grain free dietsfor dogs grainless diets| GREATDANELADY.COM

Devil's Advocate:

This article is focused on grain free diets as they relate to canine nutrition (dogs). This information does NOT apply to cats (felines) who are "obligate" carnivores of desert origin, and do best when fed raw or grain free diets.

One of the questions I ask during these discussions of Biologically Appropriate Diets is... what period in the evolution of canines and man's development are we comparing? Research shows us there is a difference in ancestral diets - dog and man - prior to the development of the symbiotic relationship between humans and canines over 30,000 years ago. In this article I discuss the issue of grains as it relates to the diets of canines, and when they allowed domestication by following the nomadic tribes and lived on the edge of villages.

There is some thought that the canines that became domesticated, were on the lower rung of the pecking order in the pack, and therefore relied on following human camps and relied on the human's scraps, trash, feces etc in order to survive.

To say grains are bad and meat is good is an untruth. Nothing about this movement of grain free diets is a black and white issue. Dog food companies will use these myths, theories, hypotheses in order to find a marketing niche in this highly competitive market place. So please keep an open mind and consider the pros and the cons of grain free diets carefully before you decide how to feed your pet.

For a variety of diet options - using balanced, common sense principles go to Blackwatch Feed Programs.

Things to Ponder About Grain Free Diets

I get many emails asking my opinion of the new grain-free diets on the market. These are new foods and actually a spin-off of the BARF- biologically appropriate raw foods movement, except they are not a raw diet. Some people think just because it is grain free that means it has all the enzymes intact as a raw diet and that is not so. They are missing all the dietary enzymes any kibble, homemade cooked or even raw diet that has been stored, and these dietary enzymes MUST be replace. (See my CORE 4 Philosophy of feeding).

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!

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 situation, and it sure has no research behind it.

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 very questionable ingredient for pets and any dog suffering for systemic yeast issues can not eat potatoes if you are trying to balance a fungus filled digestive tract.

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. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a carbohydrate component of high quality grains such as; oats, brown rice, millet, barley, quinoa or amaranth grains. USED IN PROPER PORPORTION and not as a protein source, but as a carbohydrate source.

The latest research in Europe shows us that true performance dogs have no stamina on Grain Free formulas, they tend to run hot, fast, then plumet. What t works best for these preformance dogs is a meat based diet from multiple protein sources (from meats), high fat and then as a low carbohydrate source - ideally a blend of oats/brown rice OR oats/corn (high quality/low gluten corn) in order to sustain high energy performance levels. It has been shown that with a quality intact ground grain, low carb component, that the aniaml is better able to balance the insulin and glucose levels, expecially when the dog is working. There has been NO real research done by any company on grain free foods at this point. I have heard from their sales reps that Evo did some kind of in house research, but I can't get them to share it and I have asked on several occasion.

My point here is this, like most things in life, this grain free diet topic is not a black/white issue. There are many things we need to consider before using a grain free diet for our pet's current health situation. Now the good thing about the grain free diets is that they are generally made by very good holistic companies like Nutri-Source, Golden Eagle (overseas), Petcurean,Wysong, Honest Kitchen (dehydrated raw). The bad thing is there is NO consistancy in any of the grain free foods when it comes to protein/fat/calories and calcium levels so it is much like comparing apples to oranges.

Also remember processed proteins (and grain free foods are processed foods) are metabolized differently by the body than raw proteins. So a 40% process protein in a grain free diet is very high and highly questionable. On the other hand in the wild when a dog eats fresh prey they were eating 50%+ protein diets, but because they are not processed, it is are not harmful. It's the processing that changes the structure on the grain free proteins.

I have eliminated Orijen and Evo from my list of grain free due to excessive protein and calcium levels..and because Evo is now owned by Proctor and Gamble, makers of Iams and Eukanuba. This company does not fit my criteria for foods I recommend on my list of better foods. I have removed Taste of the Wild because it is a Diamond product and likewise does not fit my criteria for my puppy buyers.

Most grain free diets have not been around long enough to see how they will do in 3-4 generations. As a breeder, I am not willing to chance it when I know that with a quality kibble, plus a raw component and my CORE 4 supplements, it works. We have litters, longevity and life long wellness with the Blackwatch Feed Programs which are now 28 years in use, and used by top breeders in the USA, Canada and overseas.

I do not recommend grain free diets for weaning or growth in large/giant breed . But for the normal pet a moderate protein, fat, calcium level on a grain free would be fine to use.

