Nutritional precision born of accurate knowledge
Dogs possess 70-200 millions olfactory cells – ten times the number humans have – but only 1700 taste buds, or six times fewer than humans. Humans spend almost an hour a day eating and taste is our predominant sense. That makes us fundamentally different from dogs, a more carnivorous species that consumes 100 grams of food in sixty seconds on average and whose smell dominates all other senses.
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By studying dogs on a daily basis for more than 30 years, Royal Canin has helped advance scientific know-how in the field, the basis of major innovations in health nutrition.
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These studies have been conducted in close association with the world’s leading physiology, nutrition and ethology experts, who study the nutritional needs of the dogs.
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Food suitable for human consumption is not always suitable for canine consumption, either in terms of palatability or nutritional balance.
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Building and maintaining, providing with energy, but also nourishing and caring in certain cases – this responsibility necessitates the formulation of highly palatable food for dogs: palatability* corresponds to the spontaneous consumption of a product in response to the perception of the product’s organoleptic* qualities.
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Although long reduced to the simple introduction of aromas and ingredients, palatability is actually a much more complex process, taking into account many different parameters, including odour, taste, texture, shape and size.
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Why is the study of palatability so essential?
Clearly, it is important that dogs eat with an appetite, but work on palatability is justified on many other levels:
- A perfectly balanced food prepared with the best ingredients is no use if the dog does not want to eat it.
- When the dog refuses to eat – due to weaning, the absence of its owner, heat, stress or old age – the palatability of the food has to be maximal. Sensory degradation is observed in older dogs, affecting taste and smell in particular.
- In the course of its life the dog may sometimes be forced to follow a special diet for health reasons, but unavoidable changes in the composition of the diet are not always appreciated.
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These different situations show how important palatability is in ensuring that the dog takes in the nutrients it needs every day, whatever the circumstances.
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Royal Canin is now internationally recognised for its expertise on palatability, a parameter that has become indistinguishable from the nutritional quality of its food.
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This brochure provides us with an opportunity to share our knowledge of dogs and to show that palatability is a fundamental aspect in Canine Health Nutrition.
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We hope that it instils you with some of the passion that drives us on every day.
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