Feeding your dog
We look at the foods your dog eats
We recommend that you read the packaging of prepared dog foods with an informed mind, and learn which raw foods to offer your dog to keep it healthy and trim.
How the dog (and human) were designed to eat
Like humans, dogs have organs and systems designed to deal with a shortage of food rather than an excess of it. In nature, during good times the body took in nutrition and stored it in such a way that it could be made available when food was scarce. The life style of the wild dog or early man were similarly very active, in contrast to many of of today’s dogs (and humans) who are under exercised.
The dog’s system is programmed to keep blood sugar up (because it evolved for a starvation diet with infrequent peaks of the good life). The only hormone produced in their backward evolutionary days to keep blood sugar down was insulin and it was needed very rarely. Insulin is now overwhelmed by overdoses of sugar which the domestic dog ingests in the form of processed or soluble carbohydrate(starch). When overwhelmed, instead of sugars making their way into cells, they are allowed to build up in the blood (and diabetes can be the result). The other function of insulin is to convert such blood sugar into fat and store it in the body’s fat cells, while at the same time stopping these fat reserves from breaking down (this was so that the wild dog could live off its fat reserves in lean times).
Modern dog foods
Animals that live exclusively on dried kibble have a diet that is at least a third starch. Dry dog food contains 5 times the carbohydrate of natural foods, The starch is there to facilitate manufacture of the pet food – and is not included as positive breakthrough in canine nutrition. Protein is expensive and is often replaced by some form of soluble carbohydrate. This food has a high glycaemic index (load), causing the dog’s body to elicit insulin.
We might expect chips or a donut to be high in this index, but surprisingly plain rice is also very high. You need to understand what is on the label of your dog food. Rice (for example) is an ingredient in many kibbles and sounds like it is healthy and ‘low fat’. It is low fat but it is fattening, because its glycaemic load is also high. This relationship between carbohydrates and a dog’s hormone response is very important – low soluble carbohydrate in a food as well as low fat is important in keeping your dog trim.
A modern dog that eats like its ancestors and it is lucky enough to eat a mainly prey or fresh pre-killed meat diet will take in very little soluble carbohydrate. In fact, anything that a peckish dog would meet in nature would be low in carbohydrate (with the exception of honey and grapes).
In order to make kibble irresistible to your dog a special coating is added to the kibbles. To make this coating an enzyme is used to begin digesting various extruded meat and other by products of food production (remains of carcasses in all their forms). Then when this mixture has become liquid during the mechanical ‘digesting’ process it is sprayed onto the kibble. This sounds highly unpleasant, but do remember that in the wild, your pet would be very happy to eat everything of an animal’s carcass, including the contents of its stomach and bowel. (and the dead prey often wouldn’t be very fresh). If it’s fed predominantly on kibble, you may wish to watch your dog’s teeth though, because it has been argued that this coating as well as the fact that manufactured pet foods are high in sugars (from carbohydrate) may cause periodontal problems, one symptom of which is strong ‘dog’ breath.
Tinned food
Like kibble tinned food ticks all the nutritional boxes once it has been processed to the form you find on the supermarket shelf. But note that tinned food is very sterile owing to the high temperatures involved in its manufacturer. Your dog has very strong (and to us distasteful) tastes in what it finds interesting to eat (horse manure is a favourite) and actually bacteria in its gut is good for it. So don’t restrict it to a bland diet of exclusively tinned food either.
A bit more about labeling
Pet food manufacturers are required to give details of what is in the food they sell.
Vitamins have to be added to kibble for example because it is largely grains and sugar. If it were raw meat these supplements would not be required. Refining cereals reduces their nutrient value (loss of Vitamin E and B for example. So does using heat in food preparation (which happens in the canning process). Adding nutrients to processed foods essentially puts back the nutrients that have been removed during processing, though having said this calcium is readily available in bought dog food (and in this case processed food it is better than raw meat).
