dogs are omnivores?

[Guest guest]

>>>I've been reading some of these dog threads because one day when I'm

more settled I'll get a dog of my own. I'm surprised at all the talk

of feeding dogs vegetables and whatnot though - I would have thought

dogs were carnivores. Where would wild dogs/wolves have gotten

vegetables from?

***,

You are right - dogs are carnivores, although the pet food industry would

like us to believe they are omnivores so they can justify the high grain

kibbles they foist an uneducated public. I'm not sure where you saw mention

of vegetables, but it IS true that many diet *gurus* in the natural diet

community recommend vegetables and/or grains. Vollhard recommends a small

amount of grains, but Billinghurst (famous for his BARF diet) is moving away

from recommending grains. But he does recommend veggies. Tom Lonsdale,

another Aussie vet, recommends feeding carcasses and table scraps - that's

it. Not very practical for most pet owners, though.

I feed my two 9 lb. dogs a diet that consists primarily of meat, organs and

bones from ruminants. Dogs are domesticated grey wolves, taxonomically canis

*lupus* familiaris. However, they seem to be more tolerant of plants/grains

in their diets than cats, who are obligate carnivores. Doesn't mean that

plants/grains are good for them, just that, for whatever reason, they tend

to tolerate them better than cats. However, a number of dogs don't tolerate

*grains* well at all. Big surprise, huh? And some don't tolerate plants. I

have a Chihuahua who has colon spasms if I feed him vegetables. I give him

mostly powdered grasses at this point, which he seems to do well with.

Sometimes a dollop of squash. But that's about it. Other dogs seem to do

fine with pulped, juiced veggies, which is the way they are generally fed.

Dogs don't have cellulase to break down the cell wall, so of course whole

plants cannot be digested - unless pre-processed by human caregivers.

Some reasons for feeding veggies are the phytonutrients, antioxidants

alkalizing effect and fiber. I know some folks who feed whole carcasses so

their dogs are getting a diet very similar to that which they evolved on.

But this is not practical for many others. So we have to recreate the prey

to an extent. Wolves and wild dogs have been observed eating the hair of

many prey species as they consume the carcass - not always - but often. Hair

is fairly indigestible as it comes out the way it goes in. Wolf scat is

often wrapped in fur. So that's fiber that dogs' ancestors consumed, and

since I'm not feeding whole prey, I do add some fiber to my dogs meals, but

not every meal. Also, I generally feed one fermented oatmeal meal per week

and put them on a liquid fast (bone broth and apple juice) one day per week.

My rationale is to give their digestive organs - particularly the liver a

rest from processing meat - especially the amonia by-products. I also want

to give them *some* alkalizing foods as they're diet is very acidic. One of

my dogs had a urine ph of 5.5 which is too acidic. My dogs don't get nearly

as much as exercise as wolves and so don't get the alkalizing effects of

breathing in the way that their ancestors might have.

Also, I'm hoping my dogs will live longer than wolves in the wild, so I

adjust their diet and care to their different lifestyle. I do use the dog's

pre-domestication evolutionary diet as a *foundation* for my dogs' diet, but

I do not mimic it precisely, as my dogs' lifestyle is quite different from

their ancestors'. So I customize and adjust it to their current lifestyle

and individual needs. As an example - my dogs probably have a toxin burden

(everything from formaldehyde outgassing from furniture to food contaminants

to environmental pollutants they step in and lick off their paws and more).

One of my dogs has been on commercial pet foods most of his life, was

overvaccinated and on monthly heartworm drugs, so I know that he may not be

as robustly healthy as he could be now and I add extra antioxidants to his

diet to help him deal with oxidative stress. My other dog, whom I adopted a

year and a half ago at age 10 was in terrible shape when I got her - she had

a host of health problems from two tumors, to vaginal bleeding to filthy

teeth and greasy coat to rickets! She's like a new dog now, although by no

means in *perfect* health, but a healthy diet of primarily raw animal foods

goes a long way to bringing even old sick dogs back to a good state of

health.

I don't know why some dogs do well on a good amount of vegetables, but some

do. Mine do best on mostly meat/organs/bones so that's what I feed them. I

do believe in variety over time, so I add some ground nuts and seeds here

and there. Other things that I add a bit of in small amounts here and there

are berries, banana (my min pin is CRAZY about bananas), apple, a little

fish oil, yogurt, rose hips, oatmeal, leftovers, etc. I'd estimate that all

this put together constitutes less than 10% of their total diet.

Keep in mind too that wolves/dogs are scavengers and opportunists - they

will eat just about anything edible. Many folks report that their dogs will

eat berries off the bush, fruit from trees and forage in their gardens for

favorite vegetables. I think it's important to listen to a dog and let them

eat what they seek, as long as it's not something dangerous/unhealthy. The

God Mother of the Natural Rearing movement, tte de Bairacli Levy,

travelled the world to study the diets of dogs that were vibrantly healthy,

much like WAP. She is an herbalist of International acclaim and she wrote

that dogs are natural herbalists and self-medicators. They will selectively

chew herbs that address their internal needs.

Suze Fisher

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