I feed my dogs a high quality all-natural dog food but it is NOT grain free.
The kibble is made with:
• High-quality protein from human grade chicken
• Antioxidants including vitamins C & E
• Prebiotic fiber & probiotics
• A selection of nutritious vegetables
• Omega-3 fatty acids for healthy skin & a shiny coat
• Calcium & phosphorus for healthy teeth and strong bones
• Dietary fiber to help maintain a healthy digestive tract
• No artificial flavors or colors
• No corn, wheat or corn/wheat glutens
I have not yet embraced the grain-free dog food movement because a) I don't think that enough research has been done, and b) as an owner of large breed dogs I stick with the diet that my own puppies and dogs have done very well on over the years (avoiding large breed problems like bloat and panosteitis).
Here is an excellent post by Linda Arndt (The Great Dane Lady) on the topic of grain-free dog food:
Things to Ponder About Grain Free Diets by Linda Arndt
I get many emails asking my opinion of the new grain-free diets on the market.The growing holistic pet food industry has much competition these days, so they are looking for ways to reinvent the wheel and here you have it, the new grain-free diets!
What the Public Wants
After all, if “the public wants grain-free diets, certainly they know what is best for their pets – right? Wrong”. Just because the public wants it, is not a good enough reason to manufacture it. Just because it is a grain-free diet, does not mean it is appropriate for your dog’s individual situation.Propagation of Myths
Thanks to knee-jerk reactions and the propagation of nutritional myths on the internet, grains in pet foods have a bad reputation. Grains are carbohydrates and carbohydrates are not necessarily bad. Just because it is a grain-free diet does not mean there are no carbohydrates in the grain-free food. Instead they substitute potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams and tapioca, as other carb sources yet tapioca is a questionable ingredient for pets. More feed trials are needed on these foods.So when people think they are using a grain-free diet, it still has carbohydrates in it and in many cases potato carbohydrates are worse for allergies, systemic yeast infections, diabetic and cancer diets – worse than quality whole ground grains used in the proper proportion.
Not a Black and White Issue
My point here is this, like most things in life, this grainless diet topic is not a black and white issue. There are many things we need to consider before using a grain-free diet for our pet’s current health situation.More Research is Needed
Most grain-free diets have not been around long enough to see how they will do in 3-4 generations. And feed trials, if actually done, are very limited.No Grain-Free for Puppies
I do not recommend grain free diets for weaning or growth in any breed and especially for large and giant breeds. Actually, I do not recommend a grain free diet be fed as the “total diet” to any healthy breed. I even have reservations about them used totally as a cancer diet due to the high calcium levels. They are really meant for very specific uses and often for short term use – each animal’s situation would have to be considered before I could ever recommend a total grainless diet to my puppy buyers.It is IMPOSSIBLE regulate growth patterns on raw or grain fee diets in order to avoid developmental orthopedic diseases such as; HOD, Knuckling Over/Bowing (Carpel Flexural Deformity) OCD, and Pano.
So Are Grains Good or Bad?
There is some notion out there in cyberspace that grains are bad, when in fact grains are only bad when they were used as the basis for commercial foods, in other words grain is listed first on the label- fractionated (not ground whole)
- when they are not human grade or organic
- when they are the basis for commercial dog foods (grain listed first instead of meat protein based).
Grain Bashing
The biggest grain bashing problem was started by a West Coast dog food company years ago, and it had to do with corn and allergies. The fact is Human Grade #1 corn is one of the best natural sources of coat and skin conditioners like Omega 6, and it is low in gluten. It has an overall digestibility is 90% and carbohydrate digestibility is 99%.Research
In 2005 one of the most respected holistic dog food companies decided to pull the corn from their foods only because they had pressure from consumers to do so. This decision to remove the corn was not based in any kind of research, but just because they bowed to public pressure. They removed the corn and now had a “grain-less” holistic food which is what the public clamored for in a pet food.Grain-Free is Not Always Best
After test feeding the diet over a long period of time they witnessed several changes in the dogs energy levels, coat and body weight. All were negative effects. The dogs had significant weight loss, it took much more food to maintain the dogs weight, coats became brittle and the dog’s energy levels plummeted, real working dogs were lacking in endurance. After seeing this results over many months of feed trial research, they decided to put the Grade 1# whole corn back into their holistic diet – as a carbohydrate source, and after thousands of bags were sold not one allergy was reported.Diabetic Dogs and Grain-Free Food
I have found in dealing with dogs that are diabetic or have cancer, that when we totally remove the grain from the diet, their energy level plummets. So using a very high quality, high protein/fat diet with some component of whole grain is actual a good thing. Remember if it is ground whole, the fiber is intact – if there is natural fiber present, the grain does not convert to sugar in a flash, it burns slow and steady and sustains energy levels and appetites.Quality Grains with a Protein Base
The key is the diet should NOT be grain based, but instead should be based in protein from quality meat sources.Grain Can Help Brain Function and Athletic Performance Nature made all muscle and brain function (99%) using glucose and oxygen. Carbohydrates, such as grains, are stored in the liver as glycogen, this is then released as glucose in the blood as the body requires it.