A GRAIN FREE FOOD I CAN ENDORSE:

If people insist that they want to use a Grain Free food, I have listed in my feed program that I recommend the Nutri-Source Grain Free Diets, they are moderate in their design and from a very good company. This company is family owned and they own their own plant as well. All their formulas have fed out very well in my latest feed trials in 2009 (Nutri-Source Super Premium, PureVita and Planet Organics). Their Pure Vita line will also have a moderate Grain Free line up in the near future.

You still have to add your dietary enzymes to Grain Free diets because they are still processed, but that is easy to accomplish by using my CORE 4 Supplement Kits. (See Core 4)

NOTE:
I do have some reservations about Grain Free being used as a cancer diet because they are new to the scene and in many of these diets the calcium levels are high and the fact that potato seems to spur on fungus growth, and some cancers are fungus based.

I actually handle each cancer diet separately depending on the specific situation, and since the Nutri-Source Grain Free is not made with potato carbohydrates, it might be a good candidate as a food for some cancers.
I think there might be some good application for diabetic diets too.

Honest Kitchen makes a dehydrated raw/grain free diet as well, and it is what I use as part of the raw component. I use 10% of it as a mixer to coat my kibble and rotate between Honest Kitchen and Northwest Naturals Free Dried Raw. I also use homemade soups, canned meats from Precise or Nutri-Source.

It is IMPOSSIBLE regulate growth patterns in giant breeds on total raw or grain free diets in order to avoid developmental orthopedic diseases such as; HOD, Knuckling Over/Bowing (Carpel Flexural Deformity) OCD, and Pano, Please wait until your puppy is past those terrible growth stages - 10 months - before you move to a grain free food.

What The Great Dane Lady Uses:

I do have a raw component to all of my programs and that is accomplished through the use of The Honest Kitchen Preference Foundation Formula a dehydrated /fruit/veggie mix, or Honest Kitchen Embark AND Northwest Naturals Raw. I recommend top dressing my kibble with this combination. For puppies only a small spoonful is needed until they are through the difficult growth stages past 6 months.

Blackwatch Puppy Feed Program for Large/Giant breeds

DID YOU KNOW?

The majority of the grain-free diets available today contain extreme, super-concentrated nutrient levels far beyond that of everyday super-premium dog food:

• 75% more protein
• 87% more calcium
• 57% more fat
• 53% more phosphorus (editorial comment - this means more ash)
• 16% more calories

*ALL percentages calculated on a dry matter basis

These nutrient levels (calories, fat, protein) have been historically recommended only during sustained levels of high stress, high energy and peak nutritional demand including:

• Hunting, racing, showing, competition
• Accelerated recovery from surgery or illness

The high levels of Calcium and Phosphorus are generally not recommended for any special condition or circumstance and high calcium levels are not recommended for animal with cancer.

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 are fractioned, of poor quality and used as the basis for commercial foods. In other words grain is listed first on the label.

In super premium and holistic lines, grains are used as carbohydrate components, not as protein and not as filler, and that is good thing. Plus the quality of grains use in holistic and super premium lines is grade#1 Human Grade or Organic. This means low gluten components in the grains.

Grains are bad when they are:

1) fractionated (not ground whole)
2) when they are not human grade or organic
3) when they are the basis for commercial dog foods (grain listed first instead of meat protein based).

The biggest grain bashing myth was started by a west coast dog food company years ago, (maker of a Lamb/Rice Diet) stating that corn causes 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 and lacking gliadins - which cause gluten intolerance. It has an overall digestibility is 90% and carbohydrate digestibility is 99%.

Here is more information on the Corn Myth as it relates to allergies. Let's face it NO one wants a grain based dog food any more, those days are long gone when corn was the first thing listed on the lable and it went in yellow and came out yellow and we suffered many losses due to bloat from fermented poor quality grains in dog foods.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. Harvey addresses this issue in his article: Grain to Provide Storage Glycogen

As Dr. Harvey states "Every athlete knows that taking in pasta or grain loading prior to an athletic event, provides the necessary storage glycogen for the athlete to have sufficient glucose for muscle performance for the duration activity. This glucose is necessary for all muscle function."

He goes on to talk about the value of whole grains, precooked and/or freeze dried grains in a diet. The key is the diet should NOT be grain based, but instead should be based in protein from quality meat sources.

