I give my dog packaged kibble from a very famous brand and my dog seems fine. So what’s the fuss anyway?

What your dog gets in that package is highly processed kibble loaded with preservatives, synthetic supplements, synthetic nutrients, and artificial flavors. It has virtually no moisture content with the ‘nutrients’ coming only from artificial vitamins and synthetic additives. 

The process of manufacturing kibble destroys any nutrients naturally available in the source ingredients. It is like how your cereals and cheese puffs are made. The original ingredients undergo treatment at high-heat 3-4 times before preservatives, artificial colours, flavours and animal fats are added on to it.

Pet food manufacturers use numerous tricks in their labeling that result in substandard and subpar “animal feed” being passed off as “food”. Did you know that pet food which says “With Chicken” needs to contain only 3% of chicken to meet the regulatory standards? And, your pet food that says “grain-free” usually contains other high starch items in the place of grains and end up having as much carbs as any normal pet food.

Chicken meal is a term extensively used in dog food and it is NOT the same as regular chicken.

Current industry standards allow anything to go into the dog food. Chicken meal is made from all types of chicken – including expired packs of meat, chicken leftovers from the human food industry, restaurant grease, roadkill, and 4D meats (diseased, disabled, dying, and dead animals—including euthanized animals) – cooked at high temperatures in a process called rendering. Ironically, this chicken meal is not allowed for human consumption because of the types of chicken used to make them.

The synthetic vitamins added to make the kibble ‘nutritious’ do not behave exactly like natural vitamins and their excess consumption can expose your dog to risks of toxicity and organ damage. The preservatives and synthetic additives are not 100% safe for your dogs and lead to complications in the later part of your dog’s life.

All the studies and statistics on the dog food industry are based on Western research and regulations like the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). When and how the pet food industry will be brought under proper regulation in India is up for anybody’s guess. In India, effectively, the industry decides its own standards and decides what our dogs eat and can present it in any manner that will make you buy without any transparency and accountability. By the very nature of its manufacture and additives, kibble does not qualify as healthy food for your dog.

What your dog deserves is variety in nutrients, food choices and taste palette – that can come only from fresh food.

Why is fresh dog food better?

Your dog should have real food with real ingredients like meat and vegetables which directly contributes to your dog’s health and nutrition. When feeding fresh homemade food, you always know and control what goes into your dog’s bowl and can choose from a variety of meat sources. 

Our fresh food is cooked gently so that all the nutrients are retained in the food and remain bioavailable for your dog to digest and absorb. Fresh, whole food is soft, easy to eat and digest, and contains moisture to keep your dog hydrated.

Studies show that 90% of your dog’s immunity comes from the microbiome (microbes and bacteria) in their gut. The fresh food that you give is key in maintaining a stable and robust microbiome which will keep up your dog’s immunity as you feed not only your dog but also the microbiome in their gut.

You can visibly see the effects of giving fresh food in the matter of a few weeks. The first and most immediate change you will notice is that their poop becomes solid, firm, less in quantity and less smelly. This is because your dog can easily digest the natural fresh food and directly absorb the nutrients. The next change will be a softer and shinier coat due to the real nutrients available in the fresh food.

Fresh food diet helps to maintain a steady and healthy body weight and increases the energy and activity levels of your dog. The ultimate benefit out of shifting to a fresh food diet is increasing your dog’s lifespan by protecting them from a range of diseases and ailments caused by the unnecessary chemicals in a kibble.

The fight against cancer

Cancer is the biggest danger being faced by our dogs today. Studies show that 1 in 2 dogs have cancer which has reduced their average lifespan from 17 years to just 11 years in the past 50 years. The alarming fact is that the high heat process involved in manufacturing kibble is known to create or add compounds that have been shown to be carcinogenic in humans and lab animals. Research shows that the risk of your dog getting cancer is vastly reduced by doing a simple switch to fresh food diet. Just take 20 minutes and watch this TEDxTalk by Rodney Habib to better understand the direct relationship between kibble and cancer and how it is reduced significantly when shifting to fresh food.

We have a choice when it comes to our dog’s diet – kibble vs fresh food; cheap vs healthy; easily available vs bio-available; processed vs pure; wrong vs right. It is our duty to feed them right.

Why should my dog have a species-appropriate diet?

A species-appropriate diet is one that an animal is built for; one which takes the biological makeup, physiology, and evolutionary history of an animal into consideration; one which allows an animal to thrive and not just survive. Dogs are facultative carnivores which means they are carnivores with omnivorous tendencies. They survive by scavenging or on vegetarian diets only out of compulsion and lack of alternatives. In fact, dogs and wolves share 99.9% of their DNA with the dog’s teeth and digestive system tailor-made for a carnivorous diet. While dogs can have plant matter in their diet, it should be restricted to amounts that are closer to what they would have in the wild and studies have shown that wild wolves have only about 4-7% plant matter (coming from fruits and wild berries) in their food.

Thus, a species-appropriate diet for a dog would be a predominantly carnivorous diet with sufficient proteins, fats, carbohydrates, micronutrients, minerals, fibre along with a small amount of plant-based matter. This is what we at The Mother Dog provide for your dogs.