Learn about Grain-Free Dog Food

In recent years, the hot trend in pet foods has been grain-free dog and cat food. Grain-free pet foods can have many health benefits for our pets. We'll focus on grain-free dog foods and discuss why feeding a food that contains no grains may be a healthy choice for your pet.

Low-Carb

Most grain-free pet foods will naturally be lower in carbohydrates than a food containing corn, wheat, oats or rice. This doesn't mean that grain-free foods are carbohydrate free. All dry pet food requires that the ingredients include some form of starch so that the kibble can be hard and crunchy. Grain-free pet foods replace the grain-based starch with other types of starch like potato, sweet potato, tapioca, or green peas.

Grain-free dry foods do contain lower levels of carbohydrates which more closely resembles the natural diet of a carnivorous animal. Dogs are descendents of wolves and a wolf would only encounter grain in the stomach contents of prey animals they consumed.

What's wrong with grain?

Some dogs develop allergies to the ingredients in pet food. Corn, wheat and rice are frequently found to be the cause of the allergic reaction. Some say that it's not the grain that's the problem but more so the pesticides that were used on the grain while it was growing that causes the sensitivity. Feeding a grain-free diet may help if your dog has chronic skin or digestive problems.

Can puppies eat grain free food?

This depends on the brand of grain free dog food you select. Some brands only recommend their grain free food for adult dogs, while other brands formulate the diet to be complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages. The label will indicate if the food is recommended for all life stages or just for maintenance of adult dogs.

Are there other health benefits?

Studies have shown that many dogs live healthy lives on diets that are high in carbohydrates although some dogs tend to gain weight on such diets. Just as there has been some evidence in human diets that low-carb/high-protein diets can help to promote a healthier weight, the same may be true for some dogs.

While reducing obesity in dogs, low-carb/high-protein diets have been shown to reduce the incidence of diabetes in cats. There fewer studies proving the same for dogs but studies showing successful weight loss when feeding low carb/high-protein foods suggest that similar benefits may be seen.

Grain-free, high-protein diets are highly digestible which results in decreased stool volume. High-protein diets also contain higher levels of fats and amino acids resulting in radiant coat quality for most pets. Grain-free foods are more calorically dense, allowing smaller portions to be fed.

Grain-free dog food may not be the best choice for your particular pet, but if you are noticing problems with digestion, skin/coat or weight gain, your dog may benefit from one of the many brands of grain-free pet food available on the market.

Visit our website, www.petfooddirect.com to see our full selection of grain-free dog food and treats.
Use promo code TUBE15 at checkout to save 15% on your next order. This offer excludes vet diets, Rx and Free Shipping items.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• grain-free dog food
• pet food
• EVO dog food
• Taste of the Wild dog food
• Wellness CORE dog food
• Before Grain Dog Food
• Natural Balance Dog Food
• dogs
• puppies

[KasinH]

Could you please type out the exact names of the grain-free foods you show there? I recognize one - the TOW Bison kibble. But the others? tnx.

[PetFoodDirect]

@KasinH Sure Kasin. The brands featured in the video are Wellness CORE Adult Dog food, Innova EVO Red Meat Small Bites, Taste of The Wild High Prairie Canine Formula, Before Grain Salmon Formula dry dog food “2″ and Natural Balance Potato and Duck Dry dog food. There are many more brands and formulas available in the grain-free dog food section of our website.

Thanks for viewing.

Valerie

[realintent1]

@defendingdog Congrats on switching to a better food. If your dog has a food allergy these higher end foods can indeed help :)

[realintent1]

@kilog55 they don't have true food allergies. They're reacting to the way the food is processed. Dogs are not designed to digest grains. Their digestive tract is short and designed for meat. Even grain free foods are hard to digest if they're dry kibble because they go through the same expander extruder process every other dog food goes through which is prohibitive of the amount of fresh meat a dog really needs, meat doesn't expand.

[defendingdog]

@realintent1 Well I have got something rare! I used to feed pedigree and it almost killed my dogs from various issues. I'm a prey model feeder now...

[SnortedColors]

I placed a decent order at this store and was extremely disappointed in the poor service. I wrote a letter to them and they were courteous enough to reply, but their response was lame and didn't address the issues - like they didn't care if I ordered again or not.

[kilog55]

@realintent1

then there must be billions and billions of dogs in the US alone cause alot of dogs have food allergies, dogs are carnivores even wild k9s do not eat corn or wheat, these are all just fillers to make the food cheap on the makers end and the consumers plus sugars and artificial colorings

[realintent1]

food allergies in dogs are quite rare. Only 1 to 2 percent of all dogs actually has a food allergy.