Now it is true that dogs get their energy levels from fat, not grains , like in humans. And a blend of fats in a food is very important due to differing levels at which they are burned. This is critical for performance dogs in particular. Some component of whole grains are vital in a food in order to have proper insulin and glucose function especially when they are preforming/working.

Dr. Harvey says "Some dogs do well on a completely grain-free diet, and for them I made Veg-to-Bowl , a grain-free mix of wonderful dehydrated and freeze-dried veggies. This mixture blended with meat and oils makes a wonderful grain-free meal. "
He then expresses the same opinion that I have in that "some dogs do better with grains, in fact, in my experience; many, many dogs improve dramatically when using our Canine Health (which has a whole grain component) with raw or cooked meat".

Dr. Harvey's company is not the only company to have found this out in feed trials. PHD - Perfect Healthy Diet (Vivand) has also put whole grain back into the dry food because the dogs in feed trials did not maintain stamina when working and lost weight quickly, having difficulty in maintaining their ideal weight.

GRADE QUALITY, using a MIXTURE OF, and the AMOUNT and KIND of grain is the key!! - remember whole intact grains have all the fiber (in tact) so it is not a fast sugar burn as is refined carbohydrates.

Dr. Harvey goes on to point out, "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".

He goes on to say "I see that dogs do incredibly well and thrive on 6-10% grain in their diet. Dogs are able to utilize the glucose from grains, as athletes do when they are performing"

Dr. Harvey has developed 3 organic pre-mixes Canine Health, Feline Health and Veg-to-Bowl, (no grain) to offer the easiest, safest and most convenient way to feed a complete raw diet. Just add water, meat and oil to either of our pre-mixes and you have a complete raw meal for your dog or cat. He also has available Power Patties - Freeze Dried Tripe. For more information on this diet go to: http://www.drharveys.com/

Dr. Lisa Neuman has a very good article on feeding raw/fruit/veggie - grain less diets. You need to read about this research if you are going to choose going straight grain-free diets.

http://www.azmira.com/StudyRawFoodDiets.htm

Lastly, here is some information about grains as they relate to the diabetic dog. This is taken from the Blackwatch Feed Program for Diabetes.

THE GRAIN CONTROVERSY

The issue of grain consumption in pet foods has more to do with the QUALITY and QUANTITY used in a food. For example, the use of corn in a food has gotten much bad press for being an allergen, when in fact it is the "feed grade" corn that is the problem and comparing it to human grade #1 corn; it is nutritionally as different as night and day. (The Corn Myth).

I am certainly not promoting any grain or corn based food as being the best choice in a diet, but a holistic dog food (not cat) with a human grade, whole grain #1 corn component in it, provides energy levels unmatched by any other grain or protein source and needed for real performance animals. Not all grains are bad, and likewise a grain free diet is NOT necessarily the best way to feed a pet either.

Grain-based dog foods (grain is listed first on the bag) are difficult for the dog to digest and some say that dogs do not make the amylase enzyme needed to break down carbohydrates, but that is not true. What is true, is - because dogs do not get a raw component to their diets or do not get dietary enzyme supplementation, they are unable to make adequate amounts of all digestive enzymes for proper digestion!! Hence the need to supplement the diet with digestive AND dietary enzymes (see CORE 4)

If there is no raw component in your pet's diet, dietary enzymes supplementation and digestive enzyme supplementation must be provided by the owner. This is critical to preserving the pancreas and preventing diabetis later in life. Dogs and cats have trouble making enough digestive enzymes - all 4 types of digestive enzymes, when they do not have the adequate nutrients supplied in the daily diet, in some form of a "raw, unprocessed, living component be it meat/fruit/veggies or sprouted supplementation".

When there is no raw present, there are no dietary enzymes present and therefore total enzymatic activity that breaks down the food depends wholly on the pancreas to make these enzymes. That is a tremendous burden on the pancreas when it is "born" with a limited number to begin with. Think of the pancreas as a checking account with a set amount of money in it. When it is spent, it is spent - and when it is spent, that is when you develop diabetes.

In the Diabetic Support Kit #22 , I have combined supplements that have been shown in the most recent research to be beneficial in establishing less spiking in glucose levels and more consistency in the dog's diabetic condition. There have been some pets that have had reversing of the disease after a time on the program, and on a quality holistic meat based food, but it is important to make sure a diabetic pet remains on the contents of the kit for life.

The most success I have seen is in cats, where grain-free raw diets are the most successful when it comes to reversing disease.

Grain Free Diets for Dogs

Things to Ponder About Grain Free Diets