You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

What are amino acids ?

Amino acids are chemicals that are composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Some of them also contain phosphorus or sulphur. Several amino acids linked together form a chain called a peptide, and long sequences of peptides form proteins. So amino acids are the basic building blocks of proteins. There are hundreds of amino acids in nature but only 20 are important nutrients for animals, of which 10 are essential for dogs and 11 are essential for cats :

• Alanine
• Arginine - Essential
• Asparagine
• Aspartate
• Cysteine
• Glutamate
• Glutamine
• Glycine 
• Histidine - Essential
• Isoleucine - Essential
• Leucine - Essential
• Lysine - Essential
• Methionine - Essential
• Phenylalanine - Essential
• Proline
• Serine
• Taurine - Essential in cats *
• Threonine- Essential
• Tryptophan - Essential
• Tyrosine 
• Valine - Essential

In some diseases the body's requirements for  non-essential amino acids may increase beyond the body's capability to make them, and so a dietary supply may become essential. An example of this is glutamine which is required in critical care cases. 

Having been eaten, proteins in the diet are digested and broken down into peptides or individual amino acids for absorption into the body. Later they are reconstituted into proteins - for example by the liver. Proteins are very important for a wide range of functions, for example they make up  :

• Hormones
• Enzymes
• Structural tissues
• Antibodies
• Proteins can also be used to produce energy 

If dietary intake of protein  is inadequate the body will breakdown it's own body proteins (mainly muscle) into amino acids and use them, and this leads to loss of muscle mass and a fall in body weight. 

Commercially available pet foods that are "Complete" should contain all the essential amino acids in sufficient amounts, but compiling a homemade diet that meets all the amino acid requirements of an animal is not easy to achieve.

Last updated : September 2013