Dogs are considered Facultative Carnivores, unlike herbivores or true omnivores, dogs have no amylase in their saliva. Amylase helps break down plant carbohydrate, and this is very telling, it means dogs are not meant to consume high amounts of plant material. (1,2,3) Facultative carnivores, which means they are not an obligate carnivores like cats, dogs will eat anything to stave off starvation, but they need meat, backbone and organ in order to be healthy and thrive. Dogs are simply poorly equipped to process plant matter like a true omnivore. I recommend doing further research to understand the importance of biologically appropriate dog food. Properly prepared raw food would be the best option for most dogs (with the exception of those who may have immune problems). If you decide to go the dry kibble route please always introduce moisture back into your dogs food – dry kibble alone and all the time keeps dogs in a constant state of dehydration and build up on dogs teeth. I suggest adding in a raw egg, salmon oil or olive oil, raw chicken feet (this is an amazing teeth cleaning snack), raw chicken, raw beef, salmon, water or goats milk, salt free bone broth etc.
If you decide to go the RAW dog food route (entirely) please do your research as this has to be done in a particular way to insure the dogs nutritional needs are met. It usually involves mimicking a whole prey model…so it would include organs, meaty bone, muscle tissue etc. and supplements have to be added in, and this is why it can be daunting to many people.. There are also new companies that focus on pre-prepped raw dog food, but please again, do your research!
If being entirely raw fed makes you nervous, or you simply do not have the time or budget, no worries – you can always supplement raw foods in your dogs diet regardless.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED YOUR DOG COOKED BONES AND AVOID RAW HIDE CHEWS. Cooked bones can splinter and get stuck into your dogs stomach and intestines and kill them, and raw hide can obstruct your dogs bowels. Please do research on these topics on what is and is not okay to feed a dog regarding human foods (cause I know we like to share with our pets, I do too).
Shiba Inu do exceptionally better on low starch diets (Reiter et al. (2016)(4) because they haven’t developed many sets of AMY2YB genes. Shiba Inu were historically bred by Japanese hunters and had a high protein diet consisting of fish, birds, wild boar and other small mammals which makes their dietary needs different than dogs who evolved around starch-rich diets.
Dogs are not to far evolved from their ancestors on the inside, this is why you hear people talk about feeding their dogs “Biologically appropriate foods” there are huge health benefits to this, and I personally have noticed a difference in my dogs health, dental care, and musculature because of it. I am a big fan! Besides, those teeth are not made for crunching kibble, so add some goodies in there!
Recommended book to get into the finer details: Feeding Dogs: The Science Behind The Dry Versus Raw Debate by Dr. Conor Brady.
Luckily, today more people are realizing that dogs are simply not going to thrive eating over-processed corn filled with powdered bone meal and supplemental powder vitamins. Kibble was created around the 1960s for connivence sake. Today we are starting to see an increase in more biologically appropriate food products coming out.
I have created a tier list of some of the foods I see available today and ranked them in comparison to what would be better options. The best option would be properly prepared raw food, next would be properly prepared home cooked meals, air dried or freeze dried such as Ziwi Peak formulas have less plant filler although you will still need to rehydrate these options. After that high quality wet dog food, and then lastly high quality dried kibble which also needs to be rehydrated. However, adding real raw toppers to your high quality dry kibble and rehydrating it can instantly take it from the decent tier to the great tier.
- When looking for kibble always look at the ingredients and take with a grain of salt what the bag advertises in big letters.
- Stay away from by-products and make sure the first ingredient isn’t a “meal” (like “chicken meal” or “bone meal”) or corn filler.
- instead look for whole protein ingredients such as “deboned chicken” or “salmon” for the first ingredients.
- When reading an ingredients list, the top to bottom is in order of what the dog food mostly consisted of.
High Quality Premade Foods:
Low Quality Premade Foods:
Taking the Kibble Route? Read This First.
Kibble companies like to use colorful bags and advertising to convince you their products are the best. But do you know how to actually assess the quality of the food you’re buying? The first task is flipping the bag around and reading the ingredients list first instead of the claims in big letter on the bag. The ingredients list, at least in the USA with show in order what is in the product and how much. Generally the first ingredients is what the food is primarily made up of.
| What’s in the Top Ingredients? | The top ingredients should be whole meats, such as “Chicken”, “Deboned Chicken” “Salmon” “Beef” in USA the ingredient list is in order from top to bottom based on concentration. |
| Grain-Free foods that use legumes and peas. | Please be careful about grain free foods that use too much legumes “lentils” and “peas” because they have been linked to DCM in some breeds, and even though technically there are not any studies of the effects on Shiba Inu, I would still avoid kibble in which this is the bulk of the ingredients just in case. Instead opt for legume free grain free or “wholesome grains” “ancient grains” , peas can be ok as long as it’s limited and lower on the ingredients list. Watch this video with more details. |
| Is it a whole meat or a meal? | Meals can be fine as long as it is after whole meat ingredients. Meals are a lesser form of proteins, and it basically a powder. |
| Yucky Ingredients | Bone meal: a powder made from animal bones that have been ground up, it isn’t too bad but it definitely shouldn’t be on the top of the list. Animal by-products: are what’s left of a slaughtered animal after the skeletal muscle meat intended for human consumption has been removed. This can also include carcasses that did not make the cut due to illnesses and disease. Corn Syrup: Unnecessary and unhealthy ingredient. Various Corn Fillers Or High Starch Fillers: Heavy starch foods can easily contribute to obesity, high blood fat, dental build-up and other various problems. Artificial Food Coloring: Unecessary color added to make dog food look…pretty? I guess. Check Out Dog Food Adviser for more Info |
| Don’t trust the name brand, trust the ingredients panel. | Don’t trust what the bag advertises to you, because some wording can be misleading, don’t just pick based off brand either because some different lines from the same brand have different formulas (IE Pro Plan and Diamond) turn the bag around and read the actual ingredients. |
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| Too much legumes and peas VS just enough | Diamond // Diamond Naturals | Purina Pro Plan |
| One of these foods has a bit to much peas and legumes high up on the list which I would avoid. The other has peas but lower on the list and only in one form, that is ok. | Same brand has different lines in which the quality of the food changes drastically. | All these bags are purina pro plan line but all have different formulas in which ingredients vary. |
Please take time to inspect and compare the labels below:
Healthy Chews & How It Can Impact Dental Health
COMING SOON.
Sources
1. Feldhamer, G.A (2003). Mammalogy: Adaptation, diversity, and ecology, 2nd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill
2. National Research Council (NRC) (2006). Nutrient Requirement of dogs and cats. Washington, DC: National Academy Press
3. Pasquini, C., Spurgeon, T. and pasquini, S. (1989). Anatomy of domestic animals: Systemic and regional approach (10th ed.). Pilot Point, TX: Suds Publishing
4.Reiter, T., Jagoda, E., and Capellini, T.D. (2016). Dietary variation and evolution of gene copy number among dog breeds. PLoS ONE 11(2):e01148899