02/11/2025
Last week, a veterinary social media influencer shared a video of a dog "gulping" chunks of a raw diet, including what looked like chicken wings, small drumsticks, and other typical raw meal components. She criticized the video for showing a dog not "chewing" his food, implying that chewing kibble was better for the dog.
Newsflash 1: (except for anyone who had cleaned up vomitus from a kibble-fed dog) Dogs do not chew kibble!
Newsflash 2: Dogs are not biologically designed to chew their food! Compare the dentition of a dog, with its sharp, pointed teeth, to that of a cow, with flat molars that grind when the cow first ingests grass, hay, silage, etc. And then re-grinds it when the how regurgitates it to chew its cud.
Newsflash 3: Dogs produce copious amounts of saliva, to lubricate the passage of chunks of food (meat) for swallowing. Animals designed to chew produce less, but mix it into their food by chewing and grinding the food to a small particle size.
Newsflash 4: None of this info is pointed out, in even the most casual way, in most veterinary programs. So please do NOT troll anyone who does not know this! It's not their fault, but rather that of the educational system that fails to promote feeding an animal in accordance with their biology. Zoo veterinarians get it, feeding the varied species they care for appropriately. Even pet stores get it, stocking everything from mice to crickets to other biologically appropriate foods for exotic pets they sell. Yet we still nutritionally abuse our dogs and cats with kibble/dry foods. And they pay the price in more illnesses, poor dental health, and chronic health conditions. We pay the price in higher vet bills.
It needs to stop. When you know better, you can do better.
