Dog Food Carbohydrates… A Surprising Secret Revealed

by Mike Sagman
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Zero. That’s how many carbohydrates are required by a dog to sustain life.
Dog Food Carbohydrate Secrets
The fact that a dog food doesn’t need to contain any “carbs” at all may seem hard to believe.

But it’s true.

You see, according to the National Research Council and compared to the other two major nutrients — protein and fat — no carbs are considered essential for a healthy canine diet.1

Dogs don’t need corn. And they don’t need wheat, barley rice or potatoes. 

Dogs simply don’t need any carb-based ingredients — at all.

Yet surprisingly, carbohydrates represent the most common raw materials used for making dry dog food.

How can this be?

Why Dog Food Manufacturers
Love Carbohydrates

Since the early 1950s, dog food manufacturers everywhere have fallen head-over-heels in love with carbohydrates because they’re:

  • Cheap (much cheaper than protein or fat)
  • Abundant (simple to acquire)
  • Durable (long shelf life)
  • Essential to the kibble-making process

Please notice that not one of these reasons has anything to do with nutrition — not one.

Are They Safe for Dogs?

Carbohydrates aren’t bad for dogs. In reasonable amounts, they can actually provide a practical source of energy.

The problem lies in their quantity.

Using a dog’s ancestral diet as a model, the total amount of carbs consumed by a dog’s evolutionary predecessor is dramatically less than what has become “the norm” for products created by the pet food industry.

One sensible source estimates natural carbohydrate consumption for a dog’s ancestors at around 14 percent of total diet.2

Yet on average, today’s dry dog foods contain somewhere between 46 and 74 percent carbohydrates.3

The Numbers Aren’t Even Close

Today’s kibbles contain as much as four times the carbohydrate content historically found in the canine ancestral diet.

It looks like the pet food industry may have taken advantage of the dog’s remarkable ability to adapt to just about anything.

OK, maybe the ancestral diet represents an unreasonable extreme. 

But considering the dog’s evolutionary background, it just seems that manufacturers may have gone too far in the opposite direction.

Doesn’t it make sense for a dog’s diet to be more more “natural” — more like the canine ancestral diet?  With more protein and fat — and fewer carbohydrates?

The Bottom Line

When choosing dog food, it makes good sense to favor products lower in carbohydrates. That’s because as the carbohydrate share of the overall “pie” falls, its protein and fat (meat) content must by necessity also rise.

And even though most dog food companies fail to disclose the percentage of carbohydrates contained in their products, the Dog Food Advisor reports an estimate of this all-important figure inside every review.

So, look for dog foods rich in meat-based protein. You’ll be providing your pet with a diet closer to the one she was naturally designed to eat.

What’s more, you may even be adding years of good health to your best friend’s life.

Footnotes

  1. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, “Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats”, 2006 Edition, National Academies Press, Washington, DC ↩
  2. Brown S., Taylor B., “See Spot Live Longer”, 2007 Creekobear Press, Eugene, OR USA, page 51 ↩
  3. National Research Council, National Academy of Science, “Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats”, 2006 Edition, National Academies Press, Washington, DC, p 317 ↩
Dog Food Advisor IconThe Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.


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  • sandy

    No problem!  There’s a delay sometimes even 15 minutes long before a post shows up on the Recent lists.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com/ Mike Sagman

    Oops. Sorry, Sandy. Didn’t see your response.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com/ Mike Sagman

    Hi Kirstie,

    The main source of carbohydrates in any dog food depends on each recipe.

    For most kibbles, it’s typically a cereal grain (corn, wheat, rice, barley, etc.), potatoes or legumes (peas or beans).

    The only reasonable function for carbs is to supply energy (calories) to the animal. As I mention in this article, there’s no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.

    Hope this helps.

  • sandy

    The main carb/carbs is what it used as the binder to make a formed kibble. It can be grains (wheat, barley, oatmeal, rice, quinoa, etc) or vegetables (potato, sweet potato, yam) and even legumes (peas, chickpeas, lentils) or tapioca.

