Senior Dog Diets, Simparica Research, and Weekly Recipes
I wonder who took a bite out of this box? Edith says she has no idea.
We often write about the differences in dietary needs for different life stages, so this week we are focusing on older dogs. Also, we were curious if feeding Simparica (the flea, tick, heart worm and intestinal worm protection the dogs are on) long-term has any adverse effects, so we did a literature review. Before that here are this weeks recipes.
This week, as a thank you to all of our followers, we wanted to do our first ever giveaway! If you left a comment on our Pup Scout Cookie video on Insta you might be one of 3 lucky people chosen to receive a custom Pup Scout Cookie box (and cookie mix!). Check your DMs because we’ll be reaching out to the winners soon with more details.
For everyone else, thank you for watching and all your continued support!
Another fun one this week is a quick snack: coconut shrimp.
Diets for older dogs (and people)
Recent studies in both humans and companion animals indicate that protein consumption should go up as we age. There are several factors that cause this. First, older animals are less sensitive to protein and perhaps more inefficient at digestingit (meaning they need more input to reach sufficient levels). Older people and animals are prone to sarcopenia, the age related and involuntary loss of muscle mass. This literature review from Cornell University suggests elderly dogs require as much as 50% more protein than younger animals. Dogs with sarcopenia may require even higher amounts.
Another group of nutrients of increasing importance for aging dogs are Omega-3 fatty acids. Research indicates that EPA and DHA, the omega-3s found in fish, improve muscle function and reduce inflammation associated with sarcopenia. See paper here.
Yet, it’s important to ensure that older dogs are not overweight. According to research published by Cambridge University Press, dogs with higher than 25% fat mass had a significantly higher risk of death. Furthermore, dogs on a calorically restricted diet did not show increased loss of muscle mass compared to normally fed dogs.
So how are dogs supposed to eat less but also get more protein? Though increased protein consumption and caloric reduction seem contradictory, senior diets can simply reduce the amounts of other macronutrients like carbohydrates. Being overweight contributes to sarcopenia. Research in people and animals suggest that weight gain leads to hormonal changes that lead to gaining fat and lowering activity levels.
The dog aging project reports that dogs fed once daily rather than two or more times is associated with better health including cognitive, dental, gastrointestinal function and more. However, it’s unclear if this benefit is due to time-restricted feeding as the authors propose, or rather just the reduction in calories, similar to the Cambridge study.
Conclusion: Older dogs need a higher percentage of protein and less carbohydrate and fat. Despite the dog aging project concluding that once a day feeding is best for dogs, the mechanism behind their results is likely due to caloric restriction in general rather than time restriction. Human studies on time restricted-feeding are inconclusive, thus it’s unlikely that once a day feeding alone is the driving force behind the health impacts of The Dog Aging Project’s research. More research is needed to provide definitive evidence.
What do studies say about long-term Simparica administration?
Since Cedric and Edith are on Simparica Trio, we wanted to take a look at its safety profile to see if there are any risks to long-term administration. In 2018 the FDA warned about potential health effects of isoxazolines (the class of active ingredient in Simparica), yet kept them on the market. However, an FDA warning doesn’t make something true. Remember, they falsely warned that grain free diets contribute to heart disease. This is what our literature review uncovered about Simparica:
An observational study called Project Jake reported that over 60% of dogs showed an adverse reaction to the drugs, which was far higher than reported in clinical studies.
We could not find a long-term study on the effects of isoxazolines on neurological performance or lifespan in mammals, so it’s not possible to make a definitive statement on it’s impact to a dog’s long-term health.
The mechanism of action of these molecules is far greater for insects than it is on mammals. This means while it is lethal to insects (the fleas and ticks), it’s not to the dog. Dogs administered high doses of these drugs had side effects such as vomiting. At therapeutic (regular) doses there were few reported side effects.
The possibility exists that some dogs could be particularly sensitive to the active compounds, so monitor your pup closely if you think this is the case.
From what we’ve found, the research so far suggests that Simparica is safe. Though, we’ll always remain cautious, give them breaks from taking it (especially when its cold) and keep an eye out for new research.
That’s all for this week. Hope you all have a great weekend ahead.
All the best,
Joelle & the Precious Creatures team