Fellow dog owners - what food do you feed?

[Mephibosheth1]

There's no point in argueing with someone who doesn't want to change (on either side of things, myself included).

Trying to preach to people about the bible every day taught me that...

[Anya]

See, preaching the bible to people made me apprciate a good 'ol fashioned debate.

[GoingPostal]

Raw, I wouldn't go back to kibble at this point, raw is the only thing that's kept my male's allergies under control. Plus their coats are softer, shinier, less poop and they love it so a little hassle and time to make their meals is ok with me. Pre raw was feeding Diamond Naturals and TOTW, not a big fan of Diamond's recalls and problems but they are still miles above most grocery store fare and we've convinced many friends and family off Science Diet to one of those foods, price is the same or less but difference in the pets is pretty clear. Raw costs me considerably less as well but I also feed a lot of free wild game, buy whole animals to butcher ourselves and buy in bulk whenever possible. Also it's a great way to freak out your neighbors.

[anatess]

There's no point in argueing with someone who doesn't want to change (on either side of things, myself included).

Trying to preach to people about the bible every day taught me that...

Corn is not bad food. GMO corn is something I cannot trust.

BUT, that said, dog's teeth show they are designed for prey, not plants. Their teeth are completely different from a bear's (also of the order carnivora but sub-family ursidae instead of canidae).

Dog's digestive system is simpler and shorter than a bear's. But it is longer than a cat's. A cat is an obligate carnivore - hah, we feed kitty kibbles.

Okay, that said... back to corn. A dog cannot process raw corn. It's just not digestible for them. It goes one end and right out the other without much processing - much like grass that the dog eats come out of their poop still grass. But that's not what's in dog food. Dog food takes corn, grinds it into meal powder and cooks it. Highly digestible. Okay.

But, what does that do? First of all, dog's physiology is designed to get its main source of energy and body functions through proteins. It doesn't need carbs because all it gets out of carbs is energy which they get out of proteins. Now, a dog is different from a bear in the number of carb's processing enzymes. Dogs have much less. They have a little more than a cat but they have very little of it. So, dog physiology is not efficient at processing carbs to convert to energy but they do have a little bit of it for when that's the only opportunity available. Dogs are opportunistic feeders. Okay, now back to corn. Corn has high protein but the proteins in corn has a lower biological value than muscle meat. With egg at 100 biological value, muscle meat is at 92, corn is at 54. That, in itself, shows meat proteins are better than corn protein in a dog that has a simpler/shorter digestive tract. But the danger lies in the powdered/cooked form of corn's glycemic index. Corn meal has a high glycemic index. Feeding a lot of this to a dog that has a much lower level of carbs processing enzymes will quickly overload those enzymes putting stress on the pancreas. On the other hand, muscle meat has a glycemic index and carb content of 0.

So, why corn? Because it bumps up the protein rating on the dog food label and it is cheap.

Scientific evidence? Encyclopedia and logical interpolation. Take it for what it is worth.