Hollywood Feed University Hosts Online Course on Puppy Nutrition

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November 18, 2020

Hollywood Feed University Hosts Online Course on Puppy Nutrition

Hollywood Feed recently hosted a free virtual class, entitled Proper Puppy Nutrition, taught by Dr. Greg Sunvold, PhD. The course was part of Hollywood Feed's free, pet wellness education resource known as Hollywood Feed University. This particular seminar focused on the importance of feeding puppies a nutritious and balanced diet. A recording of the class may be viewed on Hollywood Feed University's website at https://hfu.hollywoodfeed.com/live-event-page/proper-puppy-nutrition/

Throughout the course, Dr. Sunvold focused on what pet owners should look for in quality pet foods. He reviewed the way a puppy's food affects the gut, the brain, and the bones.

Attendees learned that 70% of the immune system is in the gut and what happens in the gut affects the rest of the body. The gut is foundational to immune health, and nutrition can play a role in enhancing a puppy’s immune health.

Puppies undergo a tremendous amount of bacterial changes as they grow. A puppy's gut is affected by prebiotics and probiotics. Prebiotics feed the gut bacteria and promote the healthy growth of probiotics. Probiotics then outcompete pathogens and prevent bad bacteria from growing. 

Nutrition affects the way a puppy's brain functions as well. Key nutrients needed for healthy brain development in puppies include Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids. Dr. Sunvold suggested that in order to make sure a puppy is getting enough Omega-6 fatty acids, the owner should make sure that their food contains plant oils like corn oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil. Omega-3 fatty acids come from flax, fish oil, and algae oil.

Lastly, Dr. Sunvold touched on the way that nutrition affects a puppy's bone development. Minerals including calcium and phosphorus are used to form bones, however large-breed puppies raised on a diet high in calcium can experience severe skeletal abnormalities and fast-growing bone disease. Therefore, pet owners need to be careful with calcium intake depending on the breed of their puppies. Calcium is found in both animal proteins and grains.

Throughout the presentation, Dr. Sunvold held an interactive Q&A session with attendees and posted several polls to gage the knowledge and most prominent feeding patterns of pet owners. He ended by emphasizing that in order to set puppies up for a long, healthy life, pet owners should take good care of their pets at home by feeding them appropriate products for their ages and breeds from the time they are puppies throughout their entire lives.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: With over 25 years of pet food industry experience and over 200 scientific publications, Dr. Greg Sunvold provides expert pet nutrition advice to improve and create many diverse pet products marketed globally. Having actively practiced in the field of the microbiome throughout his entire career, Dr. Sunvold leverages this deep technical knowledge to actively identify ways to apply innovations arising from this area into the pet food industry. As a result, he founded Microbiome Health, LLC, in order to commercially advance products based on these innovative microbiome technologies.

 

ABOUT HOLLYWOOD FEED: Hollywood Feed serves pets, their owners, caretakers and communities in 105+ stores across 14 states. Consistently ranking atop consumer choice awards in the markets it serves, Hollywood Feed and its family of brands have most recently been named Best Pet Supply Stores by Dallas A-List, Best Pet Store by The Memphis Flyer, Best Self Atlanta Magazine's Best Pet Store, Best Pet Food and Supplies in the Best of Denton County Awards, and Best New Business by Cary Living Magazine in North Carolina. Hollywood Feed proudly stands by its brand promise: If your pet doesn’t love it or if you don’t love it, we will gladly replace or refund it. Learn more about Hollywood Feed at hollywoodfeed.com and facebook.com/hwfeed. For more information on Hollywood Feed University, visit https://hfu.hollywoodfeed.com/.

Contact:
Beth Okeon, Marketing
beth@abomarketing.com, (901) 409-7607