Waltham Research
Research at Waltham provides the world with vast amounts of knowledge on health and nutrition. The OPTIMUM® product range represents a large, ongoing body of research from Waltham and gives owners the opportunity to give their pets an enhanced quality of life through scientifically researched nutritional products.
We will be bringing you more of the latest research produced by Waltham, so please visit the the Latest News section of this website to stay informed about the latest in pet health and nutrition.
What Waltham research has taught us about dogs
Over the past few decades studies from the Waltham Institute have demonstrated the numerous health benefits of dog ownership and provided us with some wonderful insights. Here are some of those findings:
Dogs enhance social networks
Dog owners may feel better about themselves, partially due to more frequent and enjoyable interactions with other people. Even if a dog owner has a worn appearance, they will receive more opportunities to interact with other people than non-dog owners.
It is known that pet dogs can act as a catalyst for human social interactions, and it has been suggested that this may enhance feelings of well-being. Two studies were carried out to establish the robustness of this effect.
In Study 1, a highly trained dog was used to ensure that the dog itself did not solicit attention from passers-by, and data was collected across a range of normal daily activities in which a dog could be included, not confined to conventional dog walking areas as in previous studies. Being accompanied by a dog increased the frequency of social interactions, especially interactions with strangers.
In Study 2, also using a trained dog, a different (male) participant was dressed either smartly or scruffily. Although there were significantly more interactions when he was smartly dressed, the greatest effect was between the Dog present and No Dog conditions irrespective of the handler's dress. It is concluded that the social effect is very robust, which opens the way for investigating possible consequences of the effect for well-being and health.
Pets support us
Pets provide supportive relationships, which complements the support they receive from humans. Research tells us that owning a pet can make you healthier. In turn, owners know their pets are supportive and an important part of their lives, which has a benefit on the heart and overall behaviour of the owner.
Cardiovascular reactivity was examined among 240 married couples, half of whom owned a pet. Mental arithmetic and cold pressor were performed in one of four randomly assigned social support conditions: alone, with pet or friend (friend present for non-pet owners), with spouse, with spouse and pet/friend.
Relative to people without pets, people with pets had significantly lower heart rate and blood pressure levels during a resting baseline, significantly smaller increases (i.e., reactivity) from baseline levels during the mental arithmetic and cold pressor, and faster recovery. Among pet owners, the lowest reactivity and quickest recovery was observed in the pet-present conditions.
People perceive pets as important, supportive parts of their lives, and significant cardiovascular and behavioural benefits are associated with those perceptions.
Dog ownership and weight management
Waltham has conducted extensive studies into the relationship between dog ownership and weight management along with the impact of owner activity levels on the prevalence of obesity. Questions asked included: Is there a correlation between owner lifestyle and owning an overweight or obese pet and what are the conditions associated with obesity?
- An owner’s attitude to health (not exercising, eating unhealthily) may be the same as their attitude towards their pet’s health
- The owner’s lack of interest in exercise and balanced nutrition for themselves may be reflected in how they feed treats to their pet
- Owners who do little exercise are more likely to own an overweight dog
- Owners are likely to under-estimate the amount of food a dog eats in a day because they do not consider leftovers or table scraps as a snack or a treat
- Owners who eat meals at set times during the day are less likely to have overweight dogs
- The more household members, the more likely the dog is to be fed table scraps
- Owners frequently believe their dog is not really hungry when he begs for a treat
- When pet owners were asked about the type of reward their dog would prefer 52% of owners said a walk, 29% a fuss, 12% table scraps, and only 9% said a treat
- Overweight dogs are more likely to suffer from heart disease, cancers and respiratory problems
Owner lifestyles do affect your dog’s weight
A questionnaire was designed and distributed to veterinary surgeries. One hundred dog owners completed questionnaires, which assessed body shape and size of the animal, concomitant illness, owner activity level, time spent interacting with the animal and dietary habits.
Some 36% of dogs were judged to be overweight. There were more dogs of excessive weight than expected from owners are in the least active category. Prevalence of one or more concomitant conditions was significantly higher in the overweight/obese group compared with the normal weight group, including, increased prevalence of cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease. Owner lifestyle does impact on your dog’s weight.
The psychology of over-feeding your dog
An investigation which reviewed published and internal information on the psychology of companion-animal feeding and the owner-pet interaction in relation to pet obesity found that:
- Owners of obese dogs are likely to over-humanise their animals
- Begging behaviour in dogs is frequently re-enforced by the owner
- 39% of respondents said that they feed their dogs table scraps/leftovers or human food daily
- 70% of owners feed their dog two meals per day, 24% one meal and 1% three meals per day
- 5% of owners feed their dogs while watching TV; 20% of owners watching more than 2 hours TV per day use treats to stop bad behaviour compared to only 2.4% of owners who watch less than 2 hours per day.
