How we digest our food is very different from the way dogs
complete the same task. Even the food
itself is very different. Some of our
food is processed to make it easier to digest.
We gather around the dinner table and between moments of
witty repartee, demurely introduce a modest fork or spoonful of food into our
mouths, chew it anywhere from 10 to 30 times, and let it slide down the hatch.
A pack of dogs, on the other hand, would gather around the
carcass and between moments of fierce competition, rip off a huge chunk of
something, chew it once or twice, and as its going down the hatch, be clamping
their jaws on another chunk of something.
We’re designed to eat several small meals each day. Dogs are designed to eat one big meal
because, in the old days, they never knew when they’d get their next meal. It could be a day or two, or even longer,
before they’d eat again.
We have relatively small stomachs (for some of us, in our
dreams) that accept food which has already been partially broken down; by chewing
and mixing with our saliva, which contains powerful enzymes that begin to break
the food down.
The dog has a relatively large stomach with an extremely
acidic environment; loaded with powerful digestive enzymes and up to three
times as much hydrochloric acid as we have.
Those huge chunks of food are lubricated with saliva and slide down the
hatch into a stomach that grinds and liquefies the food. The saliva itself contains no enzymes.
The liquefied food, called chyme, then passes into the small
intestine where absorption of nutrients into the blood stream takes place,
aided by digestive juices from the pancreas and gallbladder. Although the intestinal tract is about 4 times
the length of the dog’s body, it’s still shorter than that of a human.
That’s because carnivores need the food to move quickly
through their system because they’ve got work to do and can’t be lying around
waiting for their food to digest. As
nomads, they need to patrol and defend a territory, protect mates, offspring
and other pack members, and they’re already hunting for their next meal.
Most domestic dogs gulp their food the same way their wild
counterparts do, barely chewing it. Nor
do they pause to savor the flavor; since they have practically no sense of
taste. Satiated, the next time they
think of food will be when they’re hungry, or when you open or cook something
and the aromas get their attention.
We and our dogs look at food very differently. To us it’s an art form and a focal point of
our culture. We take great pains to
optimize how it looks, smells and tastes, and when company comes over, we bring
out food.
To dogs, food is strictly utilitarian. They eat to live (while many of us live to
eat).
Bob Bamberg has been in the pet supply industry for more
than a quarter century, including owning his own feed and grain store in
South-eastern Massachusetts, USA. He writes a weekly newspaper column on pet
health, nutrition and behaviour and his articles appear at http://hubpages.com/@bobbamberg
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