I looked into the FDA’s investigation on grain-free dog diets, here’s what I think you should feed your dog instead

As someone who’s gluten intolerant, I can’t eat most grains. Because of this, I stay away from grains altogether. When I first adopted by dog, Georgie, I thought it would be healthier for her to follow my lead and eat a grain-free diet, just in case she might be allergic to gluten like me. But I was wrong.

One of the arguments supporting grain free diets for dogs is the fact that wolves, the ancestors of dogs, don’t eat grains in the wild. However, many of the animals that wolves consume eat grain. Additionally, dogs aren’t wolves, they’re dogs, and over time have evolved to be able to consume grains and carbohydrates through living alongside humans. The real reason grain free diets for dogs have become so popular is not because they’re necessary, but because they’re easy to market.

Lots of people (myself included until recently) mistakenly think that grains are bad for dogs, citing the fact that the ancestors of dogs: wolves, didn’t eat grains (or even carbohydrates, really) in the wild. What these people don’t realize is that over the thousands of years that dogs have lived with humans, they have evolved to be able to process grains and carbohydrates. Additionally, just because wolves weren’t directly consuming grains and carbohydrates didn’t mean the animals they consumed weren’t. They were. Because of this, wolves’ bodies had to be able to process the grain residue leftover in their prey. Wolves can eat grains, and so can dogs.

I assumed that by feeding Georgie grain-free dog food, she would be getting less filler in her food. However, the truth is grain-free diet has the same amount of filler ingredients in it, and sometimes more! Instead of using grains in your dog’s food, grain-free dog food companies use other carbohydrate-rich ingredients like starches and potatoes that end up making your dog gain weight. Additionally, one of the primary ingredients in many grain-free dog foods are meat meals: dried, ground up animal tissue that’s basically spare parts and often very lacking in terms of nutritional value. Because they’re full of these sorts of real meat alternatives, grain-free dog foods often lack taurine, an amino acid that is only found in animal tissue, and most often in fresh animal tissue. Taurine is especially vital when it comes to maintaining cardiac functions in your dogs, so a diet low in taurine can be harmful to your dog.

After doing more research on what happened to a dog when they consumed a grain-free diet, I realized I had been seriously wrong in my assumption that feeding Georgie a grain-free diet would be helping her to be healthier. According to the FDA, when dogs are restricted to grain-free diets, they’re at higher risk for canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and multiple other types of heart disease, making grain-free diets worse for dogs than a normal diet. One of the scariest parts about these types of diseases is that they don’t show any signs or symptoms until it’s too late! There are currently 16 dog food brands linked to DCM, and over 500 brands currently under investigation.

• Acana
• Zignature
• Taste of the Wild
• 4Health
• Earthborn Holistic
• Blue Buffalo
• Nature’s Domain
• Fromm
• Merrick
• California Natural
• Natural Balance
• Orijen
• Nature’s Variety
• NutriSource
• Nutro
• Rachael Ray Nutrish

After learning more about grain-free diet and its effects, I came to the decision that a grain-free diet wasn’t the right choice for me and Georgie. However, I wasn’t comfortable with feeding Georgie regular, commercially made dog food because I had heard horror stories about how it was made using cheap fillers, animal waste products, and dead, dying, and diseased animals, along with being processed in low quality facilities that weren’t kept up to standard. And so I decided to try out subscription dog meals. Here are my three favorites.

Founded in Brooklyn, the Farmer’s Dog is focused on not only making your dog’s life better, but making the whole world better too. As part of this, Farmer’s Dog only uses recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable materials when packaging its meals. Before packaging, meals are designed by veterinary nutritionists to fit your pet’s profile, and cooked in a USDA certified kitchen using proteins, vegetables, starches, and fruits that are cooked at low heat. Every two weeks, the Farmer’s Dog asks you to choose which two meals you’d like to have featured in your delivery for the next two weeks, then vacuum packs and sends your chosen recipes in fourteen meals delivered to your door.

NomNomNow is dedicated to making sure your dog gets all its necessary vitamins and minerals. To achieve this, each NomNomNow meal includes NomNomNutrient mix and Fish Oil, so you don’t have to worry about buying extra supplements for your pup. All of NomNomNow’s meals are specially made by Dr. Justin Shmalberg, one of the world’s leading veterinary nutritionists. He and his team have created four main meals: Heartland Beef Mash, Tasty Turkey Fare, Chicken Chow-Wow, and Porkalicious Pork, customizing each of these recipes based on your dog’s needs. Meals are made fresh weekly using restaurant-quality ingredients, and then are hand-inspected before being sent to you.

Your dog’s diet is a huge factor in their long term health. Feeding your dog healthy meals made out of real, fresh ingredients from places like Ollie helps to lower your dog’s risk of disease, but it doesn’t eliminate it. If you believe your dog is at risk for DCM or any other disease, you should consult your veterinarian immediately.

Update: Ollie is extending a limited time offer to our readers. Buy Ollie now through this article and receive an exclusive 50% off your first box for a limited time only.