all stem from feelings of
hunger. Making a dog feel full, especially if
they are on a calorie controlled diet, can be
challenging. Fibre content of dog food is
important for satiety, although there are
mixed opinions about whether increasing fibre
content of dog food is appropriate for a
carnivore. Whats possibly more important

by Claire Lomas

though
is
the type and
quality
of
the
fibre.
One study
showed that
beagles fed
a
soluble,
highly
fermentable
fibre
diet
IMAGE courtesy of Jess Beale
(containing
sugar beet and inulin) had a prolonged satiety
compared with those fed an insoluble, lowfermentable diet containing cellulose.

F EEDING THE BRAIN

Messages in the brain are relayed by chemicals
called neurotransmitters. They affect our
mood, emotions and behaviour. The
precursors to neurotransmitters are found in
food and can cross the blood brain barrier to
be made into neurotransmitter in the brain. A
key neurotransmitter linked with behaviour is
serotonin and its precursor tryptophan. It has
been shown to regulate moods like anxiety
and depression as well as being involved in
memory, learning, aggression and other
behaviours. Tryptophan competes with other
proteins at the blood brain barrier so its
absorption depends on the ratio of proteins in
the diet, but also the presence of insulin.
Insulin promotes the uptake of other proteins
(but not tryptophan) into muscle, therefore
increasing the relative amount of tryptophan
presented to the blood brain barrier. So
feeding carbohydrates to stimulate insulin
production, as well as supplementing
tryptophan may increase brain serotonin. This
could reduce aggression and improve recovery
from stress in some animals.
One study showed that dogs that were fed a
high tryptophan, low protein diet had
decreased levels of territorial aggression after
the trial. However I feel that high-quality
protein is an essential part of a dogs diet and

errors during
training and
had higher
performance
Dogs have been used to study human ageing and dementia as they develop similar
than those
cognitive deficits and neuropathology. In a study on the impact of diet on age-related
that
were
cognitive decline in dogs, results showed that a diet enriched with antioxidants and
not fed the
mitochondrial cofactors not only decreased the rate of cognitive decline in laboratory
DHA
diet.
dogs but also improved age-related behavioural changes in older pet dogs in a home
Fatty acids
setting.
are
also
important
components
reducing it in an attempt to modify behaviour
of cell membranes and increased PUFA into
is not a healthy option.
the cellular membranes of the brain improves
flow of neurotransmitters between cells. So
C OPING WITH STRESS
supply of essential fatty acids like
Tyrosine
is
the
precursor
to
the
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) could affect
catelcholamines dopamine, noradrenaline and
cognitive performance and behaviour.
adrenaline. Catelcholamines play a key role in

STAYING YOUNGER LONGER

a variety of responses to stress. Tyrosine

supplementation has been shown to have
beneficial effects in humans during conditions
of stress. In rats a high tyrosine diet prevents
adverse behavioural effects to various acute
stressors.
During times of stress,
noradrednaline turnover increases and
tyrosine stores deplete.
In dogs a high
tyrosine diet may be useful to recover from
stress and minimize behaviours associated
with the post-stress decline in noradrenaline.

T HE BRAIN , A WELL OILED MACHINE ,

Long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids (PUFA), found in things like salmon oil,
have an important role in brain development.
A study showed when a DHA-enhanced diet
was fed to bitches during gestation and to her
puppies after birth, the pups made fewer

IMAGE courtesy of Iain Pashby

W HAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FUTURE

OF DOG FOOD

The most important thing about any diet is

that it is complete and provides everything
that the body needs. It is no good modifying a
diet to improve behaviour if it then does not
meet the nutritional needs of the animal.
Much research is still needed to evaluate
efficacy and safety of various supplements like
tryptophan, tyrosine and DHA. Even though
there have been studies on other species
including humans and rodents, there is little
information on effects on dog behaviour.
Behaviour is complex, and individual responses
are highly variable so it is highly unlikely that a
one-diet-to-cure-all will be possible. What is
more likely is that a diet plan could
compliment behaviour modification therapy to
increase success. Nutritional guidelines for
dog foods rarely take into account effects on
behaviour. With increasing awareness of how
food can affect a dogs behaviour I hope that in
the future pet owners, vets and dog food
companies can work together to decrease
behavioral
problems
through
tailored
nutrition, for happy dogs and owners!