ANSWERS

1. What is meant by a balanced diet?
   A balanced diet supplies the energy and nutrients required to meet the daily needs of an animal at its particular life stage.
2. Describe the main criteria that constitute a complete diet.
   • Nutrient content must be within the recommended minimum and maximum values.
   • The nutrient to energy content ratio must be correct.
   • The nutrient to nutrient content ratio must be correct.
   • Nutrients must in a utilisable form
3. What is meant by a nutrient interaction?
   Deficiencies of a specific nutrient may arise as a result of reactions with other components of the diet reducing bioavailability.
4. What factors affect the digestibility of a food?
   • Chemical composition.
   • State of subdivision.
   • Method of preparation.
5. List ways in which the palatability of a food may be improved.
   • Feeding smaller meals.
   • Chopping the food finely.
   • Warming the food to body temperature.
   • Adding moisture.
   • Adding tasty aromatic supplements such as gravy.
   • Adding oil.
6. What is the difference between a complete and a complimentary pet food?
   Complete pet foods provide a balanced diet for a specified life stage when fed alone, while complimentary pet foods are designed to be fed in combination with an additionally specified food source.
7. What are the 3 main forms in which prepared pet foods are usually presented?
   • Dry foods (10-14% moisture content).
   • Moist foods (60-85% moisture content).
   • Semi-moist foods (25-40% moisture content).
8. What information should be stated upon a pet food label?
   • Product identification.
   • Species for which the food is intended.
   • Expiry date.
   • Ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight.
   • Product analysis (concentrations of protein, oil, fibre, ash and moisture).
   • Whether the food is a complete or complimentary diet.
   • Directions for use.
9. What information is useful but not required by EC regulations on pet food labels?
   Energy content.
10. If a home-prepared diet is to be fed, why is it desirable to cook most foods prior to feeding?
    Cooking kills most bacteria and parasites. In addition it improves the digestibility of some materials. Over-cooking should be avoided however, since this may destroy vitamins and reduce the food value of proteins.
11. What is meant by the stage of adult maintenance?
    An adult animal in a period of basal requirements. There are no additional physiological stresses such as pregnancy, lactation, regular work, high levels of activity or environmental temperature extremes.
12. State the percentage in which spaying may reduce the resting energy requirement of bitches.
    Up to 10%.
13. List 6 nutritional peculiarities exhibited by the cat.
    • High dietary protein requirement (limited ability to regulate amino acid catabolism).
    • High dietary taurine requirement (inability to conjugate bile acids with glycine).
    • Particular sensitivity to arginine deficiency.
    • Dietary requirement for preformed vitamin A (inability to convert beta-carotene to vitamin A).
    • Limited ability to convert linoleic acid to arachidonic acid.
    • Intolerance of high carbohydrate diets (limited ability to metabolise carbohydrate).
14. Why are cats considered obligate carnivores?
    Cats require the following, which are only found in significant quantities in animal tissues: · Taurine. · Preformed vitamin A. · Arachidonic acid.
15. List the properties of a diet suitable for lactation.
    • Concentrated energy and nutrient density.
    • Highly palatable.
    • Highly digestible (to reduce bulk).
16. Describe how pregnant bitches and queens differ in their energy requirements.
    The energy requirements of the bitch do not increase significantly until the last third of gestation, when most foetal weight gain occurs. The food allowance is generally increased by 15% of the maintenance ration each week from the fifth week onwards. Queens however, eat more and begin to gain weight within a week of conception. By the end of the third week of gestation the queen will have gained almost 20% of the extra weight that she will carry at term. Only about 40% of this extra weight is lost at parturition (the remainder is lost during lactation), unlike bitches where almost 100% is lost.
17. Why should the daily food allowance of puppies and kittens be divided into several small meals?
    Puppies and kittens are limited in their capacity to consume the relatively large amounts of food required due to their small stomach size.
18. List criteria essential for a diet suitable for puppies and kittens.
    • Nutritionally balanced for the growth life stage.
    • Concentrated.
    • Highly palatable.
    • Highly digestible.
19. Why is milk not essential in the diet of weaned puppies and kittens?
    After weaning, puppies and kittens are less able to digest lactose. Subsequently, feeding large quantities of milk may result in diarrhoea.
20. Describe a diet suitable for geriatrics.
    • Lower in calories (since metabolism is reduced by up to 20%).
    • Moderate protein level with a high biological value.
21. Describe a diet suitable for racing greyhounds.
    In cases where intense bursts of energy are required, the muscle fibres contract very rapidly and rely predominantly on readily available glucose as an energy source. The diet should therefore provide a relatively large amount of carbohydrate, since this helps to maximise muscle glycogen reserves.
22. Describe the properties of a suitable diet for working dogs (excluding the racing greyhound).
    • Slightly increased protein of a high biological value.
    • Concentrated.
    • Palatable.
    • Highly digestible.
    • Increased fat content in endurance performers for sustained muscle activity.
23. What is meant by feeding "ad libitum"?
    This basically means offering as much food as an animal is prepare to consume. The main disadvantage of this method of feeding is obesity, particularly in dogs. The method is contraindicated in puppies since overeating may result in skeletal developmental abnormalities.
24. What factors may contribute to malnutrition?
    • Food intake insufficient to meet energy requirements.
    • Poorly formulated or stored diet.
    • Oversupplementation of an otherwise balanced diet.
    • Disease or genetic factors that limit or prevent digestion, absorption or utilisation of nutrients.