Dogs battle lifestyle diseases, mirroring human society
NAGOYA —
Dogs in Japan were once raised on leftover rice mixed with miso soup and lived relatively short lives. Thanks to the advent of pet food they now live longer but are also developing similar health problems to humans.
In times past, the canine life span was short because of the poor nutritional balance, according to Mitsuhiro Furuse, 51, who is researching dietetics of pets at the graduate school of Kyushu University.
It was customary for many families to feed their dogs the dinner scraps, pouring miso soup over a bowl of rice.
Pet food first appeared in the 1960s in Japan and since then has helped dogs and cats increase their longevity—by more than three years on average for canines to 11.9 years old, and by nearly five years to 9.9 years old for felines.
However, Furuse said, many pets now suffer from ‘‘lifestyle diseases’’ as a result of their new diet.
Masayo Karasawa, 40, of Nagoya, buys meat and vegetables low in agrochemicals to prepare for her Bernese mountain dog.
‘‘I myself don’t like additives and I don’t know what’s in dog food,’’ she said by way of explanation.
It costs her about 20,000 yen a month to feed Meikyo, a 4-year-old male, who has been with her since 2004. She takes him several times a week to a heated pool at the Dog Medical Fitness and Rehabilitation center, about 10 kilometers from her home. The dog suffers from hip joint dysfunction.
She pays no heed to rehabilitation adviser Yoko Watanabe, 48, who said she should stop cooking for the dog because her menus lack nutritional balance.
Karasawa said she has learned the importance of raising any creature since she met Meikyo and has also shaken off a food allergy after eating organic vegetables she first purchased for her pet.
Fusae Kato, 55, of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, often hears her daughter ask if she has given medicine to their aging 12-year-old golden retriever, Yuki. Weighing 35.6 kilograms, Yuki is more than 5 kilograms heavier than dogs of her breed.
Yuki gets drugs for a heart ailment and to lower her blood pressure. Kato said she tells her dog, ‘‘Let’s both of us take life slowly’’ when they go out on a walk. Kato herself also suffers from high blood pressure.
Researcher Furuse said pet foods are now roughly divided into general food, natural food without additives and food prescribed by veterinarians. In addition, there is home-cooked food prepared by people like Karasawa.
The Pet Food Manufacturers Association said shipments of pet food for dogs, cats and other animals totaled about 120 billion yen in 1989 but doubled in 2006. It also said that pet food is diversifying and now includes low-calorie products, products for animals with special dietary requirements, as well dishes for dogs that are sick.
Also, in an era when consumer concerns about food safety extend to pet food as well, some manufacturers are producing natural products containing no additives. Among them is a company started by someone who became interested in additive-free pet food after his pet dog died, when he was shocked to discover the large amount of chemicals that pet food contains.
One household that now relies on pet food is that of Hosei University professor Yuko Tanaka. ‘‘Over the years we have had a number of dogs and cats in our home. The dogs ate the same things as the family. We started using pet food after some stray cats came to live with us. My father is gone and my mother is aged and my work keeps me very busy. I can’t feed my pets at a fixed time so I leave water and pet food out for them.’‘
But exactly what goes into pet food remains something of a mystery to pet owners. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has just drawn up a bill requiring pet food manufacturers to display the names of raw materials used in their products, and hopes to see it enacted by the Diet next spring.
Said rehabilitation adviser Watanabe, ‘‘We live in a time when we need to think about what goes into food. Pet owners should study and choose what they feed their pets.’‘
© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.
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34 Comments
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Sarge
"Dogs in Japan were once raised on letover rice mixed with miso soup and lived relatively short lives"
Good grief! How long did they live? A year? I imagine Ms. Cleo will be here shortly to tell us what her Dobie lives on. I think I know already. I know leftover rice and miso soup aren't included. And I wouldn't be surprised if a little ice cream is!
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curlygene
What's really scary is that there are people out there who lovingly abuse their children in the same way as the women in this article.
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GrouchyGaijin
I saw a dog walking by itself yesterday, on all four legs. I didn't know they had legs in Japan, as they're always carried, or in bicycle baskets! Just about fell off my papa-charri!
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cleo
Sarge, did I hear you call me? :-)
Diet is a problem, but I always thought it was filaria and general neglect (being left out in all weathers) that did for dogs in Japan in the past.....
My dogs sometimes get leftover rice, but only after it's been reboiled to soften it up, otherwise the genmai just goes straight through. I rarely feed the human family on misoshiru, never mind the dogs. All that salt!! Beans, veggies, organic, animal-product-free bikkies, organic pasta, home-made yoghurt, milk, cheese, fruit. Basically the same as people eat, but without the onions, condiments, alcohol and chocolate, and plus nutritional yeast to keep the bladder stones at bay.
