The diet of sledge dogs

Abstract

The present activity in the Antarctic provided a stimulus for a study of the diet of sledge dogs. Observations made and results obtained in the Antarctic, together with cognate laboratory studies carried out in Britain, are here described. Experiments were made in Britain on dogs of various breeds, and in the Antarctic on huskies. The established sledging ration was found to be inadequate, so a product, pemmican, manufactured and supplied as blocks of I lb. to expeditions over the past 26 years was specially investigated. I n consequence, a new diet of a completely different composition has been devised; large quantities of it were shipped to the Antarctic for the first time in the autumn of 1956.Britain maintains several permanent bases in the Antarctic and the largest of them is at Hope Bay, 63' S., 57' W., where one of us (R. J. F. T.) spent the years of 1954 and 1955. At that time the complement at the base consisted of twelve men and about seventy-five dogs. The dogs, while at the base, received on alternate days 6-8 lb. of seal meat, most of which was muscle, fat and bone, but liver and heart were given occasionally. Most of the seal used as food was Lobodon carcinophagus and there is considerable evidence, backed by 12 years of practical experience, to show that such a diet of seal is almost, if not completely, adequate.On journeys, however, a concentrated, dehydrated ration must be provided, since on a loaded sledge about 50 yo of the weight may be food for the dog team. The ration has consisted, for the last quarter century, of dog pemmican, usually in the form of I lb. blocks. Dog pemmican was first used by H. G. Watkins in 1930 (Watkins, 1932), and it has been manufactured and supplied for every expedition since then. It may be, therefore, that there has been variation in composition over that period. All the work here recorded, however, deals with a single sample received in bulk from the manufacturers and, therefore, presumably of a reasonably constant composition.There have been complaints in the past that dog pemmican is inadequate as a sledging ration, but, until recently, there has been little factual evidence. It was known that the condition of the dogs deteriorated, with loss of weight and almost constant I Nutr. 13, IDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.

The feeding of sledge dogs on Antarctic expeditions

“…Dogs fed on lean seal meat passed only 2 % of the ingested nitrogen in their faeces, but dogs fed on pemmican and Nutrican passed 30% and 25 yo of the ingested I 966 nitrogen respectively. The high figure for nitrogen excretion for pemmican-fed dogs corresponds very closely to that of Taylor et al (1959) (33 %). One can only conclude that processing in some way renders the protein of the artificial diets less digestible.…”

“…T h e figures of Taylor et al (1959) for pemmican-fed dogs are similar (72 %). Wyatt's (1963) figures for total excretion are rather lower, but he attributes this to coprophagy.…”

“…The diet of sledge dogs in Antarctica has been studied by Taylor, Worden & Waterhouse (1959) and Wyatt (1963). It was shown that pemmican, a concentrated diet consisting of beef meal and fat made by Bovril Limited, was inadequate to maintain body-weight during sledging journeys when used in the standard ration of I lb (0.45 kg)/dog daily.…”

“…Nutrican caused less diarrhoea and diminished the loss of nutrients in the stools, but body-weights were not maintained on a ration of I Ib/day. Taylor et al (1959) showed that the energy expenditure of sledge dogs is high, and Wyatt (1963) estimated that a dog resting at base expended 2500-3000 kcallday, which during sledge journeys rose to 3800-4600 kcallday.…”

Proceedings of the Physiological Society, 28 September 1962, Cambridge Meeting: Communications

“…(0.45 kg) of Pemmican/dog/day yielding 2200 kcal. Taylor, Worden & Waterhouse (1959) showed that sledge dogs passed as much as 30 % of the protein content of the Pemmican diet in their faeces and devised an improved sledging ration Nutrican, yielding 2900 kcal/lb., which has been used since 1956 (Wyatt, 1962).…”