According to a study conducted at the University of Helsinki, a raw diet from the late stages of suckling to around two months of age may reduce the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in dogs. later in life.
In addition, a raw diet subsequently administered for up to six months was shown to have a positive effect. At the same time, the study shows that feeding dry food to pups early in life can increase the incidence of IBD later in life.
In addition to the diet, maternal history of IBD as well as the sex and age of the dog were associated with the onset of the disease in adulthood.
“Puppies with their dam with IBD had a 7.9-fold risk for developing the disease, with male pups carrying a risk 2.1 times greater than female pups. IBD was more common among 5- to 10-day-old dogs. -year, “says. Manal Hemida, DVM, lead investigator from the Helsinki One Health network.
Vaccines given to dams during or shortly before pregnancy made it more likely that children with 1.5-fold IBD would be compared to puppies whose dams were not vaccinated in the corresponding period.
Another relevant feature was the weight of the pups: slender pups had a 1.4-fold chance of developing the disease in adulthood compared to pups with normal weight.
“However, it is not yet clear whether lower body weight is the result of early undiagnosed IBD. The findings of our study may suggest causal relationships, but they do not confirm them. future long-term dietary intervention studies are needed to confirm our findings, as well as developing primary strategies for the prevention of IBD in dogs, ”says Docent Anna Hielm-Björkman , director of research group DogRisk.
As data for the study, the researchers used an online nutrition study introduced in 2009 by the research group DogRisk in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki. The study examined environmental exposures in four early stages of dogs, two of which were as the intrauterine life of the dog as fetus and the lactation period, when a newborn receives all the nutrients from the fetus. to drink. The last two stages were the early (1-2 months old) and late (2-6 months old) pupation periods.
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