7 Issues with Kibble: Is kibble good for dogs?
There is an often-asked question, Is kibble good for dogs? We have become too moderate since the advent of the industrial revolution, aren’t we? We want each thing ready-made even our dog’s food.
Is kibble good for dogs
Much of the protein in the kibbles we use are plant-based. So, how can you let your mutt graze like buffalo?
After all, you have a carnivore friend he must be like his other family. With this low-quality protein and be satisfied nutritionally and physically does not make sense.
Actually, they are not designed to eat this kinda food. Their teeth, gut, and digestive physiology are made like their ancestors i.e. wolves. They are carnivores and have teeth for ripping and tearing of flesh.
What dogs are built to eat?
Have you ever tried to know your furry friend’s digestive physiology? What is suitable for them and what is not?
If not let’s have a look at that…
Dogs have powerful jaws along with canines and triangular-shaped carnassial teeth for crushing the bones and ripping food.
They are lacking a four-chambered stomach for digesting complex carbohydrates (starches from plants and grains).
They have a short digestive tract, a large stomach, and a tiny cecum. It explicitly indicates that they are made to digest high proteins with rapid absorption of food.
That’s why they always start barking when you open chips or other snacks from the other corner of your house. They will not get any chill till the intake.
Within the last 80 years canine and feline have been introduced to kibble. Historically, canines like their ancestors’ wolves were dependent on the live prey and foraged for any scrap they could find.
Their teeth, gut, and digestive physiology are the witness of this.
Dogs need a wide variety of protein from multiple sources so as to gain a complete spectrum to fulfill their amino acid needs, Which are best provided by raw meat sources and meaty bones.
Dogs can also eat veggies if given as a treat or mixing with other foods like chicken.
There is a need to build healthy cells, organs, muscles, enzymes, and hormones for our dogs. They are not designed to make their own amino acids. They are also not made to digest carbohydrates, starch, grains, and legumes.
You will find a contradiction here that the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) opposing the feeding of raw foods.
Their policy states: “The AVMA discourages the feeding to cats and dogs of any animal-source protein that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of sickness to cats, dogs, and humans”.
BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) diet, recommend a much higher raw bone percentage over simple meat.
What Dog are not built to eat?
Since childhood, we have been told that you must take something which is healthy for you. But we often eat an unhealthy diet and get ailment as a result.
It happens every time. Isn’t it?
But not in the case of your dog. Because you give them selected items to eat and restraining them to eat something not well.
Below is apt information from where you can estimate that is kibble good for dogs?
About 90% of dog keepers are serving their dogs’ kibble. It has 60% carbohydrates because of about 20 kinds of vegetables used in its preparation. Very scarce moisture and low-quality protein.
If your kibble is grain-free it still has high carbohydrate content. So, it is possible that mold spores would contaminate while its storage.
Specifically, if the environment is moist. These conditions can also be there if you store kibble in a moist basement or in an open container.
Basically, they will get contaminated and make your dog contaminate in either way.
Maybe your dogs surviving on this commercial dry food (kibble) or can we surely say that they thriving on it?
The answer is explicit, Chronic degenerative disease, allergies, kidney, pancreatic, and liver disease are all rising within our dogs’ populations and the cancer rate continues to prevail.
Issues with kibble? Is kibble good for dogs?
Some protein and carbohydrates in commercial kibble are plant-based. You can say potatoes, corn, and legumes. Your dog is a carnivore not cattle to graze.
Well, kibble is about to gain financial profit in this prevailing industrial age.
After WW2 due to the great depression and the high cost of meat, kibble was introduced due to its ease of serving, cheap cost, and ease to carry.
Jennifer Lee explains in her informative book, “The Inner Carnivore”:
“During WWII meat and container were both in brief stock. This drove consumers back to dry foods for their dogs. In 1950 Ralston Purina was the first company to use an extruder to make dry dog food.
Extrusion was a manufacturing process that Ralston was already using to produce Chex cereal.
The manufacture of enormous bags of dog food was in complete production by the late 1950s. By 1964 the national trade association of dog and cat food engineering tossed a campaign to get people to stop feeding their pets anything but for packaged food.
Feeding pets “people food” became branded as harmful. Companies started labeling their foods as whole nutrition, with no additional foods or supplements desired.
A culture of dependence was then formed and adopted by the pet industries and veterinarians and is still in existence until this day.”