Diverse factors can contribute to over-feeding: these include an owner’s lack of knowledge about nutritional requirements – especially when feeding raw or home-prepared food and not considering food given outside the main meals (such as treats) as part of the dog’s daily food intake. It is important to understand that if you are feeding your dog (or indeed cat) treats, you need to reduce the amount of food you feed at regular mealtimes accordingly.
All OPTIMUM® products contain feeding guides and nutritional information, which are perfectly matched to the nutritional requirements of your pet at any life stage.
Your dog’s behaviour
Owners know their dogs look happy when they are healthy
Owners can read the signs when their dog is happy or not
Owners see tail wagging, excitability and facial expression as the most common displays of their dog’s happiness
Understanding happiness in animals is a highly important area for a number of reasons. Firstly, if an animal experiences happiness then it is likely that its wellbeing, at least in the short term, is good. In addition, owners’ perception of their pets’ emotional state is often a highly important marker of health for them.
A questionnaire was designed and sent to a list of dog owners. The first section of the questionnaire asked for general information regarding details about the dog (age, sex, and breed). Following this, owners were asked to freely report up to five things that their dog does when happy. Owners were asked to score the behaviours for six common situations. These were: during eating, after eating, playing with people, playing with other dogs, when walking and relaxing.
Questionnaires were completed, covering 21 breeds. The three most frequently reported categories when asked to freely describe what their dog did when happy were ‘tail wagging’, ‘energetic/excitable’ and ‘smile/facial’ expression.
Tail wagging, excitability and facial expression are the most common freely reported owner-reported indicators of dog happiness. A variety of behaviours appear to be important indicators of happiness to owners across the six different situations. Tail wagging, however, appears to be an important indicator of happiness that is common to all situations. The exception was ‘when relaxing’ during which tail wagging was considered of less importance in indicating happiness and behaviours such as sleeping and eyes shut were considered important.
It is important to note that the behaviours identified represent owner-perceived happiness and that this may differ from actual animal happiness. In addition, it is also possible that owners identify dog happiness using behavioural cues that are very subtle and that they do not consciously recognise.
Your dog’s digestion
Food comprises a complex mix of organic constituents that are broken down through digestion to provide energy for the animal. Digestion of food is carried out in the gastrointestinal tract, which forms a continuous tube from the mouth to the anus. Digestion is the breakdown of large particles into substances that can be absorbed and pass into the body. The Gastrointestinal Tract (GI) has three major functions:
- Prepares food to passage into internal environment of the body = digestion
- Accumulates waste products for defecation.
- Forms a protective boundary between external and internal environments
Here’s what Waltham research has shown us:
- We can improve gut health through diet
- Fibre can help the food pass through the body and can provide food for beneficial bacteria in the gut
- Prebiotics in the food can boost the number of healthy bacteria and reduce the number of harmful bacteria in the gut
The combination of highly digestible ingredients in OPTIMUM® dry products, and a pre-biotic to promote healthy bacteria in the gut, result in fewer and firm stools and promote intestinal health in your pet.
Increasing gut health through diet
The colon represents the area of the GI tract with the greatest influence on the host. A healthy gut results in; healthy vitality of the animal, maximum nutritional benefit from food and less susceptibility to disease. Fibre can be used to aid digestion. Benefits of good digestion are:
- Promotion of beneficial bacteria
- Regular defecation (no constipation)
- Good stool quality
- Less diarrhoea
- Less stomach aches/ bloating
- Less gut infections
Bacteria in the gut is the key to good digestive health. Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients, which selectively promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the colon. Prebiotic fibres improve the balance of microorganisms in the gut and can be used to manage several conditions in humans such as diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, constipation and diarrhoea. Prebiotics are also claimed to have health benefits such as increased resistance to infection, resistance to cancer, improved immune status and better digestion
An increase in beneficial bacteria has the following effects:
Production of short chain fatty acids that nourish cells:
- Inhibit growth of harmful bacteria
- Stimulate salt & water absorption
A decrease in harmful bacteria has the following effects:
- Reduction in harmful gases (H2S & ammonia)
- Reduction in faecal odour
Factors leading to imbalances in the gut include:
- Age
- Level of activity
- Stress (including: post-operative stress, kennelling and travel)
Therefore animals affected by these factors may benefit from dietary components that improve the health of the gut.
Waltham digestive research
Feeding trials with the addition of fibres such as sugar beet pulp, chicory, copra cake, pea fibres to the diet were carried out. Measures were taken on the following: effect on wet faeces production (volume) and nutrient absorption by the dog. Nutrient absorption is measured by analysing nutrients present in diet and those left in faeces, the difference between these shows what has been absorbed. In vitro test, using pooled faecal samples were analysed for the effect of fibres on gut bacteria. No single material was the ‘best fermenter in all categories’. Sugar beat pulp is recognised to present beneficial effects to the gut and generate high faeces quality in levels from 3 to 5% 'as is' for dogs.
