Sacha Packer
"it's a trend"

The dumbest I've heard is that feeding a dog real food aka their natural diet is a trend.
If you want to geek out, this is the thread for you, grab a cuppa and settle in for a look back at history and what scientists say today.
One of the oldest fossils of a dog dates back to 33,000 years ago, a wolf-dog type hybrid.[1] A DNA sample of the fossil discovered that the animal was more closely related to a dog than a wolf.[2]
Scientists know that dogs evolved as a result of the domestication of wolves, but the specific time and location of this domestication are still poorly understood - The discovery of the fossil further complicates that picture. Most experts agree that dogs predate the invention of agriculture (which happened roughly 10,000 years ago), but some say that domestication may have occurred as long as 100,000 years ago.[3]
Breed development around the times of agriculture saw some breeds evolve to carry 4-30 copies of the gene for amylase, a protein that starts the breakdown of starch in the intestine. Wolves have only two copies, one on each chromosome[4] - This means that some breeds are more capable of breaking down starch than others, depending on where the breeds were developed and what was happening in agriculture at the time in their geographical location.
This finding led some kibble promoters state that dogs should consume starch i.e. high carb diets aka kibble when in fact scientists state that dogs have zero requirements for carbs.
The amylase finding simply shows us that some breeds evolved because the food available at the time was starchy and in order to survive in those environments, they needed a digestive enzyme to actually break down the food so it could be absorbed and utalised by their bodies.
Kibble promoters also reference a 2021 study that found links between dogs eating raw meat and excreting resistant E. coli. The research supports a recent study by the team, published in the journal One Health, which looked at 16-week-old puppies. Both studies, which used data from different dogs, demonstrate that dogs may excrete resistant bacteria regardless of their age or the length of time they are fed a raw meat diet.
Now, what these kibble promoters don't also reference from this study is that the environment a dog lives in also played a part in the potential for them to excrete resistant bacteria. They believed that raw feeding was a strong risk factor for dogs living in the countryside, while in city-dwelling dogs, risk factors were much more complicated, probably reflecting the variety of lifestyles and exposures among city dogs.
This was also stated in a different 2021 study[5] in which scientists surveyed the gut bacterial diversity of 27 domestic dogs, which were fed commercial dog food (kibble not raw), and 31 wolves, which were fed uncooked meat - They found that the living environment of dogs and domestic wolves has led to increased numbers of bacteria with antibiotic resistance genes, with exposure to antibiotics through direct and indirect methods. In addition, the living environment of dogs has allowed the adaptation of their microbiota to a starch-rich diet. These observations align with a domestic lifestyle for domestic dogs and captive wolves, which might have consequences for public health.
๐ฆ๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ด? ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ, ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป'๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐๐ผ, ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐?
Matthew Avison, Professor of Molecular Bacteriology from the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, who led the microbiology aspects of these studies, said: "Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are everywhere, but some antibiotics are considered critically important for use in humans. We have shown that dogs fed raw meat are more likely to carry bacteria resistant to these important medicines. This doesn't mean that the animal, or the owner, will become sick.[5]
An extensive international survey[7] conducted at the University of Helsinki indicates that pet owners do not consider raw food to considerably increase infection risk in their households. In the survey, targeted at pet owners, raw food was reliably determined to be a contaminant only in three households. A total of 16,475 households from 81 countries responded to the survey.
In total, 99.6% of households feeding their pets raw food did not report any pathogens being transmitted from the raw food to humans. The time the responding households had been feeding raw food to their pets ranged from several weeks to 65 years, with 5.5 years as the mean value. The reported cases of illness covered whole time frame that raw food was consumed in the household.
๐ฆ๐ผ, ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ? 1956: The Ralston Purina Company started to experiment with the extruding machines that made their Chex Cereals, they were looking to create a more shelf-stable and palatable dog food.
1960's: Other companies started to make extruded dog foods and new flavours became available. In 1964, โThe Pet Food Institute (a group of pet food industry lobbyists) launched a series of ad campaigns to convince consumers that commercially prepared dog food was the only option to feed. The campaigns were hugely successful in convincing the American public that their dogsโ diets should be kibble-basedโ.
1990's: Dry food starts to become more of the norm in Australian homes.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ด๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ด๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฌ'๐...๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐...
Kibble promoters will try their hardest to scare you off feeding a dogs natural diet, the below are common scare tactics used:
๐ก๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ
The term "balanced" is in relation to an organisation called AAFCO which sets down the nutritional profile for pet food companies when formulating their dry foods.
Dogs and their ancestors coped just fine without AAFCO telling them what they should and shouldn't be eating.
Regardless, "balanced" natural diets can and are formulated by scientists, researchers, nutritionists, and pet food companies all the time. You can learn more about "balance" here: https://www.freshfoodtribe.com/balance
Clinical Naturopath, Narelle Cooke discusses this topic very well and in a very scientific manner here: https://naturalhealthandnutrition.com.au/.../episode-5.../
๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฌ Dry dog food is put through an extruding process that cooks ingredients up to 4 times which degrades the protein and the nutrients. This process means that the "food" has to be balanced with synthetic nutrients which the body doesn't process the same as whole food nutrients. You can learn more about this here: https://www.balanced-canine.com/.../synthetic-nutrients...
๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฒ Clinical Naturopath discusses the safety of raw vs kibble very well and in a very scientific manner here: https://naturalhealthandnutrition.com.au/.../episode-18.../
Narelle also discusses the dangers of kibble here: https://naturalhealthandnutrition.com.au/.../episode-13.../
We discuss safety here at our communities platform: https://www.freshfoodtribe.com/safety
๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฒ Vets of course see the worst of situations such as people feeding cooked bones and inappropriate bones that can cause obstructions. We discuss bones here: https://www.freshfoodtribe.com/bones
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ด ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด Whilst dogs can technically get food poisoning, it's certainly not like what it is in humans and this is because Mother Nature made the dogs digestive system to handle raw food, you can learn more here: https://www.freshfoodtribe.com/food-poisoning
Share your thoughts and feelings below on this topic.
---- [1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/.../this-33000-year-old.../
[2] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0057754
[3] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.276.5319.1687...
[4] https://www.science.org/.../diet-shaped-dog-domestication
[5] https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/.../s12917-021-02815-y
[6] https://www.sciencedaily.com/.../2022/07/220720193700.htm...)%20in%20their%20faeces.
[7] https://www.sciencedaily.com/.../2022/07/220720193700.htm...)%20in%20their%20faeces.