Eggs - what's the verdict?

Discussion dedicated to promoting the well-being of your dog through diet, exercise and general health tips.

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
nik1836
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 3:33 am

Eggs - what's the verdict?

Post by nik1836 »

I am still not sure what the official view on eggs is.

A dog breeder I know fed her dogs only COOKED eggs.

The vet I spoke to said NOT to give too many eggs - 'something about the protein', he said, but didn't explain what.

There always seems to be a split opinion about eggs, for humans AND dogs!

(The verdict now is that eggs - for humans - is a good food. )

Dogs love eggs and because of the uncertainty I feel, I have always rationed their egg intake but I would happily give them several a week if I knew it was okay to do so.
cyberhound
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:41 am

Post by cyberhound »

I don't know what the "official" view is, but here's mine:

Eggs get the thumbs up from us - our dog Ellie gets one raw egg nearly every day as they are a valuable source of a lot of nutrients.

I feed them raw as I've read that cooking changes the structure of the protein in them and can lead to allergies in some.

Some sources say there is something in the egg white that can cause a biotin deficiency (one of the B vitamins), but since egg yolks are a very good source of biotin this is unlikely to cause a problem unless you just feed the whites.
emmabeth
Posts: 8894
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: West Midlands
Contact:

Post by emmabeth »

Egg whites contain avidin which is a protein, this prevents the body from using biotin and can if eaten alone give one a biotin deficiency...

However egg yolks contain sufficient biotin to prevent this - so raw eggs are fine.

Feed them in excessive quantity though and you WILL know about it.*holds nose*

Em
Springersrule
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:56 am

Post by Springersrule »

Not only do mine get raw eggs once a week, they get them in the shells :wink:
cyberhound
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:41 am

Post by cyberhound »

emmabeth wrote:Feed them in excessive quantity though and you WILL know about it.*holds nose*

Em
What do you consider an excessive quantity? In my experience I haven't had to *hold my nose* around the dog since the time she was on commercial food! A mix of raw and home cooked food has been a great improvement in that department :wink:
leigh
Posts: 64
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 1:55 am

Post by leigh »

I have wondered about how many eggs is ok, too. I personally don't eat egg yolks EVER, so my dogs only get the yolk. Ted (4 yo shortleg jr ONLY eats them cooked - turns his nose up at them raw, so I scramble them with fine chopped parsley, and they both enjoy it like that. Bella (1yo jrxpom) sometimes eats them raw.

Given that my dogs are so tiny (Ted weighs 7.5 kilos, Bella weighs 4.8 kilos), I don't like to give them more than 3-5 a week, just because I don't know. My mom's rotty gets 2 a day
emmabeth
Posts: 8894
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: West Midlands
Contact:

Post by emmabeth »

Too much would be when your dog starts to fart! Or shows any signs of being unwell...

A large bowl of eggs eaten all at once would be bad, as in youd probably have a dog who farted, and had the runs (or constipation, hard to say how these thing will go, varies from dog to dog).

I would steer clear of feeding JUST egg yolk in large quantities (once a day wouldnt be a problem)... as i sort of figure a whole egg is balanced - part is not balanced....

Could be wrong there - arent egg yolks high fat and high protein?

Em
Post Reply