If it's not good enough for me, it's not good enough for my dogs. They get to lick out the ice-cream cartons, so yes, a very little ice-cream.
Don't people ever read labels? If it has corn/cornmeal high on the list of ingredients, it's nutritionally low in value for dogs; if the list mentions 'animal by-products', 'chicken meal' or anything else that translates out as 'all the rubbish we can't get humans to eat', put the packet back on the shelf. Ditto if the list reads like a chemistry set. It isn't rocket science.
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GrouchyGaijin
Don't people ever read labels? Regrettably, in the past few years I've learned not to trust what I see on a label in Japan.
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greenteaonsens
At the end of the day they are just dogs, people.
I love how all these single 30 and 40 something Japanese women have these pets - can you spell "substitute child"?
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notimpressed
Doesnt your dog get to eat meat cleo? Poor pup...
dogs are often classes as omnivores: or animals that will eat all kinds of crap.
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cleo
greentea - 'just' dogs? Sorry, I don't understand.....
notimpressed - Vegetarian household. No meat for people or doggies.
Dogs are omnivores, like people; some eat all kinds of crap, some are vegetarians. :-)
My dogs are pampered and happy. The word 'poor' could never be applied to them. You'd probably be pretty envious of their lifestyle. ;-)
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notimpressed
maybe, but not if I was a dog and couldnt eat meat. Anyway, I like dogs. But they are dogs.:)
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Princeska
Poor dogs...they are dressed against their will in kawaii clothes with ribbons clipped on their ears. Some dogs are forced to wear gay dresses. Some have their voice strings cut to prevent them from barking and their tails cut to prevent them from expressing joy...It is not easy to be a dog in Japan.
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notimpressed
Lots of male dogs everywhere have had far worse than their tales cut. Im glad im not a dog, except I have to have a job as a human.
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cleo
Princeska -
Some dogs are quite happy to wear clothes, some are not. None should be forced to. My Dobie has some tshirts that she likes to wear in the winter, in the warmer weather she can take them or leave them. We leave them. The bossdog hates clothes of any kind.
Cutting the vocal chords of noisy dogs may get rid of the symptom, but not the underlying problem - why is the dog barking in the first place? It's cruel and unnecessary.
Tail docking isn't done to prevent the dog expressing joy, it's done as a fashion statement. My Dobie lost her tail before we ever met her, but she has no problem expressing joy. I wish she had a tail, though.
notimpressed -
Why do men get so weepy-eyed over neutering? It's a much simpler, less invasive procedure than spaying, yet very few men seem to worry that much about all those removed uteruses. If a dog isn't to be allowed to breed (and the vast majority of family pets aren't) it's much kinder to take away that which is going to stir up their hormones and make them bay at the moon for what they can't have, or get them yelled at for humping the furniture, next-door's toddler and unwary guests. And it prevents the drowning of countless unwanted 'accidental' puppies.
If you love your dog, spay and neuter.
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notimpressed
If you had balls you would understand the squeemishness any man has at neutering. I remember my eyes watering when the lambs got thier nuts docked on the farm, and they ran off bleating and shaking a leg. Comical yet ouch. Men get weapy eyed when we are get things as much as collide with that region. Just imaging a kidney punch, except your kidneys dont have any protection cause they are on the outside. Im not saying dont neuter, but come on, I cant help but think ouch!!
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cleo
lol. Only the ones I throw for the dog to fetch.
And she likes to bite them HARD.
tee hee
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Sarge
Cleo - "they get to lick out the ice cream cartons"
Yes, but do they get to lick out the bowls after you've made icing for your cakes?
"the genmai"
I should have known your dogs would never get white rice. Or meat. I'll bet your dogs are about the only dogs in Japan that don't get any meat to eat. I'm not saying that's bad...
"If you love your dog, spay and nueter"
Me ( to my dog, if I had one ): OK, Fido, I'm going to take you to get your testicles removed now...
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timorborder
Hey a dog topic. This is something I actually know about.
My dogs get to eat dogfood and a little bit of fruit and veges. There are also sometimes bones (with marrow included). Fresh meat is out because the bacteria count of "fresh meat" is too high. My monster dog has 6 meals a day. Actually, the volume of food is equivalent to being fed twice a day, however, we break it down into 6 snacks to stop him getting bloat (a serious problem for monster dogs). Our other dog gets feed twice a day.