Moreover, there are seven notable issues with kibble (dry food)
These include;
High processed ingredients
During its preparation, many needed nutrients are lost due to high heat. So, artificial nutrients and flavor enhancers are added to recover what is lost.
Low moisture
Kibble leaves your pet dehydrated when taken.
Its symptoms include:
- Panting
- Dry gums and nose
- Loss of appetite
- Sunken and dry looked eyes
- Loss of skin elasticity
Added colors and chemicals
Center of Science in the Public Interest has banned many food dyes and given them the term “Rainbow of Risks”.
Because they had negative effects on animals leading them to cancer and hypersensitivity reactions.
Increased bacterial risks
Storage mites can multiply too quickly in foods. Dogs can develop hypersensitivity towards storage mites. Resulting in ear infections and hair loss.
Gets rancidity quickly
After you open a bag or packet of kibble it starts getting rancid. If being consumed in the long terms kibble can cause issues including;
Malnutrition, hair loss, diarrhea, reproductive problems, and even cancer.
The high starchy carbohydrate content
Genetically engineered corn, wheat, rice, potato, and grains make up the majority of kibble.
Even grain-free kibble contains high levels of starch.
It results in the production of stressful insulin, glucagon, and cortisol spikes throughout the day. It can lead to pet obesity.
Feed grade ingredients
More alarming thing is that manufacturers of kibble are allowed to add diseased animal meat.
We try to find something legal-based to support our reading.
Here, you are going to go through the FDA report:
Which states that “Treated pet food, including pet food consisting of material from ailing animals or animals which have expired than by slaughter, drives through high heat processing, which is intended to destroy injurious bacteria.”
Consuming these highly processed materials can lead to other issues.
Animal or vegetable fat and oils that are generally rank. This is commonly splashed over the kibble to make it engaging your canine.
Kibble is made at a temperature of 250-300 degrees and all the essential nutrients get diminished at this temperature.
Let’s ask ourselves a question that;
Would we eat KFC and Mc Donald’s or other junk food daily?
The answer is simply a big “NO”.
So, why do we force our furry friends to eat this profit maker’s product daily? There is the much worse side of this too.
There are many other toxins introduced into our pet’s belly through this kibble
These include:
- Aflatoxins
- Heterocyclic amines
- Acrylamides
- PBDEs
1: Aflatoxins
These are very toxic carcinogens and even the high temperature employed in manufacturing kibble won’t kill them.
Corn has been identified as a major cause of aflatoxin. Moreover, wheat, rice, nuts, and legumes are usually contaminated with most either pre or post-harvesting. As a result of unhygienic conditions and extended storage.
Causing anemia, liver or kidney failure, cancer, and premature death.
Even if your kibble is grain-free it still contains a high ratio of carbohydrate content that can develop into aflatoxin if stored in an open container and moist environment. Where there is a chance for mold spores to contaminate.
2: Heterocyclic amines
Many scientists have discovered the presence of mutagenic and cancer-causing matter such as heterocyclic amines in cooked meat and fish.
In 2003 a research conducted to find the heterocyclic amines in 25 samples of commercial, store-bought pet food was presented. 13 out of total had a sign of heterocyclic amines in them.
3: Acrylamides
Many studies show that acrylamides are formed due to the high temperatures applied to vegetable food.
It does not matter if the food is roasted, fried, or baked acrylamides have been observed at many levels. In other studies, it is found abundant.
There are some factors that contribute to the formation of acrylamide including scarcity of moisture and surface area. These factors can be found in every type of kibble.
4: PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers)
These chemicals are most commonly employed in flame retardants in many household products and pet foods.
In the journal of environmental sciences and technology, an article reveals that the concentrations of these PBDEs chemicals in the blood of dogs are ten times greater than in humans.
This study also reveals that the concentration of these chemicals is higher in pet foods than the meat used for human food.
The author states the production of these chemicals in pet foods is the result of the way of processing.
5: Artificial lifeless intake
Many of the commercially selling kibbles add some lost nutrition value with minerals and vitamins. To get the standards as per the instructions of AAFCO.
But these vitamins only harm your dog’s health because your dog’s digestive physiology is not designed to easily digest and utilize these artificial ingredients.
Consequently, they leave a hectic duty on the kidney and liver as foreign agents for their bodies.
As caretakers of these fury friends who unconditionally give love and healthy company, it is our duty to take care of their intake.
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