All About Dogs – Part 2 (Metabolism)
Although obviously different from people, dogs share many of our body’s characteristics. For example, they have a circulatory system to carry blood and a heart to move it, lungs to breath, and a digestive system to absorb nutrients and get rid of waste, etc. Like people, dogs come in many sizes and shapes. But it is not the similarities that are so interesting, rather it’s the differences.
Today, we’ll talk about metabolism. Dogs have a higher metabolism than people. They have a higher normal body temperature (102 degrees F, 38.9C), faster heart rate (70 to 120 beats per minute), breath faster (18 to 34 breaths per minute), and mature faster (average life span 8 to 16 years, depending on breed).
Young dogs have more energy than human children, but their higher metabolism makes for a shorter life span (a rule of thumb is that 1 dog year equals 10-12 people years for the first 2 years of their life, then 4 people years per dog year after that.
Dogs have a great ability to conserve heat, but are not good at cooling themselves. A dogs fur acts as a blanket that causes them to retain the heat their higher metabolism generates. Unfortunately, in hot and humid weather dogs have difficulty because they do not sweat, which is really evaporative cooling. The lose heat by panting. They take short, rapid breaths, about 10 times faster than normal, in an attempt to throw off heat by moving hot, moist air in and out. However, when they do this little air can be exchanged with the lungs and they must stop panting periodically to take a normal breath. Drinking water is helpful in cooling dogs down.
It is important to be aware that summer heat can be dangerous to your dog. Many dogs die of heat stroke every year. This most often happens when a dog is shut in a parked car because, even with the windows rolled down, the inside of a car can reach 150 degrees F or more in the summer. This can lead to heat stroke and death in a matter of minutes. This can also happen to a penned dog or one tied out in the sun with no shade or water.
So, be sure to keep your dog cool in the heat of summer. Keep them in the air conditioning with you, give them shade, plenty of cool drinking water, install a spray mister or wading pool if they are kept outside, and in general use common sense.
And, when it’s time to eat, be sure to give them Life’s Abundance natural dog food, the best dog food money can buy.
