By
Alicia McWatters, PhD, CNC

For many decades dog owners have relied upon what is called a ‘complete’ and ‘nutritionally-balanced’ manufactured kibble diet. Feeding a synthetic commercial feed has been touted as the ‘best’ or ‘better’ way to feed your dog and as a result has convinced the public at large that it is true. Sadly, our dogs are the victims of these pretenses. We do not have complete knowledge about human nutrition, much less canine nutrition. So we must begin to wonder: How can these commercially prepared feed products truthfully be labeled complete or nutritionally-balanced???

First, we must understand that kibble was designed for profit volume, not optimum health. Isolated, synthetic vitamins, minerals, and amino acids are added to these products because the essential nutrients are lacking in these food products to begin with and therefore must be fortified before packaging. They provide the minimum standard levels of nutrients for the ‘average’ dog and are sold as ‘complete’. This disregards each dog’s unique biochemical individuality and leaves open the chance for nutrient excesses or deficiencies, which eventually can lead to illness and disease.

Secondly, few long-term studies on pet food have been conducted and few, if any, generational trials have been conducted. No one knows what the 100% perfect levels of nutrients are for dogs, so feeding trials and feed analysis cannot assure that a food is sufficiently balanced for each of our dog’s widely differing biochemical make-up. The manufacturer of a product conducts the feeding trials and therefore the results are not always, flawless, scientific, nor objective. Yet, the majority of dog owners rely on these feeds for nourishment for a wide variety of dogs in their care and are made to feel terribly guilty if they even THINK to do otherwise.

Well, a recent change in thinking has taken place in the dog world. Dog owners are now beginning to question the true value of these commercial diets, realizing that they are a far cry from resembling anything our canine friends were biologically accustomed to eating in the wild, such as meat and bones. These days many people are concerned about whether these fabricated diets are REALLY all they’re acclaimed to be and whether they should be feeding their dogs these types of diets at all. We are finding that not all dog owners are seeing better results from feeding these types of diets to their dogs and some dogs are experiencing symptoms of vitamin deficiencies/excesses, recurring infections, digestive disturbances, stress-related disorders, or have developed organ damage and disease and subsequently a shorter life-span. While it is difficult to determine if the diet fed was the causative factor, it does make one wonder if it may have been a contributing factor. We must ask and find the answers to the following questions: What causes these conditions AND why are they so common???

Further, I encourage you to ask these basic questions, such as, 1) how have dogs survived for thousands of years without the dog food industry? 2) what did they eat? 3) how often? 4) what is the form of the foods they consume in the wild? 5) what are the nutrient components of such wild diets? These answers can still be found by studying dogs in the wild, such as wolves. Though some of their habitat has changed, their biological and genetic structure has not. Our dogs’ bodies are adapted to fresh raw foods, such as meats, bones… that which is found in a prey animal and also various plant foods.

When it comes to manufactured diets, not only are these products primarily made-up of fragmented substances and isolated, synthetic vitamins and inorganic minerals, most do not contain important elements like enzymes, chlorophyll, and other natural beneficial substances which are found in natural foods. We must understand that these commercial fabricated diets only contain those nutrients, which have been identified as essential. There are over 40 essential nutrients known and more than 50 that are yet to be investigated in fresh foods.

For quite awhile now, it has been recognized that fresh plant foods contain many more substances than just vitamins, minerals, and other healthful, energy-promoting elements, such as natural antioxidant compounds: carotenoids, phytochemicals, and the polyphenols all contain anti-cancer properties. These substances are all biologically active components of plant life and possess natural disease resistance properties for the plants themselves as well as those who eat them. Scientists are discovering more new substances all the time in fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and seeds and these substances are often found to be beneficial to health, such as by blocking the steps which lead to cancer formation.

So the more that is learned about these beneficial elements in fresh foods the more it becomes evident that these elements would collectively play a major role in keeping our, and our pets' bodies healthy and ultimately disease-free. There isn’t a commercial food product or nutritional supplement available that can provide our dogs with the outstanding goodness that is to be found in Mother Nature’s garden.

Serving foods to our dogs that are naturally produced can offer them the ultimate opportunity to achieve vibrant and long-lasting health. In order to sustain life, we must include the following elements in our diet – carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and water. These elements are necessary for digestion, respiration, immune system function, excretion of toxins, secretion of hormones, and all other metabolic functions the body must perform in order to produce a healthy, happy individual. If there is even a deficiency in one of these elements the individual will eventually develop a host of diseases and infections.

More and more human and animal doctors are realizing that health is intimately connected to nutrition and diet. The ingredients and the form of the foods eaten play an important role in its healing and healthful effects. Are there chemical preservatives, chemical dyes, artificial flavoring, refined or processed sugar and so forth added to the "healthy" foods offered to your dogs? These non-nutritional extras have been associated with many types of health problems, causing a variety of degenerative diseases, negatively affecting the immune system, and they do nothing to contribute to good health. You may want to check your feed product labels for these additives. Does the diet you are serving your dog contain naturally occurring enzymes? Enzymes aid in the digestion and absorption of foods and are helpful in a number of other metabolic processes.

Foods are healthiest as close to nature and as unprocessed as possible. Serving our dogs wholesome foods is not much different from feeding ourselves a healthy diet. Mixing grains and legumes creates a high quality protein meal; nuts and seeds provide an excellent source of protein, some vitamins, minerals, and the essential fatty acids. The chief contributions that fruits provide are beta carotene, vitamin C and some minerals. Vegetables offer our dogs nearly all of the vitamins and minerals required for good health and can supply significant protein, with little, to no, fat. Especially beneficial for overweight dogs!

If you feed meats with bones, fruits, vegetables, with a small amount of legumes, grains, nuts, seeds and sprouts on a regular basis, your dog is receiving all the amino acids necessary for a healthy body. Most vegetables contain some of the essential amino acids with many containing them all. These essential amino acids are not synthesized by a dog’s body, but must come from a food source. Fresh raw meats, fruits, vegetables and sprouted seeds also provide those very important elements described earlier: Enzymes.

I think of my dogs as if they were my children. So, if my pediatrician were to recommend a bag of dry food, and tell me that this is the only thing I’ll ever need to feed my children for the rest of their lives, and that NOTHING I could prepare was better, or even adequate... you guessed it… I’d be out of the door lickety-split! Certainly our children AND our dogs deserve more than just kibble out of bag. I wouldn’t feed my children this way and I find it sad that dogs are being fed this way, especially under the presumption that they are best or better than a natural whole foods diet.

And finally, it is important to know that although your veterinarian plays a vital role in your dog’s health and well being, they are often guided by the commercial feed industry when it comes to nutrition. In many cases, this is where they receive their nutritional training, which is generally of brief duration. Many veterinary offices have the additional incentive to promote commercial products by the dividends they gain by the sales of such products. I do, however, believe that as time goes on, more and more veterinarians will begin to recognize the drawbacks of the commercial diets for our pets, and will no longer recommend them as an essential part of our dogs' diets.

I often pose the following questions to people who are on the fence and having a difficult time deciding whether or not to feed their dogs kibble. Would you want to eat kibble? Would you serve it to your children and other loved ones? If not, then don't serve it to your pets.