14/04/2020
Should you feed your dog kibble AND raw? The short answer is no, not unless you're an expert in pet nutrition.
While most raw foods contain 0 to 15% carbohydrate (with none of it starch), kibbles need starch to hold them together in those little kibble forms. In fact, they need to be at least 30% starch for this to happen... and many kibbles are even 60% starch.
And if you’re feeding a grain-free kibble, don’t be fooled… those foods still need starch and it will just be in a different form. So instead of rice or corn, they’ll contain the same amount of peas or potatoes. Even grain-free foods are very high in starch.
There are a whole lot of problems with feeding your dog this large amount of starch.
First, kibble (or the starch it contains) will increase the pH of the stomach. The same would happen if you fed your raw meals with sweet potatoes or other starchy foods. The enzyme called pepsin is responsible for breaking the protein in your dog’s meal into its individual building blocks, amino acids. But pepsin is only released if the pH is below 2, so the predigestion of protein can’t happen in the stomach.
When the pH of the gut is increased (less acidic), then pathogenic bacteria like E coli and salmonella are more likely to survive and cause digestive upset or illness in your dog. The acidic environment in his gut protects your dog against these pathogens. Dogs and other carnivores have evolved to handle the bacteria in raw meats … but if we change the pH in their digestive tract by feeding a food that’s not appropriate for them (starch), some of that protection is lost.
Once the predigested food leaves the stomach, it needs to be at the proper pH to trigger the release of the pancreatic enzymes that do most of the digesting. If there’s starch in the meal, the higher pH means fewer of those enzymes will be released and undigested food particles can trigger inflammation and an immune response called leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut can allow undigested food and bacteria to pass through the wall of the small intestine, where they enter the body and cause immune disorders. Ditch the kibble, and go 100% raw 💪