What PROTEIN AMOUNT (and kind) does your dog actually need? And why aafco, NRC & WSAVA in USA are involved.
INTRODUCTION
Firstly, did you know that your dogs need 10 of the 20 common amino acids in protein, and that these are called ESSENTIAL amino acids, and are only available from food.
And that there are five bands or Levels of protein that you can class the amount of protein into, for dogs. We review that in our next article.
Did you know that the amount of protein (and each specific amino acid) has a MINIUM level that the American volunteer dog food organisation aafco “recommends”, that is taken as the dog food standard around the world, including Australia.
AAFCO relies on studies from the National Research Council (NRC), another American group. NRC say the studies involve: Protein digestibility and bioavailability, Essential amino acid profiles, The impact of protein deficiency on Growth and maintenance needs.
It sounds like it’s all an exact process, but it is far from this.
Not only because of the variability in dog needs. Or because they completely ignore the dog’s carnivore origins only 20,000 years ago, but because AAFCO makes the final decisions about what they put in their nutrition tables.
But once a corporation reaches the bare minimum standards, filtered by aafco, a company earns the right to legally call their food “complete and balanced”. But is it really?
Even stranger than this volunteer organisation called aafco that all commercial enterprises globally rely on (because you can get away with low or no meat in dog food) – is that American forums like Reddit are awash with people mostly talking in reverence about WSAVA as the ones that control dog food creation.
We reviewed what WSAVA means in detail here: https://www.healthydogtreats.com.au/dog-food-australian-standard/
In summary, Wsava seems to be little more than an offshoot of Aafco recommendations, dressed up, WSAVA has nothing to do with drawing up nutrition tables or dog food trials.
They are just a connection to vets, to provide more gravitas behind their commercial dog food recommendations of aafco. And partially why aafco standards are adopted globally for dog and cat food.
Naturally they are against natural dog food (ie raw or high meat content) and don’t mention single ingredient treats (because their members wouldn’t make sufficient income off them).
This is the aafco and wsava connection in summary:
- AAFCO: “Ensures” that pet foods provide complete and balanced nutrition (or at least are based on NCA tables).
- WSAVA: “Helps” vets select the “best” commercial pet foods and raises standards of veterinary care
How they work together :
- Some pet foods are both AAFCO and WSAVA approved
- WSAVA relies on AAFCO’s tables and guidelines
- WSAVA’s Nutrition Toolkit includes recommendations for selecting pet foods
It almost seems like a duplicated service.
The issue always remains that none of these ‘nutrition’ tables take into account the dogs carnivore wolf ancestor, or the full effect of bio-availability let alone natural palatability. Natural as in not made to taste attractive by addition of extra oil, sugar and salt, to a carb based (plant food) kibble.
A refresher on how bio-availability reduces usefulness of accessing ESSENTIAL amino acids that even the tables say dogs require a minimum amount of.
That is, if a dog is fed corn as the major protein source, its bio-availability is near 50%. That would mean that corn would need to be made of 40% protein (and high levels of the essential amino acids in that protein), just supply the 20% minimum amount the dog can actually use (as dictated by aafco).
Corn is so low in protein, that some brands will use the highly processed, “Corn gluten meal”, is a by-product of corn processing that can have up to 60-70% protein, but it is very low in lysine and tryptophan essential amino acids meaning that it is very difficult to meet their minimum standards.
You should also note that Lower-quality protein sources (like many grains and plant matter), can contribute to allergies in dogs, and reduce key amino acids (see limiting amino acid effects).
AAFCO tables can be met by dog food makers, by adhering to the table numbers or ‘food trials’. These trials are often highly controversial for the number of dogs that can be excluded or lose weight, but the food will still pass and get aafco approval.
AAFCO only review the NRC tables, they are not obliged to follow them. And WSAVA similarly review aafco tables, that aafco filtered from NRC tables.
