Taking a Closer Look at Dry Food

Before we begin to look at dry foods, its important to understand a little more about our dogs and where they have come from.

We have domesticated dogs for around 30,000 years, our dogs are facultative carnivores which means their main diet should be a meat based diet, but they can survive on other foods if needed. Dogs are a species of canid, other canids are foxes, jackals and dingoes, but our dogs closest ancestors are grey wolves. We have changed the shape and size of our domestic dogs but there has been very few evolutionary changes to the digestive system. Our domestic dog’s digestive system is designed to eat fresh raw meat and bones. The first dry extruded food was only produced in 1957 by Purina and since the 1970s, the average age of a dog has dramatically reduced from around 17yrs to 11yrs. Nutrition is not solely responsible for this decline, we have the issue of over vaccination, over use of chemical flea and worm treatments and living in a toxi environment. The fact remains feeding ultra processed foods, plays a huge huge part in your dog’s health and longevity.

Dry food Is made by the extrusion process, extruded food goes through four extremely high heat processes so you can imagine what that does to the nutrients! You are left with something that is dead “food”, void of nutrients, enzymes and probiotics. The “food”, if you can call it that, it is then sprayed with a layer of fat and flavour enhancers to make it palatable to dogs, then sprayed with pre mix of synthetic vitamins and minerals.

As if all this is not bad enough, food that contains protein and sugar (carbohydrates) when heated to high temperatures, causes glycemic end products to be formed. AGE's have been linked to cancer, heart disease, oxidative stress and premature ageing to name but a few.

The other big worry with dry food is the amount of glyphosates, a chemical herbicide (weed killer) used on crops such as wheat, corn, soy and potatoes. Glyphosate are also linked to cancer, as as well as many other health issues. Glyphosate also damaged the microbiome and as we know around 80% of our dogs immune system lies in the gut so this is not good news!

We know one in two dogs will get cancer in its life time, so feeding a fresh species appropriate diet to them is extremely important to help prevent this and give them the best possible health and longevity. Dogs are very very resilient animals and sadly can be fed an extremely poor diet and in some cases for a very long time without showing many issues externally. Unfortunately you have no idea what’s going on inside that dogs body and run a higher risk of health implications and disease in the long run. As the saying goes....it was fine until it wasn’t Mycotoxins and aflatoxins are poisonous chemical compounds produced by mould, these are most commonly found in grain based dry food but can be found in all dry food. Mycotoxins and aflatoxins pose a serious health risk to your dog and can cause anything from vomiting to seizure to death.

Many dry foods contain low quality ingredients like “meat meal” or “fish meal” sadly these meal are generally made with the slaughter house waste, skin, carcasses, feet, feathers, trotters, ears ect these ingredients are rendered down at high temperatures into a dry power! This is the “meat” component of many dry foods!

Animal derivatives, again this is generally slaughter house waste left over from human consumption, not the quality meat that you think has gone into your pets food. Derivatives of a vegetable origin, this is again generally the left over waste from human consumption, vegetable peelings, roots, leaves, very little if any quality wholesome vegetables themselves.

Another huge problem with dry food is most contain a huge amount of carbohydrates! As we know our dogs are facultative carnivores, which means they need a meat based diet to fully thrive, we also know that domestic dogs have more copies of the AMY2B gene ranging from 3-32 copies which means they can digest some carbohydrates, however pet food companies exploit this and get away with filling their food with poor, none species appropriate ingredients like grains an cereals these included rice, wheat, corn/maize. They also add high amounts of legumes like peas, lentils, beans and soy. Yes dogs can “survive” on these foods for a time but never truly thrive!

When carbohydrates are eaten and metabolised by our dogs they turn to sugar. Eating a high carbohydrate diet is very bad news for our carnivorous friends in many ways. High carbohydrate diets can contribute to yeast infections, obesity, behaviour issues, diabetes, cancer and puts a strain on the kidneys, liver and pancreas! Feeding high amounts of cereals and legumes may also cause leaky gut this can lead to food intolerances and environmental allergies, as well as all round ill health. Feeding a small amount of carbohydrates to our canine companions is absolutely fin but this should come from plant matter like, veggies, herbs and fresh low carb fruits.

Dry food is also extremely dehydrating for our dogs, their natural diet is 75% moisture where as a dry food is only 8% moisture, so our dogs no matter how much they drink will always be left on a state of mild dehydration which over time isn’t good for the kidneys.

Pet food companies also have no legal requirement to list how much salt is in their products.

If you have absolutely no other choice but to feed a dry food always add fresh foods to the bowl, this will be extreme beneficial to your dogs health, feed as much variety as you can of lightl cooked meats, white fish, oily fish, you can use canned sardines or mackerel in spring water olive oil, eggs, veggies, seeds, herbs and low carb fruits. Check out our pimping up your processed food blog!

Karla Pearson No Bull Just Natural Health For Dogs