Grain-free dog food is a premium formula for dog kibbles since it contains no grains such as maize, wheat, soy, barley, or rice. Instead, it includes more meat and alternate sources of carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, chickpeas, beans, legumes, pulses or lentils. These ingredients give a nutritious and appetising food for dogs that are sensitive to grains.
When your dog is allergic to gluten or has a grain sensitivity and has Gestational Diabetes or is pregnant, you must alter your dog’s diet to Grain-Free food or Hypoallergenic dog food to control healthy blood sugar levels by limiting gluten and grain consumption.
Itchy skin, dry mouth, weariness, hazy vision, hair loss, ear infections, thrush, and inflamed paw pads are all the symptoms of grain intolerance in dogs. In such situations stick to grain-free food till recovery.
Do Dogs Require a Diet Free of Grains?
It’s important to consider this question carefully. While some dogs may have special nutritional needs to maintain and lose weight, or they may have sensitive digestion that necessitates a grain-free diet. However, it is not required for all dogs to consume a grain-free diet.
Examples: When to Feed your Dog Grain-Free Food?
A dog with gluten intolerance or allergy to a certain grain may need to avoid that grain in their diet to facilitate digestion. Also when a dog has health disorders, such as diabetes or digestive problems, may require a grain-free diet.
Examples: Why Not Feed your Dog Grain Free Food?
Research Proof 1: Dogs Can Digest Grains and Benefit from Them
According to the “University of Maine,” [email protected] contribute to the research ‘Nutritional Effect of Grains in the Diet of a Dog’ which showed that dogs “Unlike cats, dogs can digest grains unlike cats, which are obligate carnivores.
This implies that while dogs have carnivorous traits such as sharp teeth and a meat craving, they also have omnivorous digestive traits with the ability to break down carbohydrate feeds like humans (Mobley et al., 2013).
Dogs can also modify the provided food and make their own taurine and vitamin A, which is why cat food contains supplemented or natural taurine whereas dog food does not, because cats’ digestive tract is different from dogs. (Stokes, 2011).
Link to PDF: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/
Research Proof 2: Grain-Free Dog Food is Linked to Heart Diseases in Dogs
The July 2018 DCM Update, “Vet-LIRN,” has another significant research regarding the effects of “grain-free” meals on dogs’ health. This study demonstrates the possibilities of non-genetic heart problems, such as Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), a class of ‘Heart Conditions’ that have been linked to grain-free dog diets.
Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) conditions contribute to causing heart muscles to deteriorate, resulting in symptoms such as coughing, breathing difficulty, periods of collapse, and sudden death.
Avoiding such grain-free dog foods might therefore safeguard your dog’s health, unless essential for certain health conditions, such as grains sensitivities or allergies.
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