Q: Why is fat better than carbohydrates?

A: It is common among human athletes to use carbohydrate loading as a means of ensuring energy during an event. Eating a lot of pasta the night before a marathon run is a classic example. But with dogs, the use of carbohydrates, such as starches and grains, as a primary energy source for performance does not work so well. For one thing, the dog has to eat about twice as much food if we try to use grain as the energy source because, again, fat has more than twice as many calories per bite as carbohydrates. Second, research has documented that many dogs eating high-carbohydrate foods for energy developed less lactic acid in their muscles, and some even had stiffened gaits as a result.¹

Additional research conducted by The Iams Company recognized that dogs on high-fat diets were better able to burn oxygen, even without extra conditioning. When highly conditioned dogs were fed a normal-fat food and sedentary dogs were fed a high-fat food, the dogs fed the high-fat food were better able to utilize oxygen and had more energy to burn. When the sedentary dogs were conditioned and fed the high-fat food, their energy-burning ability went up even more.²

If a trainer combines the advantages of Eukanuba® Premium Performance 30/20 with proven conditioning techniques, the dog can perform to his maximum because the muscles not only strengthen from the conditioning, but also adjust to the high-energy food as well.

¹Kronfield DS: Diet and performance in racing sled dogs. J Am Vet Assoc 1973:162:470-474.
²Reynolds AJ: Effect of diet on performance. The Iams Company Performance Dog Nutrition Symposium.
  Colorado State University. April 1995.