    Used as binders for kibble but there can be too much of them and it just becomes a filler and unnecessary.

    Some other carb additions are fruits and veggies.  They have antioxidants and vitamins, but too much of these is also unnecessary.

  • Kirstie

    what is the main source of carbohydrates in dog food and what is its function?

  • http://essay.com Dummy Account

    Interesting.

  • Shawna

    Dave M — that is maddening that that would happen!!! A simple urine culture is standard procedure when identifying KD for that very reason.. If you hadn’t been wise and sought out that second opinion the infection could have eventually caused kidney disease.

    Another clue that was likely present, with a kidney infection, is abnormally high neutrophil on the CBC.

  • Dave M

    Years ago I had a rescued Greyhound and was told he had chronic kidney disease. We spent thousands of dollars and went on a specialized food (Hills KD before we knew better). I took the dog to see another vet and he told us it was just an infection. Antibiotics did the trick. No more IV’s special diets etc. Now I always get a second opinion when it comes to my dogs. I did change vets. My Greyhound did go on to live to the age of 13 which is pretty good for that breed.

  • Shawna

    I know this comment is really really late but with the new “reply” feature I’m hoping this may still be seen by diane sherman…

    My puppy was born with kidney disease. Symptoms were noticed even before she was fully weaned. She was “officially” diagnosed with chronic kidney disease at 1 year of age. She is not 5 1/2 years old and has been on a high protein raw diet her entire life — and is still VERY healthy.

    The most important thing to consider with kidney disease is quality of protein — meat protein is going to be better utilized on a cellular level then plant protein (soybean meal, corn gluten meal etc). This better utilization leaves less waste (blood urea nitrogen) for the kidneys to have to filter. Likewise, “chicken” should then be better utilized then “chicken meal”. Meals (even good ones) are heated twice which damages more of the heat sensitive amino acids. So, foods with meals (and no added amino acids) will theoretically cause more renal stress then non-meals. And any cooked proteins will create more waste then raw animal proteins.

    Kibble, in and of itself, can cause renal stress because of the chronic dehydration it can create.

    And, phosphorus (when properly balanced with calcium) is not at all (so they beleive) damaging to “healthy” kidneys.

    For dogs suseptible to renal failure through genetics or other factors, chronic stress to the kidneys can (over time) contribute, it is believed, to kidney disease. HOWEVER, they also know that dogs with kidney disease actually have an increased need for protein…

    So, imo, your vet has a point but completely missed the big picture. Hope this all makes sense!! My mind kept bouncing around thinking new thoughts as I typed this… :)

  • Shawna

    Fruits (and veggies) would also add fiber.

    LIKE the “Reply” button!!!!

  • Shawna

    Hi Gary,

    IMO, dog food manufacturers add different ingredients to please people not necessarily for the health of the dog/cat. Granted any food added will add minerals to the diet but the vitamins, enzymes etc are believed to mostly be damaged by the extruding and heating process.. Hence the very long list of added vitamins (and minerals) at the end. Many canned foods are “complete and balanced” with nothing more then meat/protein, water (or liquid of some sort) and added supplements. Merrick Before Grain as an example http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=115&s=20486

    In a raw diet, I think small amounts of fruits (and veggies) can supply nutrients that would be missing when not feeding a wide variety of organs/glands/fur etc.

    Humans can actually convert amino acids to glucose as well. However no one I know would want to be put in that situation. I watched a program on the discovery channel years ago regarding this. Happens in cases of starvation when no other source for glucose is available. The body will, at all cost, try to supply the brain with it’s glucose needs — even by stealing it from the muscle. The process is called gluconeogenesis.

    A better source of glucose (via glycogen) for the dog however is from dietary fat. The liver easily converts fat to glycogen and then stores it for glucose needs. I read that fat (gram for gram) provides significantly more energy then carbohydrates.

    This website does a good job, imo, of discussing without being too scientific. http://rawfed.com/myths/carbs.html

    This one is much more scientific. http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/gluconeogenesis.html

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