Small Animal Nutrition: Principal Classes of Nutrients

Vocabulary flashcards covering the principal classes of nutrients in small animal diets, including water balance, proteins, essential amino acids, lipids, and carbohydrates.

Food

Any substance consumed by an animal to provide the nutrients and energy needed to survive, grow, reproduce, and stay healthy.

Essential Nutrients

The six vital nutrient classes required in animal diets: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, vitamins, and minerals.

Metabolic Water

Water produced internally within the body as a result of the breakdown of macronutrients, such as proteins, fats, or carbohydrates.

Hydrolysis

A digestive breakdown process facilitated by water in which chemical bonds of nutrients are split.

Hyperhydration

A state of water excess or water intoxication that causes body cells to swell, resulting in symptoms such as lethargy, vomiting, loss of coordination, pale gums, bloating, and brain swelling.

Protein

Complex molecules formed from chains of 20 amino acids that provide essential structural, metabolic, hormonal, and repair functions.

Essential Amino Acids (EAAs)

Amino acids that cannot be synthesized in an animal's body and therefore must be obtained directly through dietary intake.

Non-essential Amino Acids

Amino acids that can be synthesized by the animal's body through the metabolism of other amino acids.

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)

A group of essential amino acids consisting of leucine, isoleucine, and valine that stimulate protein synthesis within muscles.

Taurine

An essential amino acid found almost exclusively in meat and seafood that cats cannot synthesize; vital for vision health, cardiac function, reproduction, and calcium regulation.

Feline Central Retinal Degeneration (FCRD)

A serious ocular condition and clinical deficiency sign in cats resulting from an inadequate intake of taurine, which can lead to blindness.

Biological Value (BV)

A measure of protein quality that evaluates the efficiency with which absorbed dietary protein is retained for tissue growth and repair.

Hyperammonaemia

A condition characterized by elevated levels of toxic ammonia in the blood, resulting from a dietary deficiency of arginine (an amino acid critical for ammonia excretion and urine production).

Methionine

An essential amino acid found in fish, egg proteins, wheat, and maize glutens that maintains skin and hair health through keratin production.

Tryptophan

An essential amino acid found primarily in poultry, fish, and soy that is required for hormone production, notably serotonin and melatonin.

Phenylalanine

An essential amino acid critical for hair and iris pigmentation, brain functioning, and thyroid hormone production.

Triglyceride

The primary lipid structure consisting of three fatty acid molecules chemically bound to one molecule of glycerol.

Linoleic Acid

An essential polyunsaturated fatty acid required by all animals, found in pork, poultry fat, and vegetable oils.

Linolenic Acid

A polyunsaturated fatty acid found in vegetable oils and fats that can be synthesized from linoleic acid in cats and dogs.

Arachidonic Acid

A polyunsaturated fatty acid present in animal fats that dogs can synthesize from linolenic acid, but which obligate carnivores like cats must have supplied pre-formed in their diet.

Monosaccharides

Simple carbohydrates consisting of a single sugar unit that provide readily available, fast energy (e.g., glucose, fructose, and galactose).

Disaccharides

Simple sugars composed of two linked monosaccharide units, such as sucrose, maltose, and lactose.

Polysaccharides

Complex carbohydrates formed by long chains of monosaccharide units, encompassing starches, glycogen, and dietary fibres.

Soluble Dietary Fibre

A complex carbohydrate that dissolves in water and is fermented by microbes in the colon to support gut health (e.g., pectin).

Insoluble Dietary Fibre

A complex carbohydrate that does not dissolve in water (e.g., cellulose), providing bulk to faeces, easing defecation, and maintaining gut transit.

Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs)

Energy-yielding compounds produced by the microbial fermentation of dietary fibre, serving as a primary energy source in herbivores such as rabbits, rodents, and ruminants.