I recently finished a five part series on why dogs are not vegan. I kept coming across sites saying that because wolves only have 2 copies of the AMY2B gene to code for amylase, and dogs have 4-30 copies, they are now some how magically transformed into omnivores. I could not disagree more. Proponents of vegan dog food may say that dogs are omnivore, but in reality they want to feed them an herbivore diet. Until dogs have evolved to have a four chambered stomach that acts as a fermentation tank to ferment and pre-digest all those plants, the ability to chew a cud with flat teeth and circular movement of the jaw, plus a much longer digestive system, and the ability to make in their gut, “cellulase for breaking down cellulose, which is 33% of a plant’s make up and the main component of the plant cell wall,” [1] (Amylase can’t do that) I am going to continue to call them what they are. Carnivores.
I proudly and happily live with two ferocious carnivores. OK, maybe not too ferocious, but they are carnivores. From the biggest Mastiff to the tiniest Chihuahua, dogs are carnivore. Just because they have evolved to be able to handle small amounts of starches does not mean that 40-60% of their diet should be carbohydrates. This type of diet is very taxing and stressful on the pancreas. As I have stated in other posts, wolves do eat vegetation and berries at times, as starvation food when meat is scarce, to survive. Nothing more. Vegetation is not kale, spinach and broccoli nor is it dry, highly processed kibble.
This time I thought I would tell you what I feed my own dogs.
I feed a variety of meat proteins. My son-in-law is a hunter so I get dear meat from him. I also feed turkey, chicken, quail, duck, (these with the bones),beef, bison, pork, goose, elk, goat and whole sardines. I give them eggs, kefir, liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas, brain, thymus, beef placenta, beef eyes, heart (all kinds), rabbit heads with the fur and ears, (ears for cartilage), duck heads and small whole chicks with feathers. But paws down, their favorite food is green tripe. I use beef, lamb, bison, venison and elk. Tripe is the lining of the stomach of a ruminant animal.
People ask me, “What about fiber. Don’t dogs need fiber and can’t they only get it from plants?” Yes, dogs do need fiber. About 1-1.5% of their diet. That is where the feathers and fur comes in. Emily Hendren from Raw feeding advice and support (PMR) writes, “In the carnivore kingdom, fur and feathers are the main source of fiber in their diet.”
Obviously, they don’t get everything at once. In the picture I have here, we see liver, pancreas, thymus, goose chick, venison tripe, chicken feet and deer meat.
They love this. This is what they were designed to eat. This is what they thrive on.
So, let’s feed the meat, save the canines.
[1] Jo Anne Raw Feeding Advice and Support PMR
