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Author: Sara Baxter
Tranquil Dog Owner, Dog Behavior Specialist/Trainer, Dog Foodie
You have been hearing this your whole life. So, why then is it not the very first place vets and doctors explore to diagnose medical problems?
You can speculate about drug companies “encouraging” the vet to dispense their meds, or think that some vets just want to keep experimenting to make money. Perhaps they sell a line of food that is notorious for causing “allergic” reactions in dogs, so how could they bring that up? Well, that may happen sometimes, but I don’t think that is normally the case. I think it just never occurs to some of them. I have heard plenty of stories about how much testing a person went through just to find out it was a dairy allergy or celiac disease. I am pretty sure I am making some vets out there pretty mad, and I am sorry for that, it really isn’t my intention. My goal is to have our dogs live LONG and healthy lives because we love them more than almost anything.
What you eat, which things you eat together and how often you consume certain foods can have a profound effect on your health especially long term. It is no different for your dog. I am hoping that through a series of posts I can share some of the research in canine nutrition that I have been working on since early 2006 when my Boxer, Gretel, suffered with food sensitivities. Back then, my vet did not believe me when I told him that I thought it was the food. There were very few choices for “natural” dog foods back then, but I can tell you that a diet change pretty much saved her life. I will tell you that it is an ever changing culture and, sadly, I am not sure it has gotten better over the years.
So, let’s compare people diet to dog diet. Think about what you eat during the week. You may not want to do that since perhaps you don’t eat the way you should, but look at all of the different things you eat regularly. Either way, you do get most of what you need. Does your dog have such diversity in his or her diet? It is just as important for them as it is for us to be sure they are getting everything they need and not just the minimum required by law.
During my behavior sessions I cover diet and I hear this all the time: “Oh no, I do not give him people food.” My response to that is: “Please do.” Now, to answer your next question; No, it does not cause begging. Begging is a lack of understanding and respect for authority, basically a leadership issue. Food aggression runs along those same lines, but all of that cannot be adequately addressed in a blog post for sure.
If you didn’t know already, the ingredients in dog food are listed on the package by weight. I won’t get into the breakdown of ingredients here, that will be for another post, but you should look at the label realistically. Let’s use one popular, quality food as an example and I will not say which one so I don’t get myself into trouble. I just included the first 10 to 12 ingredients or so to make this point.
Ingredients
New Formula: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Brewers Rice, Barley, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), Rice Bran, Whole Grain Sorghum, Sweet Potato, Lamb Meal, Natural Flavor
Original Formula: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Brewers Rice, Split Peas, Rice Bran, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Barley, Lamb Meal, Dried Sweet Potato, Natural Flavor, Dried Plain Beet Pulp
If you think of these ingredients in terms of weight, and count the first seven ingredients as the bulk of the diet, what do you see? I notice that four of the first seven are some sort of grain, or carbohydrate. None of those are bad ingredients, but that is the reason I struggle with grain inclusive dog foods. Add up the weight of the grains and it seems that there is too much. You must remember that many people feed one kind of dog food, day in and day out for the dog’s entire life. How can that possibly be good for the dog, no matter what is in the food?
As a side note, this food obviously has removed the legumes from the top of the list, and that is good to see. It looks like that trend is finally ending, more on that later too.
Anyway, my advice to you is to add a variety of foods to your dog’s diet. Whole, healthy foods will beat any highly processed dog food in the long run. At this point I would not advise anyone to completely replace dog food altogether since we are not veterinary nutritionists and cannot assure the complete balance of vital nutrients. But the occasional chicken dinner with veggies and a fruit dessert will only help your dog. Sometimes I don’t cook, so my dog Frieda will have a dinner that looks something like this: Rotisserie chicken, oatmeal, Gerber baby food like sweet potato, mango and kale, fish oil, probiotics. Be creative but be careful not to feed the wrong things. Here are some helpful links to get you on your way.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets
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Watch for more posts to help you choose the best diet for your best friend!
