artificial milk for puppies

By fati Monday, January 28, 2019

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artificial milk for puppies
✔Milk substitutes represent a good alternative in dog and cat nutrition when litters are large
and the mother’s milk does not fulfill the requirements of all of the offspring, or when we are
rearing orphaned puppies or kittens.
✔Designing adequate artificial milk is not simple given the characteristics of the milk
from our pets. The formula should be as similar as possible to natural milk.
✔The mixtures of fats or of different types of carbohydrates (for example, substituting lactose
for other glucose polymers,) contribute to the creation of a good product, occasionally with
health benefits for the puppy or kitten: high levels of lactose cause diarrhea that can be avoided
with maltodextrin, for example.

1 How is a good milk replacement designed?
✔The challenge lies in the quality of the milk proteins. They are highly
digestible proteins (90 %), which belong to three classes:
Casein: it is the predominant protein and is synthesized in the mammary gland.
Serum proteins: albumin passes directly from the circulation to the gland.
Lipoproteins from the fat globules: this fraction is of little significance to us.
✔As a result, the serum protein: casein ratio determines the quality of the milk replacement depending on the requirements and conditions for their manufacturing. For example, formulas for children are predominantly 60:40, but throughout the lactation cycle, these proportions vary (90:10 to 50:50). That said, few substitutes for dogs and cats have been formulated taking into account these premises.
✔In dogs, the serum protein: casein ratio is 30:70 and remains constant throughout the entire lactation cycle, while in cats, the ratio is 60:40 and decreases to 50:50 throughout the cycle.
✔As we can see, casein is the predominant protein in dog’s milk (similar to cow’s milk), while in female cats, there is an equal division between both categories (similar to the case with mares). The predominance of casein affects the digestion of protein, amino acids, and minerals.

2 The composition of milk substitutes
Plant-based proteins have been used in certain recipes; however, this is
not ideal due to their richness in anti-nutritional factors, low digestibility,
and the development of food allergies (for example, gluten).