How Much Protein Do Dogs Need?

Descended from wolves, domestic dogs retain their carnivorous physiology. While dogs can consume vegetable matter and metabolize proteins from vegetables and grains, animal protein from meat and meat byproducts is the best source of amino acids for a dog. A dog will eat until it has consumed enough protein to fulfill its requirements for amino acids and nitrogen. The amount varies with age, size and activity.

  1. The Facts

    • A general rule is that dogs require 2 grams of high quality animal protein per kilogram of body weight per day. How much protein a dog needs is not the correct question; rather, a dog owner should ask which proteins a dog needs. Dogs manufacture many of the amino acids needed for maintaining healthy body functions within their bodies, but many more must be brought in from outside in the food they eat. In the wild, dogs seek meat as their source of food because it packs many more essential proteins in a smaller space than vegetation does.

    Significance

    • When a dog owner seeks an alternative to a meat-based diet for their dog, perhaps to suit a human vegetarian dietary choice, he wants to know the minimum amount of animal protein needed to sustain the dog's health. The Merck Veterinary Manual states that the amount of protein needed in a dog's diet varies depending on the percentage of useable amino acids found within that protein source. For example, egg has a higher number of useable amino acids and therefore a higher biologic value to a dog than vegetable proteins.

    Age and Activity

    • Proteins in food are broken down during digestion and the component amino acids are used as building materials for bones, muscles, nerves and other body tissues. Puppies need a higher percentage of protein in their diet than adult dogs due to their growing bodies. Puppy diets should contain 22 to 28 percent protein. Diet for adult dogs should contain 10 to 18 percent protein. Older dogs, and dogs with compromised kidney function, may be placed on restricted protein diets as long as the proteins included are of high biologic value. Working breeds such as cattle dogs and sled dogs will need a higher percentage of protein in their diet over an adult household pet dog due to the strain on their muscles; 25 percent for working herd dogs and up to 35 percent protein for racing and sled dogs. Pregnant and nursing dogs will require high protein diets for the growing puppies. Veterinarians often recommend feeding a mother dog puppy food until weaning.

    Considerations

    • When choosing a commercial food for the average pet dog, read the ingredient list and choose one that lists meat as the top ingredient followed by meat by-products such as blood, heart, kidneys, liver, spleen and empty intestines. Commercial foods mix these protein sources with plant-based fillers and vitamin supplements to replace many proteins that are broken down by the rendering---or cooking---process that removes bacteria from the meat. Foods with grain products first on the list are often not high enough in proteins needed by a dog.

    Misconceptions

    • Old research based on trials in rats concluded that too much protein leads to kidney damage. This turns out not to be true in healthy dogs; excess protein not needed from the diet is either excreted in urine or stored as fat or burned as excess calories. In a dog with kidney damage, however, reducing the amount of protein and serving only high biologic value protein will reduce the work the kidneys must do to excrete excess protein and will help the kidneys heal.

    Potential

    • Drs. Foster and Smith propose that in the future, dog food labels may include an index of digestibility of the proteins included in the food. A high digestibility will indicate a better source of needed proteins.