Mickey, my love
Lately, Mickey is recovering form the burnt (from oil), yesterday I am washing his wound and my heart aches when I am removing the cleaning the wound and removing the skin.
Mickey was so strong, he didn’t yelp or anything. He fidgeted a bit but let me know my job with some restraint. I hope he recovers really fast. Sigh..: (
Anyway I decided to post some useful links and information for my future reference.
From: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nutrients
Proteins in food are the basic building materials for cells, tissues, organs, enzymes, hormones and antibodies and are essential for growth, maintenance, reproduction and repair. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Chains of amino acids link together to form proteins.
Amino acids are divided into two groups:
- Essential amino acids - These cannot be synthesized by the animal in sufficient quantities to meet the animal's needs and MUST be supplied in the diet. Essential amino acids include Arginine, Methionine, Histidine, Phenylalanine, Isoleucine, Threonine, Leucine, Tryptophan, Lysine, Valine, Taurine (cats only)
- Non-essential amino acids - These can be synthesized by the animal, so are not needed in the diet.
Proteins can be obtained from a number of sources:
- Meat can be high quality, but this will depend on the cut, source and type of meat. Animal-based proteins such as chicken, lamb, turkey, beef and egg have complete amino acid profiles.
- Fish is a very good protein source.
- Egg is regarded as the quality standard for protein sources. It has a high BV, often given as 100, but the true value is about 98. (However, raw egg white contains avidin, an anti-vitamin, which ties up or binds biotin from egg yolk. Eggs should therefore be cooked before they are fed to animals.)
- Vegetable/cereal protein quality will vary with the type, age and conditions under which the plant was grown. Generally, vegetable and cereal proteins are deficient in some essential amino acids. Cereal grains also contain starch, and poorly processed starch can depress the digestion of the proteins in the diet decreasing the efficiency of the proteins.
- Soy is often used as a protein source. It is an incomplete protein. Improperly processed soy contains an enzyme inhibitor that prevents proper protein digestion. Soy also contains phytates that can bind calcium, phosphorous and zinc and contains large amounts of non-absorbable oligosaccharides that may be fermented by intestinal bacteria leading to gas production and flatulence.
Fats
Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids play a vital role in inflammation. As the omega-6 fatty acid content of the diet increases, more omega-6 fatty acids are built into the cell walls resulting in a greater inflammatory reaction when the cell is damaged. Replacing some omega-6 with omega-3 fatty acids can lessen the inflammatory reaction. This appears to be true regardless of whether the inflammation is in the skin (from allergies), the joints (from arthritis), the intestines (from inflammatory bowel disease) or even in the kidney (from progressive renal failure).The optimal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids for dogs is between 5 and 10 to 1.
It is impossible to accurately determine the fatty acid ratio of a diet if the owner prepares home-cooked foods. Obtaining an accurate ratio by supplementing homemade or other commercial diets with omega-3 capsules is also unlikely; the ratio of fatty acids in the base diet is not known and may vary from batch to batch. If a dog is to benefit from the effects of these fatty acid ratios, they must be fed a fixed-formula food that guarantees these ratios.
http://www.treshanley.com/cic/dangerousfoods.html