Why We Gave Up Kibble

Because my pups are my kids, I want them to have the best. The best experiences, home life, and nutrition. I used to feed my dogs kibble like most other pet owners. It’s easy, convenient, and even my vet recommended certain brands. I didn’t have any other ideas about what to feed my dogs because kibble is just what dogs ate. Maxwell was having serious allergy issues. He barely had any hair on his back legs. He was constantly itching and always had a skin infection. Every time we would go to the vet, she would prescribe him an antibiotic. Declan, on the other hand, couldn’t gain any weight. He weighed 45 pounds after months of us having him and trying to get him to gain weight, but really he should have been around 60 pounds. He wasn’t retaining any nutrients and was just passing all of the food we gave him. I was losing my mind trying to figure out how to help my pups. They were suffering and no matter how many times I brought them to the vet, they wouldn’t get any better. 

So I started thinking. 

I have food intolerances to gluten and dairy. When I eat food that has those ingredients, I have terrible digestive issues, my stomachs hurts, and I get itchy rashes all over my body. What if that’s what was happening to my dogs? They weren’t eating the right foods for them, so their bodies were reacting negatively? I started doing as much research as I could to understand dogs’ nutritional needs. Turns out there are a lot of conflicting ideas, but the main agreement is that they should be eating mostly meat. Seems right since dogs are supposed to have come from wolves who hunt for their meals. I looked at my kibble bag and even though it was considered “quality dog food,” it contained a bunch of fillers and low quality ingredients. 

I completely gave up on kibble and started making homemade food. I cooked ground meat, cut a variety of veggies, added beans, and hard boiled eggs. I started feeding this to my dogs and did see a noticeable difference. Maxwell wasn’t itching as much and Declan was gaining a little weight. After several months though, they still weren’t at ideal health. So I did more research. 

Even though my pups were eating healthier food than kibble, they were still missing some necessary nutrients like calcium and cooked meat loses some of its original nutrients when cooked at too high of a temperature. I started researching a raw diet even though many people (including my vet) think it’s a terrible idea. Raw was the only type of diet I hadn’t yet tried with my dogs so at this point I was willing to try anything. Now after several months of eating raw, Maxwell hardly ever itches. All of his fur had grown back and it’s softer and thicker than ever. He hasn’t had a single antibiotic since we switched. Declan is now 60 pounds and looks healthier than ever. He has even more energy which I didn’t think was even possible!

Why I hate kibble:

1. The ingredients are low quality and full of fillers dogs don’t need
2. It is highly processed and loses much of the nutritional value during the processing
3. Most mainstream brands test on animals and not in the good way that just feeds dog treats all day. Check here for how this animal testing actually happens
4. It is basically just expensive fast food 
5. It has caused my dogs health problems

It’s time to ditch the kibble! Who’s with me? Read my next post to find out what my pups’ raw diet looks like now!