Fresh foods
What about the ‘real’ foods that your dog can eat? Any of the following:
Fresh human grade raw meat (e.g. raw lamb), raw meaty bones (not lamb chops) and vegetables, not too much animal fat, raw chicken wings
Generally 1-2 raw bones may be offered per week with a few days in between each serving
The bone must be large enough so that the dog cannot fit the whole bone in its mouth or swallow the bone whole
Never feed cooked bones as these can splinter
Avoid large marrow bones (these have very thick outer rims), T-bones, ‘chop’ bones e.g. lamb cutlets, large knuckle bones and bones sawn lengthwise as dogs may crack their teeth on these
Dogs may be offered fish in spring water occasionally, cold water fish such as salmon
Dogs may also be offered a small amount of cooked vegetables e.g. carrots etc
Cooked meat such as boiled chicken or lamb may also be offered but ensure there are no cooked bones;
A small amount of cooked plain pasta/rice may be offered
Provide access to grass (avoid chemically treated grass and toxic plants) -
Fresh water must be available at all times
Do not feed the following: onions (watch the gravies on any left over food), garlic, chocolate, coffee or caffeine products, avocado, bread dough, grapes, raisins, sultanas, currants, nuts, any kind of fruit stone and mushrooms.
Left over from human meals
Left over meat is better raw for dogs. It is at its highest in nutrients and raw food gives the dogs gut plenty of bacteria to work with.
Don’t teach your dog to be fussy, and make mealtimes interesting for them
In the wild dogs learn what not to eat to avoid poisoning but they don’t learn what to eat. If you feed your pet on only one diet when they are young they lose that opportunist instinct and become inflexible - great for pet food manufactures to get hold of the animals’ taste buds as puppies.
You would not just restrict yourself to one or two dishes, every meal, every day, so give your dog some variety too. Don’t make your dog a fussy eater – in nature no animal will willingly starve itself if food is offered.
Pets don’t expect treats all the time so use them sparingly. It has been scientifically proven that intermittent edible reward interchanged with, say, a congratulatory rub of the ears – will actually aid training.
What you are looking for
A balanced diet. This means that nutrients are balanced to the energy content. Ie when your dog has had enough calories it must have had enough of all the nutrients it needs too. How much food this is will vary from individual creature to individual creature as well as breed to breed, the individual metabolic efficiency will vary.
You can ask your vet to advice the amount of food your dog should have per day, remembering to advise what mix of kibble, tinned or fresh food you are offering. The calories are in the dried matter in food (not the water) so kg for kg – manufactured food has the following proportions: tinned food 70% water, 30% dry matter, kibble 10% water 90% dry matter, freeze dried food 5% water 95% dry matter. Also, check with your vet that your dog has no jaw or dental problems that will cause it problems if it wants to chew on bones.
Don’t overfeed your dog
It is kinder to the animal not to overfeed it from the outset because having allowed this to happen and the animal has been allowed to become overweight, in order for it to lose this weight your dog must must be underfed and then its complaints to you about hunger will have foundation. Exercise it well and then it can take more calories.
Give your dog exercise and mental stimulation
A sledge dog doing its job all day burns 11,000 calories a day and a fox hound can run 25 miles in three hours . Many of our dogs get about 20 minutes walk a day, many have been idle for hours before this walk. Many of our dogs are severely under-exercised. Give your dog as much exercise as you can.
In the wild pack dogs would eat between 4 to 8 times, during daylight. So if your lifestyle allows it, smaller feeds, and more of them are more interesting and better for digestion. In their natural state, when dogs have consumed enough calories they will stop eating. As with humans, for domesticated dogs, boredom is often a motivator behind eating, another good reason for exercise and games.
In brief:
Mix foods for nutritional purposes and for the dog’s entertainment.
Watch portion size, remember the calories are in the dry matter.
Give your dog enough exercise for its health and for mental stimulation.
Keep a check on your dog’s teeth, particularly if it lives exclusively on processed food.
The POA is grateful to Nottingham University Press for the use of their book Ruined by Excess, Perfected by Lack by Richard Patton and RSPCA Australia’s website for the list of healthy fresh food.
Article by: Pet Owners Association
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