There was a recent discussion on the Kensmuir stockdog list on increasing fat in a dog’s diet to enable the dog to withstand the colder temperatures. One poster indicated that she added fat from pasture-fed cattle (a good thing) or bacon fat (probably not so good). Not so sure why anyone would want to add more fat to commercial dry dog food. Just another example of: if the food was correct to begin with, there would be no need to add to it, mix formulas, or use one of the special formulas because of a particular medical concern.
Other people swear by a product made by Redpaw: Balanced Fat, which lists the following ingredients: Poultry Fat (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, and citric acid), Coconut Oil, Fish Oil, Corn Oil, Canola Oil, Dried Liver Digest. Yuck! The manufacturer recommends freezing the product in ice cube trays and then feeding the cubes to the dog. I figured prior to my next trial I’m going to order a gallon of this product, freeze many trays of it, load it into my cooler prior to the next trial and then dole out the ice cubes to my dogs to maintain their energy throughout the day. That way I’ll have a dual purpose product, it will keep my food cold and keep the dogs running fast.
I don’t know, it makes so much more sense to me to feed food that a dog is by nature designed to eat, but, according to a post in the above exchange, feeding too much protein leads to dogs having too much energy and driving them crazy. At least there is one poster there who clears up the confusion stating that protein builds and maintains muscle, it does not make dogs hyper. Fat provides sustained energy (endurance). Yea! A little bit of sensibility there.
What really got me though, was the post wherein the woman stated that she was looking for ways to increase fat and combat stamina issues without adding protein and without spending an arm and a leg. So, she added ground flax seed to her dry food and according to her, it’s working. Damn! She should get rid of her dogs and buy a parakeet.