On top of this, the dogs get walked twice a day and on weekends they get a bit of ball work as well. The big dog (a mastiff) does about 4km a day (slowly) and the small dog (a golden retreiver) gets about 10km a day. The kids seem to have the most contact with the dogs on a day-to-day basis. Both dogs also get regular trips to the vet for check-ups, weigh-ins, etc. These are free of charge for our small dog.
With regard to neutering, etc. I am totally in favor of this practice. Then again, our big dog hasn't been fixed because the vet recommended against it. Furthermore, our small dog is actually part of the breeding stock for the guide dog association in Japan. As such, she is not going to get fixed either. Generally speaking, however, as somebody whose family has been involved in breeding guide dogs/service dogs for over 40 years, I would thoroughly recommend you get your dog fixed because spaying and neutering can reduce the instance of testicular/ovary cancers by up to 70%. It can also counter a number of other serious health issues. Cleo - What breed is your boss dog?
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timorborder
*Weighing 35.6 kilograms, Yuki is more than 5 kilograms heavier than dogs of her breed. * This is really heavy for a female golden retreiver who I assume is not exercising that much. In addition to heart problems, I would assume that this dog also has potential hip dysplasia issues (elbows might also be shot). Our retriever is currently 33kg of muscle. Then again, she does a lot of exercise and according to her OFA rating has a better set of hips than 95% of other golden retreivers.
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notimpressed
sarge to his dog:Ok Fido, givem one more lick and make it a good one.
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capone
'ball work'...sounds interesting
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timorborder
Capone - Ball work is actually fetching a ball. Actually, in the case of our big dog, we use a soccer ball rather than a tennis ball because he swallows tennis balls. At the same time, however, he is the only dog I know who can put a soccer ball completely in his mouth.
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cleo
timorborder -
lol, only a mastiff owner would call a goldie a 'small dog'! Mr. Cleo tried to persuade me to get a mastiff recently, I said No because I don't have a pan big enough to cook all the beans & veggies it would need.
The bossdog is a 9-kilo mongrel who has lost her eyesight to glaucoma and her hearing to old age, yet still lords it over the Dobie (and the rest of us). I found her over 15 years ago, abandoned in a cardboard box in the woods when I was walking our now-departed Lab. Best thing I ever picked up for free. :-)
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Sarge
notimpressed - Har!
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Princeska
I laugh everytime when I see a dog dressed in clothes. I know the dogs themselves are ashamed of their outfits. They are so funny, so I cannot help laughing at them and their owners, and the owners are angry with me...
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Beelzebub
Dogs are scavengers and if allowed free rein usually supplement whatever their masters feed them with roadkill or other items you probably don't want to know about. By the way, I read years ago in a book that the Shiba and Akita breeds had adapted to the rice diet -- being native to these islands after all -- so such food might not have affected their longevity as much as it would the imported breeds, which only began getting popular here several decades after the war.
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cleo
Dogs in Japan aren't usually allowed free rein, otherwise they're likely to end up as road kill themselves.
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Princeska
I do not see real dogs - graceful hunters and protectors of people with high IQ, only some puppies that look like cats or new-born lambs...
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cleo
My dog's a real dog. She protects people with high IQ. (No one in the family with low IQ, but I'm sure she'd protect them too, if they were family) ;-)
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Princeska
cleo high IQ people usually have high IQ dogs...
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cleo
Princeska -
Where on earth did you pick that walnut up? I know some dumb people who have brilliant dogs. And some very intelligent people whose dogs are as thick as pea soup. (Still highly loveable, but thick, thick, thick.) My Dobie's brilliant. The Bossdog is - well, not.
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Princeska
Cleo
Well high IQ people do not choose chiwawa dogs (the ones the look like hamsters). Please do not say your dog is such.
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timeon
people with high IQ do not pay 300,000 yen for a puppy kept in a glass box at the local department store :) all the hysteria about fashionable dogs (some talento shows up with some dog, and the price goes up 150% for the breed) is a pity. I would like to see more people to get their pets from the rescue centers
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cleo
timeon -
Agreed. I'd also like to see more rescue centres; the places people are usually advised to take their unwanted pets to are disposal centres, not shelters.
Princeska -
Granted chihuahuas are not the brightest of dogs. They're cute, though. (All dogs are cute). A bigger problem in Japan with buying a popular breed is that you're likely to get an animal with all kinds of congenital health problems because the puppy farms are churning them out as fast as they can sell them, with little regard to bloodlines or quality. Never buy from a pet shop.
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timorborder
Go Cleo.
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DenshaDeGO
I saw a dog wearing a pair of pants and shoes the other day ... Lord help us
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