The reason that many dog foods get away with poor protein sources, is that amino acids in protein can be from ANY source (meat or plant).
But the amino acid levels should take into account the amount that can actually be processed by your dog. THIS is considered the bio-available amount of amino acid, in a specific source, such as Kangaroo, beef or wheat.
Even within one food group like wheat there are many subspecies of wheat, many different preparation methods, and many different amino acid profiles of the TEN essential amino acids required by dogs. This means the minimum amino acid levels in the aafco tables are a very basic approximation at best.
The tables do not take into account palatability, how enjoyable the food is to eat. Almost all dogs enjoy meat and offal. VERY FEW dogs enjoy plant-based kibble, unless it has a large amount of sugar, salt and oil added to disguise the bland species inappropriate food ingredients.
Why do so many dog food sites quote 18% and 22.5% protein for dogs?
EVERY commercial website, selling commercial dog food, will typically roll out this quote of percentages. That is why all the sources on the first page of google appear to be in agreement, and why the aafco numbers are reinforced in people’s minds.
They will not tell you that affco is a random ‘advisory’ group, made up of dog food manufactures, independent grain growers and the occasional vet. That by being ‘volunteer’ but heavily seeded by interests that are profit driven (and hence have a financial interest in providing the cheapest ingredients) –result in a very low protein amount required.
The fact that even affco set a minimum amount of protein but NO MAXIMUM level, should provide a clue as to their intentions. (skip forward to the Appendix if you want to read a direct quote from their paper).
It is true that dog requirements are basically a mix of:
- Age
- Activity level
- Health status (ie are the kidneys normal).
The two other things you need to understand is HOW CRITICAL protein is to the functioning of a facultative carnivore (domestic dog).
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- Protein is comprised of TEN essential amino acids that are vital for muscle development, repair, and maintenance. NOT CARBS.
- Protein can be used for ENERGY, just like carbs and fats, but carbs and fats cannot do the vital life sustaining functions of GOOD PROTEIN.
- High-protein diets can improve coat shine and skin health, as amino acids play a role in keratin and collagen production. People often follow what is written on kibble packs and instead use OILS to make coats shiny, at the sake of using protein for this and all the other important functions.
- Protein is vital for anti-body production and overall immune system support. Hence its important link to longevity.
How is the PROTEIN requirement for dogs scientifically tested?
The National Research Council (NRC) is used as a guide by the AAFCO.
These tests determine the minimum protein requirement for dogs through a combination of controlled feeding trials, nitrogen balance studies, and amino acid analysis.
The controlled feeding trials are often performed by the dog food manufacturers chosen third parties, and are accepted by aafco on faith. THIS isn’t the gold standard.
Here are some of the NRC tests:
Nitrogen Balance Studies (Gold Standard)
- Purpose: Determines how much protein a dog absorbs and utilizes versus how much is excreted.
- Experiments: Dogs are fed diets with varying protein levels.
- Scientists measure nitrogen intake (from protein) and nitrogen excretion (in urine and faeces).
- If nitrogen intake equals nitrogen excretion, the dog is in nitrogen balance (maintenance). If nitrogen excretion is higher than intake, it suggests protein deficiency (negative nitrogen balance).
- Outcome:
- The minimum protein level is set where nitrogen balance is maintained with no muscle loss or deficiency symptoms. This helps determine the lowest level needed for adult maintenance vs. growth and reproduction.
But the loss of muscle or deficiency symptoms are NOT tested for every dog food out there. That only happens on a small sample of dogs, IF the dog food company chooses voluntarily to do a food trial.
A small number of dog food companies do legitimate food trials, and of course, this is not in a REAL world environment, like for dogs that regularly go to dog parks etc.
- Amino Acid Limitation Studies
- Purpose: Determines if a diet is missing essential amino acids (like lysine, methionine, or tryptophan).
- Method : Dogs are given protein-deficient diets with only one amino acid removed at a time. Scientists observe muscle loss, immune weakness, or coat quality deterioration.
