Puppy-enzymes

Puppy enzyme development at weaning

This is from the Sept 2003 Dog World.

What Puppies Need, by Marcella Durand.

A new host of studies on the nutritional needs of puppies has been completed at Mississippi State University, offering some compelling information on the topic.

The seperate studies focused on how digestive enzymes change before and after weaning, how nutrients are digested, and when and to what extent the intestines grow as the dog matures. While some of the results conform what breeders already know, there were some interesting
discoveries.

"The ability of very young dogs up to 3 weeks of age to digest complex diets is going to be very limited", says Randal K. Buddington, PhD, professor of biology at University of California, Davis, and one of the lead authors of the studies. "During that time, they will be dependent on mother's milk". Buddington says puppies begin developing the enzymes needed to digest more complex food between 3 and 5 weeks of age.

Interestingly, the enzymes needed to digest protien "tended to go up a little bit earlier", says Buddington, because "they do need to digest the casien and other protiens present in milk". In fact, he says, based on the results, "diets at the time of weaning should be composed of highly digestable protiens from animal tissues". He adds that "most veterinarians and breeders would recognize that you don't want to put a young puppy on something made mostly out of corn or soy--you want a
high-quality diet to get him going well".

(My own note here[Yvonne McGehee]---that's not my experience regarding vets and breeders!
Most vets I know advise weaning directly to Science diet, which is made largely of corn, and which they also sell. Most breeders I know also wean directly onto commercial kibble, usually a cheap brand composed primarily if grain fragments. A commonly used kibble in my breed is Pedigree, which is virtually all wheat; or the Walmart brand. Even Wendy Volhard advises weaning onto cereal. We wean our puppies onto meat and yoghurt with excellent success.) The article goes on:

Buddington says they have not identified when dogs begin producing the enzymes needed to digest carbohydarates because those enzymes only increase after the dog begins eating food with carbohydrates in it, at about 4 weeks of age. "What we don't know is whether that increase was
genetically programed or if it was in response to having some starch in the intestine"