By: Dr Judy Jasek DVM
It seems there’s no end to the controversy over what to feed your dog. The stream of constantly changing information is endless, often leading to much confusion. I’m writing this article to help shed some light on this confusing topic. It’s based on my 30-plus years as a practicing veterinarian … and recommending a large variety of different diet types for my patients.
I started out like all veterinarians. We were trained to recommend the popular brands that make prescription diet food. We fed sick pets based on the recommendations of those companies …. the ones producing the so-called prescription diets sold through veterinarians. There was no real education in nutrition. Just training on which products to use, and for which conditions.
Kibble Causes Disease
As I moved forward in my career, I began to see disturbing trends in the increase of many disease conditions:
Itchy skin
Diarrhea
Pancreatitis
Autoimmune disease
Cancer
I saw magnificent advances in all areas of veterinary medicine … but nothing changed in the nutritional recommendations. I saw pets getting sicker and dying younger. I asked myself if we should be offering our patients different options.
Since there’s little true nutritional education in the veterinary field, I struck out on my own to learn more. Studies supporting the efficacy of veterinary diets are funded by the companies making the foods. So there’s clearly a potential conflict of interest. It makes the resulting information suspect. I began to read pet food labels and look at the ingredients. I started to ask myself if ingredients like rice, barley, and beet pulp were appropriate foods for a carnivore.
Some oils are a problem too. Oils sourced from:
Soybeans
Corn
Fish
are unstable at the high temperatures used to process commercial diets. This not only causes loss of nutrients but can make them toxic.
Then there is the long list of synthetic vitamins used to “balance” the diet. The problem with synthetic nutrients is that we have no idea how they’re affecting your dog’s body. Or if the body can even absorb them.
Once we start micro-managing nutrients, we run the risk of causing imbalances. That’s what happened with the past recall by Hills due to toxic vitamin D levels.
Look At Your Dog’s Teeth
I also looked at what dogs are best equipped to be eating and digesting. Your dog’s dentition is that of a carnivore:
Canine teeth to catch prey
Incisors to shear the meat from a carcass
Powerful jaw muscles
Back teeth to crush the food before swallowing
Dogs have a high acid content in their stomachs. This low pH starts the digestive process. And it eliminates pathogenic organisms dogs may eat. Their digestive tract is relatively short, so healthy dogs digest food in a few hours. Dogs and cats are not digestively equipped to break down plant material. This includes grains and vegetables.
Compare this to herbivores like horses or cows. They have large grinding teeth that begin to macerate the plant material. Then part of their digestive tract is used for fermentation. This completes the digestion of the plant material … thanks to the bacteria present there. Carnivores don’t have this mechanism.
How Plants Cause Inflammation
So what happens when a carnivore eats a plant-based diet? The answer, in a nutshell, is inflammation.
How does this happen?
Blood glucose levels and subsequently the insulin levels increase with carbohydrates like::
Processed grains
Legumes
Potatoes
Insulin is a hormone released to deal with nutritional excesses like high blood glucose. It moves the excess glucose into the liver and muscle tissue, where it’s stored as glycogen for later use.
But this storage mechanism has a limited capacity. Once it’s full, the excess gets stored as body fat. If the consumption of glucose continues it leads to insulin resistance. The cells become desensitized to the constantly elevated level in the blood. The blood sugar then stays elevated. This causes damage to the tissues and leads to chronic inflammation.
It’s not just the metabolic effects of carbohydrates on the body; there’s also a profound risk of toxic exposure. Many crops are sprayed with glyphosate (the main ingredient in Roundup). And some grains are sprayed before harvest to help dry them more rapidly.
Wheat, corn, and soy are also genetically modified (GMO). These foods can have devastating effects on the gut microbiome.
Legumes like peas, lentils and beans accumulate glyphosate if sprayed while growing. Your dog then eats this toxic chemical. This means that the grain-free varieties of kibble are not any safer.
Feed A Fresh Diet
To avoid these risks I recommend feeding fresh, whole food, ideally raw diet. Why is this better?
Whole food provides nutrition the way it’s meant to be eaten. Nutrients from fresh, whole foods are not altered by processing. So the body can recognize and assimilate them properly.
The nutrients in whole foods work synergistically in the body. Using the chemical equivalents doesn’t have the same beneficial effect.
Not all raw diets are created equal, and I’ve seen some that aren’t nutritionally balanced. It’s a good idea to seek the advice of a professional trained in feeding raw food.
Or you can buy a good quality pre-made raw food. But choose carefully.
Many raw diets still add in synthetic supplements to make up for deficiencies. I recommend providing complete nutrition through proper proportioning and rotation of ingredients.
Is Raw Risky?
Now, let’s address what seems to be the biggest controversy about raw feeding: safety. Raw feeding is vilified in veterinary medicine as a cause of all sorts of diseases, including:
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Pancreatitis
Allergies
Dilated cardiomyopathy
These claims almost always have no basis whatsoever.
How is it that a profession that preaches the importance of “evidence-based” medicine … makes claims against raw feeding with no evidence to back it up?
This is true hypocrisy! The truth is that raw feeding can be an appropriate diet for any dog … with some slight modifications based on individual needs.
Feeding raw is perfectly safe with a bit of proper handling and common sense. This means:
Wash your hands after feeding your pet
Don’t leave the food set out at room temperature for a long time
Wash dishes and utensils after your pet eats
Don’t leave food thawed in the refrigerator for more than 72 hours
That’s it. And raw feeding can be perfectly safe as long as the food is well-sourced; how the products are processed, stored, and distributed.
Recalls
What if a manufacturer does a recall? Raw pet food companies are highly scrutinized by the FDA. In fact, there is zero tolerance for bacteria in pet food.
Our world isn’t meant to be sterile. There are many beneficial bacteria that are essential to good health. The key is balance. In a healthy organism, the beneficial bugs will far outnumber those that can cause disease.
Remember the high acid content in the carnivore stomach I mentioned earlier? This will actually destroy any unwanted bacteria your dog eats. Have you ever seen your dog eat poop? Or pick up who-knows-what on a walk and eat it before you can stop him? How much bacteria is your dog getting here? Do you see your dog get violently ill after doing this?
Of course not!!!
And why? Because a healthy pet with all the necessary beneficial microbes will be able to eliminate any pathogenic bacteria. Dogs are natural scavengers. They should literally be able to eat roadkill and remain healthy.
Kibble Vs Raw
In the chart I’ve created below, you’ll see the pros and cons of kibble vs raw.
Deciding To Feed Raw
Raw food may be more expensive in the short term … but feeding it will drastically reduce your vet bills in the future. Your dog will be healthier because you’re feeding the food his body needs. It is literally “pay now or pay later” when it comes to feeding your pet the best diet possible.
If you think you can’t afford to feed raw, can you afford to treat a chronic disease such as cancer? Consider the financial and emotional toll it will take. I believe that most of us can rearrange our budget when something is important enough.
Dogs may appear to do fine on kibble in the short term. But I can guarantee you that there is a disease of inflammation brewing. It’s only a matter of time until it surfaces.
Nothing is more important than feeding your pet a proper diet. No synthetic supplement, regardless of the claims, will substitute for an inferior diet. Feeding your dog right will be the best thing you can ever do for your best friend.
Source: DNM