- By identifying which amino acid causes deficiencies, NRC determines minimum requirements for each essential amino acid.
NOTE these tests result in aafco tables that give amino acid minimum levels that are used for ALL DOGS.
Because allergy prone dogs, younger dogs and older dogs have a special need for better quality protein (animal sourced and high quality). Dog food sources that have a very unbalanced amino acid profile (plants) should not be used.
Also because certain amino acids are LIMITING amino acids – prevent a higher use of other amino acids … THIS one size fits all table, is at best extremely ambitious.
Digestibility & Bioavailability Studies
- Purpose: Determines how effectively dogs can digest and use different protein sources.
- Method: Dogs are fed diets with specific protein sources (e.g., meat, fish, soy, corn).
- Faecal and urine samples are analyzed to measure how much protein (specific amino acids) were absorbed vs. excreted.
- Less digestible proteins (like raw plant proteins) are identified as inferior sources, because even though they have only a small amount of amino acids to begin with, only a fraction of what they do supply can be used.
- And because there are so many different processing methods for a general grain like corn or what (raw, cooked, concentrated syrup)) – the amount of protein an actual sample provides, and can be used, can very greatly.
- Outcome:
- Helps NRC recommend highly digestible protein sources for optimal nutrition. Prevents overestimation of protein needs by adjusting for digestibility factors.
NOTE this is the NRC desired outcome. AAFCO do not follow it (see Appendix below)
CONCLUSIONS
This means that a dog food that is on the bare minimum or anywhere close to it, that is plant based, is not always guaranteed to fulfil a dogs protein needs in real world situations.
Because dogs are evolved from carnivores, but have evolved over 15,000 years the ability to process cabs (because of the amylase (carb digestive) protein they developed), it has green lighted manufacturers from pushing more and more plant mater into a dog’s diet. Even to the extreme ridiculous idea of VEGAN dog food.
Aafco admits that it doesn’t take bio-availability of amino acids into full account, and palatability is up to whatever the food makers can use to spice up non meat products to get a dog to eat them.
While nitrogen tests are important, its is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that every dog food manufacturer will test that every ESSENTIAL AMINO acid is greatly in excess of requirements for every dog out there. And should a dog get sick, then their protein levels are likely to increase to provide their body defences against the illness or pathogens.
And even if a dog takes excess protein from animal sources, consider this. Unless a dog has kidney failure or some other medical issue with decent protein in its diet, There is NO MAXIMUM aafco nutrition value for ANY of the essential amino acids.
This means that they consider that there is NO DANGEROUS maximum level for essential amino acids, ONLY dangerous minimum levels!
If you use plants and a high amount of carbs in a dog’s diet, they can get vitamins and minerals from the plant, but they are also getting a LOT of sugar, that they don’t need at all. Protein is multi purpose, a dog can use it for tissue building etc, or for direct ENERGY use. By using plants instead of meat protein, you are choosing which is more important to their health, because you cant add a lot of plant and sufficient animal meat and keep a dog a trim weight.
And on the subject of vitamins and minerals, apparently plants aren’t even useful for that, as far as aafco is concerned. Because no natural mix of meat and plant can reach their bare minimum vitamin and mineral requirements of their tables, without the addition of a host of added vitamins and minerals (look at your pack now).
The argument could be used that excess protein is wasteful, but at any one moment, how do you know which of the essential amino acids your dog needs? And if they pee out excess protein, how is that different from owners taking mega vitamin B tablets, and their pee being green?
Amino acids, like water soluble vitamins do not accumulate in a dog’s body. So there is no risk of too much protein, just upsides, compared with the small amount of meat protein most dog food manufacturers choose to put in, to keep costs down. AND that is why we recommend MEAT based treats, that you can see are actual whole piece of meat or offal, to supplement the low meat content of most kibble.
