With the ongoing heated battle over pet food choices, more and more research arises. It is interesting to watch big kibble corporations make a transition to more fresh and whole food options for pets. This is due to pet owner demands for healthier choices and these corporations have seized this opportunity. Even Purina is adding “real dehydrated chicken chunks” to their kibble. Meanwhile, many veterinarians maintain their strong belief that kibble is best. I recently read an article from a well-known Licensed Veterinary Technician with a specialty in nutrition that claimed raw and fresh food diets are dangerous. You will never hear a human nurse or human doctor claiming a diet full of fresh foods to be dangerous. Think back 10-20 years, the vast majority of pet store shelves were covered in kibble and canned food diets. Today, as you walk down the aisle, there is an entire section of refrigerated and frozen fresh foods for your cat or dog. All of these diets are formulated under the same set of standards, AAFCO standards. Despite lightly cooked and raw diets being held to the same formulating standards as kibble and canned, the veterinary world is still reluctant to support their clients’ choices. Although there is a noticeable shift as the new generation of veterinarians enter the industry and as more research comes to light.
One of the largest sources of university studies on dog and cat diets is the University of Helsinki- Veterinary Teaching Hospital. In recent years, they have done many studies comparing fresh foods and kibble diets in all aspects of health. If you wish to review their vast library of research, please visit the DogRisk website. The studies I have found most interesting is the link between atopic dermatitis and diet. Studies have shown that puppies fed a variety of fresh foods, compared to puppies fed kibble diets, have a significantly lower rate of skin disease and allergies later in life. The study seems to suggest that kibble diets increase that risk.
So how does a varied diet of fresh foods improve the body? The University of Helsinki has answered that! This should be of no surprise to any person that has gone from a highly processed diet to a diet full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats. People often experience sluggishness, bloating, and GI distress after eating processed foods such as hotdogs, fried chicken, hamburgers, pizza, etc. and are then energized and feel better when transitioning to a fresh food diet. This is due to the fact that fresh whole foods are more readily digested and used by the body and contain less fats/oils/salt/sugar/etc., whereas processed foods use more energy to break down, contain significantly higher calorie counts, and a large portion of these foods are then excreted from the body rather than used by the body. A dog or cat on a kibble diet produces larger stools. This is the body excreting unused and undigested materials. Dogs and cats fed fresh food diets have smaller stools, as the body is able to break down more of the materials and use its energy. If you don’t believe me, you can check your own stools. I guarantee you will feel better and produce less stool on a fresh food diet.
Fresh foods are also more readily available to feed the gut microbiome. The liquids within the stomach and intestines that allow for digestion are living organisms that require food to maintain a healthy gut. Even in human studies, a healthier gut microbiome has been proven to improve a human’s overall health. It has also been proven that a compromised microbiome composition (an unhealthy gut), can lead to illness, chronic disease, and compromises the effectiveness of medications. Human doctors have known for decades that fresh whole foods are healthiest. Now we have scientific studies to prove that highly processed foods limit gut microbiome and affect overall health. It comes to no surprise that thousands of human studies have been conducted on animals first. It’s pretty safe to say, if it’s been proven in the human health world, it also applies to animal health.
So what’s the take away?
Obviously, feed your pets the best option that you can offer. If kibble is the best option for your budget and lifestyle, that’s OK. But be sure to rotate diets and transition over a 10-14 day period to not upset your pets stomach. One of the biggest complaints from clients with pets that are experiencing food allergy symptoms is “it can’t possibly be the food! They have been eating this food their entire lives!”. This is precisely the problem! The body changes, that’s a fact. You can outgrow an allergy or you can develop an allergy over time. If your pet develops a food allergy and your veterinarian recommends a food trial and avoiding the ingredients you are currently using, listen to them! If your pet is allergic to chicken and you continue to offer chicken occasionally, their allergy symptoms will return. Much like offering peanuts to a child that is allergic to peanuts. Studies have suggested that offering a variety of different foods creates a healthier gut microbiome and decreases the chances of developing a food allergy.
If you have a puppy or kitten, offering a fresh food diet can give them a great start to life and help protect them from many ailments in the future. If you are only able to offer a kibble diet, add fresh foods to their kibble daily: Broccoli, Carrots, Spinach, Blueberries, Mango, Banana, Eggs, Meats, etc. If you grow your own vegetables or raise your own chickens, feel free to add the food scraps to your pets bowl. My dogs enjoy the ends of carrots and cucumbers and have helped themselves to the raw beef that I accidentally dropped on the floor while cooking Sox’s food. Our cat Meatball doesn’t have a palate for fresh foods, however our previous cat Geo favored shrimp and chicken. You can improve your pets diet with little to no cost, just by adding your unseasoned food scraps to their bowl. You can also reduce your household waste by offering your food scraps to your pet.
To date, I could not find any studies suggesting adding fresh foods to an already “balanced” kibble diet to be detrimental to one’s health.