Cut the carbs!
You’ve heard the saying, you are what you eat. Well, this is as true for dogs as it is for humans. Diet plays a significant role in our dogs’ overall health and wellbeing. Before the introduction of processed foods in the 1920s, dogs ate a species-appropriate diet.1 Back in the day, there was no such thing as commercially available dog food. Fast forward to today, and the pet food industry in Australia alone is valued at over $1.6 billion. That’s a hell of a lotta money.2 So why should we care? Kibble is convenient. My vet recommends this special brand. And my dog loves it.
Dogs are scavenging carnivores, so you should know they’ll literally eat anything. And they do! But when we look at diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or skin conditions or cancer, the statistics are shocking. The numbers are rising, and we need to start asking ourselves why?3 Let’s take a quick look at the stats. Cancer is currently occurring in 1 out of 2 dogs, and in 1 out of 3 cats.4 Although these numbers are unsettling, we as pet owners have the ability to alter these statistics for the better. Together, we can practice awareness and develop a better understanding for what our dogs require.
Being a scavenging animal, your dog will be just fine eating a commercial food diet their entire life. However, a lifetime of this stuff most definitely isn’t going to help your dog thrive. In fact, feeding a commercial diet for the life of your dog is often referred to by canine nutritionists and holistic veterinarians as ‘nutritional abuse’.5 And this ‘abuse’ can and does result in a long list of degenerative and auto-immune diseases.
Today we are overwhelmed with choice and confused by opinions. We have the internet at our fingertips. Our parents, our vet, or our next door neighbour are giving you their two cents’ worth. But ultimately, what you feed your dog comes down to you. And your dog. Well, they have no choice. So what can we do? Check the label. This can be tricky because ingredients are sometimes hard to find and if you’re optically challenged like I am, you may need glasses to read them. What you should be looking for is the amount of carbohydrates in your dog’s food. At a glance, you most likely won’t find a clear percentage, as according to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), carbohydrates are not required to be listed in the ingredients.3
Most brands of kibble have a percentage of anywhere up to 50% of carbohydrates or more. Yet in the wild, dogs only consume around 2-3%.3 And I can tell you right now - they didn’t go digging for potatoes. This small percentage came from the consumption of the stomach contents of their prey. But here’s the part that never ceases to astound me. Guess how many carbohydrates dogs require in their diet? A big fat 0%.6 Dogs’ GI tracts are significantly shorter than ours, so they struggle immensely to digest carbohydrates. And carbs have absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever to dogs.
Kibble companies use carbs as cheap fillers, and they’re also necessary in the cooking process to bind the kibble. How else do they make those little pieces of rendered meat form shapes? In addition to dogs’ short digestive tracts, unlike humans, they do not produce amylase in their saliva. In humans, amylase is the naturally occurring enzyme that starts to break down carbohydrates and begin the digestive process.7 Dog’s digestive systems are working in over-drive trying to process these carbs, and wasting a heap of energy in doing so, rather than using energy for healing or building natural immunity.3
Studies have shown ‘Diet plays a… significant role in the development of cancer in humans, with poor quality fats, too much red meat… too much salt and too [many] carbohydrates listed among the most common protagonists’.8 And, that dogs who eat a high-carbohydrate diet (anything consisting 50% of carbs or more) are more likely to develop cancers. It’s hard to escape carbs in commercially processed diets, as even grain-free products use sweet potato and tapioca. So where does this leave us?
We know dogs don’t need carbs BUT that carbohydrates such as rice, grains, wheat, corn, barley, oats and potatoes make up the majority of ingredients in commercial pet foods. Don’t be fooled by fancy marketing or labels any longer! It’s time to start looking at the alternative: fresh, whole foods. There’s a reason why pet owners are switching to raw food diets. How can we trust something that comes in a bag and lasts anywhere up to two years? The simple answer is: we can’t.
References
1 https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/11/13/pet-food-industry.aspx
2 https://www.ava.com.au/13478
3 Inner Wolf Canine Nutrition, Steph Orange, BCCSDip.HthNut
4 https://www.canceractive.com/cancer-active-page-link.aspx?n=4030&title=The-staggering-statistics-on-pet-cancer-cats-and-dogs
5 https://vetsallnatural.com.au/ava-nutrition-talk/
6 https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/10/13/dr-mercola-becker-on-pet-food-industry.aspx
7 https://www.britannica.com/science/amylase
8 https://dogsfirst.ie/sugar-causes-cancer-in-dogs/