brookcove
Posted : 3/15/2006 11:53:01 AM
Just a note about comparing the safety of ingredients as fed to ruminants to our own single-stomached pets.
Bloat: this is indeed a vastly different condition from what a dog could
possibly experience. Bloat occurs in the rumen in ruminants - dogs don't have rumens. The mechanics of bloat in ruminants is quite well understood, being an overproduction or buildup of methane gases in this chamber which digests cellulose using specialized symbiotic bacteria. Death occurs very quickly from suffocation if it is not treated by relieving the pressure (stimulating belching, letting out gas through an esophageal tube, treating with a defoaming agent, or surgically opening the rumen through the peritoneal wall and flank) and addressing the underlying causes of the gas buildup.
Bloat in dogs occurs in the intestines, I believe - if we don't know what causes it exactly it is certain that it is a completely different process from the condition which can strike a ruminant.
This statement again is specific to ruminants - note the link to the conversion of cellulose to glucose, which our carnivores cannot accomplish.
Poisoning may result from accumulation of nitrates and/or oxalates in plants growing under stress, especially if drought conditions occur during a period of heavy nitrate uptake by the plant. Dietary nitrate is converted to nitrite, then ammonia by rumen bacteria. Toxicity occurs when the rate of conversion of nitrate to nitrite is higher than the conversion of nitrite to ammonia. Once absorbed into the blood, nitrite will bind to hemoglobin, forming methemoglobin. Since methemoglobin is less efficient in oxygen transport, animals will literally suffocate