Species Appropriate Diet for Dogs Get the Grains Out of Your Dogs Diet – For Your Dogs Health

A dog’s ancestral diet looked very different from the diet that has been made popular by pet-food manufacturers.

The composition of a Dog’s Ancestral Diet looked like this…

• 56% Protein   
• 25% to 30% Fat          
• 14% Carbohydrates    

Carbohydrates are NOT nutritionally necessary in a dog’s diet. Protein and fat ARE essential components for a healthy canine diet.

Carbohydrates are NOT bad for dogs – in fact, when provided in appropriate quantity and from an appropriate source carbs can provide a useful source of energy and nutrients.

Grains are, however NOT an appropriate source of carbohydrates for multiple reasons as you will see further below.

Why Are Grains Included in Dog Kibble?

In the 1950’s dog food manufactures began a love affair with carbohydrates because carbs are:

• Easily obtainable;
• Have a long shelf-life;
• Enable the formation of hard/compact kibble;
• Are cheap to buy compared to the cost of good-source protein.

The inclusion of grains in dog food is not for the benefit of a dog’s health.

Highly processed grains are a good way for the manufacturer to bulk-up food but the resulting product provides poor quality nutrition and is species inappropriate.  A very bad situation if you consider that the major ingredient in a lot of dog kibble is grain or grain by-products of one sort or another.  For example:

• Barley (pearled barley etc.);
• Brewers rice;
• Cereal food fines (leftovers from human grade cereal production)
• Corn, Corn Bran, Corn Gluten Meal, Corn Germ Meal;
• Corn Middlings;
• Grain fermentation soluble;
• Oats or Oatmeal;
• Oat Hulls;
• Rice;
• Soy, Soy Flour or Soy (Soybean) Meal;
• Wheat Flour, Meal or Middlings (wheat mill run)

Negative Impacts on Your Dogs Health

I will cover some of the impacts on your dogs health just below. The negative impacts of grains in your dogs diet are many, some are complicated. I will not cover all impacts here but will cover enough for you to see just how serious this issue is.

 

Unwanted Weight Gain and Obesity 

Many of the grains used in commercially manufactured dog kibble are processed grain (cereal) carbohydrates.  These are highly digestible, low nutrient, high bulk ingredients which the dog’s digestive system quickly converts to sugar, which in-turn spikes the amount of insulin in the dog’s system – over working the pancreas and resulting in a feeling of constant hunger.  

As the dog is constantly hungry (due to high-insulin levels) the dog’s human may continue to feed the dog more of the grain-heavy food which then results in excessive weight gain – a condition on its own that can cause massive health issues…stress on joints, diabetes, inflammation leading to cancer, etc. Unfortunately all too often a veterinarian will then recommend a low calorie high fibre kibble (invariably grain based but expensive i.e. Royal Canine or Hill’s Science Diet) which further exacerbates the problem.

Carcinogens and Toxins in Grain and Grain By-Products

The Proof is In The Numbers
Statistics recorded by veterinary organizations from the 1950s up to present day are very telling. 

• The life-span of a companion dog in North America is now half of what it was in the 1950s;
• In the 1950s the average life-span of a golden retriever was 15 to 16 years, today the average is in the range of 8 to12 years;
• In 2005, 50% of older dogs dies from cancer, and the number is on the rise.
  

Cereal By-Products
The cereal by products used in the manufacturing of many dog foods are derived from the leftovers of human food processing.  It is important to understand that these are remaindered end of the line substances and as such, they can be full of chemicals.

Related Posts by Categories