Paleo for Dogs

One of the leading factors in my pathway to Paleo was reading the CF Journal from November 2003 which contained an article titled “Dog Food: Carnivore or Cornivore?”  The article profiles Athena, the CrossFit mascot who eats a well-balanced diet of raw chicken legs, fish oil, and a little grass.

“Take any dog food manufacturer’s claimed caloric requirements for a dog and place an amount of naturally available biomass equivalent to that load of sixty to seventy percent carbohydrate and place it on a tarp.  Now find a dog that will eat that much grass and vegetation.  It would take a goat.

The premise of a dog requiring a high carbohydrate diet is patently absurd.  the industrialization of food has produced faire that neither man nor dog should eat.”  - CF Journal, November 2003

This resonated with me.  My dogs were active and happy, yet hyper, but overall pudgy dogs.  I didn’t overfeed them.  I fed them almost HALF of what was recommended on the back of their food bag for their body weights.  But every year they went to the vet having gained a pound or two.  Sound similar to some human experiences?

I looked into their food’s nutritional breakdown and discovered that their food was 48.67% carbohydrate!!  And just 22.56% protein!!  A brief internet search for a breakdown of the diet of wild dogs or wolves turned up this great article:

“Because of the various canine features discussed above,  it is logical to conclude that the diet of the dog should be closely linked to the diet of wild canines like the wolf.  This gives us a strong foundation for how to feed our own dogs.  According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Timber Wolf (the dog’s closest living relative) diet is comprised of 55% white-tailed deer, 16% beavers, 10% snowshoe hares, 19% rodents and other small mammals.  The wolf and the wild dog ingest almost the entire carcass of the prey they catch.  This means that there is a small amount of pre-digested vegetation eaten when the stomach (tripe) of an herbivore is eaten.

Your dog can be fed in the exact same way. ”  Source: Evolutionary Nutrition for the Dog, written by Sarah Griffiths

That was enough information for me.  I was also curious to see if the diet would cause them to lean out, change behavior (all that stored up insulin has to have an affect on them somehow!), or improve their terrible breath.  So off we went on a Paleo Challenge for the dogs.

Solstice is a moody but loyal 7 year old mutt whose personality and physical appearance most resembles that of an Australian Shepherd.  She enjoys obsessive compulsive sessions with any tennis ball in site, chasing small children that move too fast, and eating at a snail’s pace.  Her records indicate she has gained twelve (TWELVE!?!) pounds since she was 1.5 years old despite maintaining an active lifestyle and extremely consistent amounts of food intake.  Weigh-in: 61 pounds.

Emmy is a ditzy but loyal goofball.  A golden retriever of five years old she enjoys squiggling around on her back, wondering when her next meal will take place, monitoring any action in the kitchen, and snoring even when she is awake.  Her records indicate that she has gained 6 pounds since 1.5 years of age.  Weigh-in: 59 pounds.

Here they are at their first Paleo meal.  Obviously excited.