The reason you will rarely see a kibble maker bragging about the high percentage of whole meat that they put into their food. Is Because they don’t have much quality, whole meat in them at all.
REFERENCES
1 ATTACHMENT A AAFCO METHODS FOR SUBSTANTIATING NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY OF DOG AND CAT FOODS (2023)
2 The National Research Council’s (NRC) Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats
3 WSAVA Global Guidelines https://wsava.org/global-guidelines/
APPENDIX
From aafco 2023 ATTACHMENT A AAFCO METHODS FOR SUBSTANTIATING NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY OF DOG AND CAT FOODS
“The AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles were designed to establish practical minimum and some maximum nutrient concentrations for dog and cat foods, formulated from commonly used, non-purified, complex ingredients.”
“The concentrations differ from minimum nutrient requirements traditionally developed by the NRC Committee on Animal Nutrition. Many of the NRC minimum nutrient requirements are based on research with purified diets and/or highly bioavailable nutrient sources that are not practical to use in commercial dog and cat foods. Therefore, unlike the previous NRC publications Nutrient Requirements of Dogs in 1985 and Nutrient Requirements of Cats in 1986, the Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats in 2006 contained two additional listings of nutrient concentrations for adequate intake and recommended allowance (RA) in addition to minimum requirements. ” (aafco)
“The concentrations for RA’s of nutrients in the 2006 NRC are at least equal to, or greater than, concentrations for adequate intakes and minimum requirements, respectively, and are defined as “the concentration or amount of a nutrient in a diet formulated to support a given physiological state.” When appropriate, the RA takes into consideration the bioavailability of the nutrient.”
“Thus, the Canine and Feline Nutrition Expert Subcommittees of 2007 primarily used the RA in the 2 2006 Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats in evaluating whether revision was needed to one or more of the minimum recommended concentrations in the profiles.”
“Values for specific nutrient concentrations were added or modified where indicated and supported by recent scientific publications, practical experience, or unpublished data.”
“The AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles have been criticized and faulted for not explicitly indicating the apparent nutrient digestibility, sometimes called nutrient availability or bioavailability, required to make the listed concentrations adequate for meeting the animal’s daily requirements. ” (aafco 2023)
“When a minimum requirement has been established for a particular nutrient, the expected apparent digestibility to meet the minimum requirement for that nutrient at the recommended concentration listed in an AAFCO Nutrient Profile can be calculated using the formula: ((minimum requirement) x (its apparent digestibility in the diet(s) used to establish the minimum requirement) / (recommended concentration in the AAFCO Profile)) x 100. “
In the above formula, the minimum requirement is expressed in the same units as in the AAFCO Nutrient Profile and digestibility is expressed in decimal equivalents. As an example, the NRC lists the minimum crude protein requirement for puppies to be met by formulas containing 18% crude protein on a dry matter basis with the digestibility of the protein sources estimated to be near 100%. “
“The 2012 AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profile for Growth and Reproduction recommends the minimum crude protein concentration of dry matter to be 22.5%. Therefore, the expected apparent digestibility for crude protein in a diet formulated to meet the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profile for Growth and Reproduction is at least 80% [(18 x (1.00)/22.5) x 100]. “ (aafco 2023)
HDT Authors note:
Based on the above quoted aafco information – Only meat sources and a few other highly refined concentrated plant sources (like some soy products or livestock food) and eggs have anywhere near 100% bio – availability.
“digestibility of the protein sources estimated to be near 100%. “ is a laughable consideration to have in a document that all dog food in the world is based on.
Most meats are between 80 and 90% bio- availability.
Most grain and plant matter (in natural non condensed or refined state) are less than 70% bioavailable.
Since most commercial dog food is plant based (well over 50% plant matter by dry weight) – the actual useful essential amino acids that plant matter can provide to a dog are massively inadequate. They provide bulk filler. Meat and offal are typically the only food sources that meaningfully contribute to a commercial dog food reaching the bare minimum essential amino acid levels.