Maintenance energy requirements and the effect of diet on performance of racing Greyhounds

Objectives-To determine maintenance energy requirements and effect of diet on performance of racing Greyhounds. Animals-7 adult racing Greyhounds. Procedure-Dogs were fed a higher fat and protein (HFP) or a lower fat and p rotein (LFP) diet for 8 weeks in a crossover design. Dogs were exercised fo r 15 minutes twice daily in a paddock and raced 500 m twice weekly. Blood g as, hematologic, and serum biochemical analyses were performed before and a fter racing, and race times were compared at the end of each diet period. Results-Mean race time was significantly shorter (32.81 +/- 0.65 seconds vs 33.05 +/- 0.71 seconds), and mean racing speed over 500 m was significantl y faster (15.25 +/- 0.30 vs 15.13 +/- 0.30 m .s(-1)) when dogs were fed the HFP diet than when they were fed the LFP diet. Diet had little or no effec t on results of blood gas, hematologic, and serum biochemical analyses, exc ept that Hct was 4% greater before and after racing when the HFP diet was f ed than when the LFP diet was fed. Mean SD metabolizable energy intake from weeks 1 through 16 was 155 +/- 9 kcal . kg(-0.75).d(-1) Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Racing Greyhounds ran faster when fed a diet containing higher fat and protein and lower carbohydrate contents, The ir maintenance metabolizable energy requirement was slightly higher than th at of moderately active dogs. (Am J Vet Res 2000;61:1566-1573).