12/27/2025
If you have a minute to sit - let's talk about dog food.
Dog food is a touchy topic because everybody has an opinion. I've had people accuse me of poisoning my dogs because I feed kibble, or because I feed raw meat, or because I don't home cook. With dog food, it seems that everybody has an opinion and it's something a lot of people feel really passionate about.
I will preface this by saying I'm neither a nutritionist, nor am I a veterinarian or a food expert. I have however spent a lot of time reading and researching about food and, having owned a number of dogs throughout my adult life, have settled on a routine that works very well for the dogs and me. One of the things I pay attention to is science. It is largely agreed upon that dogs are descended from wild dogs - wolves, dingoes, etc. Wild candids are not obligate carnivores like wildcats. While they prefer meat, they will eat grasses, forbes, berries etc. Domestic dogs evolved in the shadows of human civilization living on the waste and left overs that humans produced. This means that dogs both evolved eating a variety of things and their GI systems developed the ability to handle and digest a myriad of things.
In the last 10 years or so, there have been some remarkable studies coming out about microbiome health and diversity. Studies are now potentially linking low microbiome diversity with some mental disorders, like autism in children. They're also showing that microbiome diversity can help dogs be more mentally and physically balanced and healthy. We see a lot of reactivity and anxiety and dogs these days and part of me wonders how much some of that may be related to diet. I'm old enough to remember that when you loved your dogs you fed Alpo or Gravy Train, and since then the dog food market has exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry. There are thousands upon thousands of varieties of food and it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what to choose. For many years veterinarians also recommended choosing a good kibble and staying on that without adding any variety. While it is extremely important to feed a balanced diet, I think the dogs evolutionary history shows they need more than just one thing every day.
A couple of studies recently really caught my attention and have highlighted why I feed the way I do. There was an amazing study out of England that showed that adding fresh food to a dog's diet can greatly increase the health of the microbiome. Again, a healthy microbiome means a dog that is healthier mentally and physically. They also found a lot of these dogs lived longer and had very low incidences of cancer. Coincidentally, when dog cancer patients are put on a fresh diet, their longevity increases significantly.
It's important that dogs get a nutritionally balanced diet. That's why I like to start with a good quality base of kibble the dogs eat every single day - it's nutritionally complete with the appropriate minerals and vitamins. Since I always live on a budget, I use the website www.dogfoodadvisor.com to evaluate the quality of foods out there and I only choose foods that he has evaluated with five stars. Then, I add a variety of fresh food to their diet every single day - meat (raw or cooked), fruits, vegetables, grains (organic brown rice, oatmeal, etc), potatoes, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, sardines, tuna, eggs (raw or cooked) - anything safe and edible I can think of.
All of this gets back to the adages that our grandparents lived by - you are what you eat - variety is the spice of life - it all still rings true! The greater variety of foods the dogs eat, the healthier their microbiomes are, and healthier and more balanced they are mentally and physically, in my opinion.
Recently, adding probiotics to a dog's diet has gained a lot of popularity. While I have yet to find studies to support it, I do wonder how useful it is to add a variety of gut bacteria when there is not the food base to support it. What I mean is that if you're only feeding a single ingredient kibble, will the probiotics that you add to a dog's food have enough of a variety to maintain that microbiome biodiversity? I feel like that biodiversity is best supported by feeding the dogs a variety of foods and slowly building the bacteria required to process it.
I'm sure many of you may disagree with what I'm saying and, as I mentioned at the beginning, everybody has an opinion and everybody thinks they're right. I have no idea if I'm right or wrong, I just know what has worked for me for many years. I have had relatively long-lived dogs, little to no incidences of cancer, and dogs that are healthy mentally and physically. I also rarely ever have GI upset and no allergies, because they are used to encountering a variety of different foods.
So, if you and your dog feel like you're stuck in a bit of a rut, try some variety! I think your dog will enjoy it!
