Dogs that eat raw food instead of kibble have better gut health

According to surveys of 7,000 owners, dogs that ate primarily dog ​​food were 29% more likely to develop gastrointestinal issues than dogs that ate primarily raw food.

By Jason Arunn Murugesu

Puppies that eat mostly dog ​​food are more likely to have gut health issues later in life than those fed a diet of leftovers or raw meat.

Anna Hielm-Bjorkman at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues surveyed more than 7,000 dog owners in Finland about what they fed their pets between 2009 and 2019.

The researchers interviewed each dog owner several times during this period and also asked them if their dog had had any gastrointestinal problems that lasted three weeks or more – also known as chronic enteropathy (CE) .

The team wanted to determine the effect that a dog’s diet at an early age had on their gut health as an adult. According to Hielm-Björkman, dog diets in Finland can be broadly divided into three categories: dog food, cooked leftovers from their owners, and unprocessed foods such as raw meat, fish and berries.

Researchers found that 22% of dogs developed CE in adulthood, usually by age one and a half.

Their diet as a puppy (2 months to 6 months old) was found to be strongly correlated with whether or not they developed EC later in life. Those who were fed mostly dog ​​food were 29% more likely to develop the disease than dogs who ate mostly raw food. However, this type of study cannot establish whether the dogs’ diet was responsible for the higher disease rates.

Hielm-Björkman says it’s unclear why dog ​​food could lead to gut health issues. Dog food consists mostly of carbs, she says, which dogs don’t need a lot of. “It could have the same effect as consuming regular sugar on humans – it causes low-grade inflammation,” she says.

“A lot of people are taught that dog food is a balanced diet, but when you start using other foods in a dog’s diet, you see a lot of illnesses go away,” she says.

Dogs’ microbiomes may simply be better suited to eating unprocessed foods, says Hielm-Björkman.

She advises owners to try to ensure their dog’s diet is as varied as possible, with at least 20% raw food.