Over the last 5 years or more there has been a lot of talk about grain free dog foods & whether it is the right thing to feed or not. There was concern that it caused Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs. When I did a research into this & found that the FDA did not say what some of the commercial dog food companies tried to convince people they did. The companies that did this were companies that sell tons of dog food in grocery stores, big box stores & have been around for years. Many of these dog foods I am referring to have mostly low quality ingredients. Some don’t even have meat in the first 3-5 ingredients. Dog are Carnivores not vegetarians. If you read the ingredient labels on these foods & researched what most were you would be appalled by it. I’ll blog about that in the future. They wanted people to be scared of the Grain free label & go back to their brands. Funny part is now many of them make a grain free product, but beware of the ingredients used in them.
The FDA’s warning was for foods that were using certain non grain ingredients as Main ingredients in the dog food. A main ingredients are the first 4-6 ingredients listed on the ingredient list of every bag of dog food. These generally represent the majority of what’s in the food. The FDA warning addressed multiple legumes & as main ingredients. These included peas, lentils, chickpea, potatoes, pulses (seeds of legumes) & their protein starch early in the ingredient list, indicating that they are main ingredients.
My dog Ace (pictured above on the day he came into the rescue) was estimated to be 15 months old then & he lived to be 17 yrs & 8 months. He was a Golden Mix (Golden Retriever & Cocker Spaniel is the guess as there was a man in IN trying to breed apartment size Golden Retrievers) which Golden Retrievers were one of the breeds that was more susceptible to DCM. Ace was on a grain-free diet from the time I adopted him till he died & his heart was strong. He developed a slight heart murmur at around age 12 or so, but it couldn’t always be detected at exams. The photo below was Ace a couple weeks before he crossed the rainbow bridge. He was a happy dog, old but still eating, walking & enjoying life up until his last day on the earth.
Low quality foods use nutritionally empty grain fillers. Foods which have a high grain or gluten content can cause inflammation in some dogs due to intolerance or allergy to grains or gluten. Foods classified as grains are: corn, wheat, soy, rice, oatmeal, barley, oats, sorghum etc… 3 top allergens for dogs are: corn, wheat, & soy. High starch levels are viewed as unnatural & not what wild dogs, wolves or coyotes would consume. As many people are leaning towards going back to what their dogs “ancestors” ate.
Where grain-free foods utilize other high quality ingredients such as pulses, legumes, sweet potatoes but not as main ingredients. The main benefits of grain-free dog foods include: better digestion (because more natural), healthier skin, improved energy levels, greater nutritional balance.
Karen Becker DVM is a well known Veterinarian, & speaker, she states that: Dogs have short digestive tracts & are adapted to metabolize animal flesh & fat, not grains & simple sugars, including starch from grains. Consuming grains on a regular basis can lead to joint problems (due to inflammation).
So in conclusion grains are not toxic, but nor are they healthy for dogs. I have fed grain-free dog food for many years. I have added cooked organic oatmeal short term to the dog food of an underweight dog to help put on a little weight. Most dogs I have seen that are on grain-free dog food are not overweight, partly due to there is not all the starch that becomes natural sugar & not absorbed & used for energy. My first two Sam & Ace taught me a lot & they were both on grain-free diets for many years.
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