A squash thiefs thoughts on what you should be feeding your dogs

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Mumin loves his squash (to the point that he steals thrm off the counter), carrots and potatoes - and most all fresh fruits and vegetables but there is a couple of reasons why dogs cant absorb the nutrition from them

They have a relatively short foregut and a short, smooth, unsacculated colon. This means food passes through quickly. Vegetable and plant matter, however, needs time to sit and ferment.

Dogs do not normally produce the necessary enzymes in their saliva (amylase, for example) to start the break-down of carbohydrates and starches; amylase in saliva is something omnivorous and herbivorous animals possess, but not carnivorous animals. This places the burden entirely on the pancreas, forcing it to produce large amounts of amylase to deal with the starch, cellulose, and carbohydrates in plant matter. Thus, feeding dogs as though they were omnivores taxes the pancreas and places extra strain on it, as it must work harder for the dog to digest the starchy, carbohydrate-filled food instead of just producing normal amounts of the enzymes needed to digest proteins and fats.

Nor do dogs have the kinds of friendly bacteria that break down cellulose and starch for them. As a result, most of the nutrients contained in plant matter—even preprocessed plant matter—are unavailable to dogs. This is why dog food manufacturers have to add such high amounts of synthetic vitamins and minerals (the fact that cooking destroys all the vitamins and minerals and thus creates the need for supplementation aside) to their dog foods. If a dog can only digest 40-60% of its grain-based food, then it will only be receiving 40-60% (ideally!) of the vitamins and minerals it needs. To compensate for this, the manufacturer must add a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals than the dog actually needs.

I mentioned in a previous post - about why we feed our dogs cooked eggs - that we feed our dogs freeze dried vegetables, but we also feed them vegetables from our garden. Vegetables that first has been frozen. Why?
Because when you freeze a vegetable it breaks down the cellular structure, making it so that the dogs can get the nutrition from them.
The main portion of their food is raw meat - moose and/or deer. Whatever scraps of meat we dont use ourselves from the animals we harvest each autumn we keep as dog food. In addition to the meat we give them frozen vegetables. Why? Well, have you ever tried just eating meat for a while? On each meal we sprinkle bone meal. It is loaded with nutrients important to your dog's health like calcium, fat, protein and phosphorus. It helps build and maintain strong teeth and bones, is beneficial in nutrient absorption and can assist in digestion.
Our goal is to be able to provide all of these things for our dogs, but we have just gotten started and this first year we had to give them kibble as well.

We give our dogs Orijen dog food - its made here in Alberta, its grain free and made with good products https://www.orijen.ca/foods/dog-food/
"In Alberta, and other areas of Canada we’re connected to regional farmers, ranchers and fishermen whose values match our own, that we are proud to name. These suppliers provide fresh and custom ingredients that are GMO free, and sustainably and ethically produced."

One difference we noticed right away (besides better coats) was their poop - because the kibble didnt contain all these things their bodies couldnt absorb there was less "waste" product, so the poop was washed away after a rain or two. Now who doesnt want less poop to pick up in their yards? (Besides healthy dogs?)

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