Although many dog owners are improving their knowledge about what makes up their dog’s nutrition, there is still a lot of misinformation out there. Many dog owners feed dry dog food, otherwise known as kibble.
This type of dog food has a host of problems associated with it and below are just 5 of many important reasons why you should avoid feeding it to your beloved dog.
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Kibble is the “Fast-Food” of Dog Feeds
Commercial dog food manufacturers often advertise on the side of their packaging that their products provide all of the necessary nutritional requirements for your pup. Whilst this may be true, most of the nutritional requirements are met with the addition of supplements to the food, rather than meeting the requirements with nutrients from wholesome ingredients.
Traditional kibble is also highly processed and uses some of the lowest quality ingredients available. You wouldn’t dream of following a diet for yourself consisting of only processed foods (think burgers, tacos, pizzas, fries, etc.), so why would make your dog follow such a diet?
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Dry Dog Food Uses the Worst Quality Ingredients
We mentioned those low-quality ingredients so let’s delve into them a bit further. Most dry pet food, yes, even “high-quality kibble”, is made up of animal parts that have been marked unsuitable to use for anything else.
To give beef as an example, your pet is likely to be eating a cow’s brain, intestines, udders, and even their hide! Pretty much any part of the animal that can’t be eaten by a human can get tossed into kibble. Many dry dog foods also use, “4-D Meat”, meat from dead, dying, diseased or disabled animals.
In terms of plants, major dog food manufacturers use the lowest possible grade corn (usually genetically modified) and grains that have also been labeled unsuitable for human consumption. It doesn’t matter if these ingredients are covered in pesticides, they can be put into the food anyway. Even if you are on a budget, you should seriously consider the damages low-quality food can do to your pup’s body, that’s most important!
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Dry Pet Food is Loaded with Carbs
In order to pad out the dry foodstuffs, these dog food recipes include large amounts of corn, wheat, rice or potatoes. Not only do they use the worst possible grade of these ingredients (none of which are fit for human consumption), your dog’s diet should ideally only consist of no more than 20% starchy carbs. Feeding kibble will far exceed this amount and will most likely end up causing all sorts of health problems for your pup.
These excess carbs are broken down into sugar which raises your pet’s insulin and cortisol levels. This leads to chronic conditions such as obesity or diabetes. Nearly 40% of dogs today are obese, the majority of which have been brought up on this carb-loaded diet.
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Kibble Consumption Leads to Increased Cancer Risk
Once all of these poor quality ingredients have been sourced they are mashed together into a pulp and cooked in large vats at up to 270 degrees. This is to kill off any viruses and bacteria that were associated with the low-grade meats and plants. However, the protein and fat that remains after this cooking process can have potentially fatal consequences for your dog.
When low-quality proteins and fats are heated repeatedly at high temperatures they can break down into cancerous by-products such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Once you add in the fact that the average bag of dog food has been heated at least 5 times, it may go some way to explain the reasons behind why 46% of all dog deaths are due to cancer.
Finally, last but not least…
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Kibble Does NOT Clean Your Dog’s Teeth
The idea that crunchy dry food helps to prevent the build-up of plaque and tartar doesn’t have any credible evidence. You’ve never seen a human dentist recommending you eat crunchy granola to reduce plaque. So why do we believe the advertising slogans of dry pet food companies that are essentially saying the same thing?
There is no way around it, the best way to keep your dog’s teeth in good condition is by cleaning them regularly yourself. However, a good diet can help in your efforts. Natural diets similar to the ones eaten by dogs’ wild counterparts can help dogs achieve better dental health.
So there you have it, 5 of many reasons why you should switch your dog from dry food to an all-natural wet food diet. Switching to a high-quality diet can add years to your dog’s life and it takes very little effort. We hand-make our recipes using the freshest human edible ingredients and deliver right to your door, making the switch as easy as possible.
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