What Makes Your Dog A Carnivore?
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Your Vet May Have Told You Differently...
"You know, you're killing your dogs."
I sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, absorbing the words my veterinarian was saying to me.
When I had told her that I started feeding my dogs a raw diet, this was her response.
I managed to recover and said that we can agree to disagree, and I got the heck out of there!
Why didn't I take my veterinarian's advice?
Don't they know better, as medical professionals, what is best for my dog?
This is a common problem. You listen to your vet, thinking that they know best because they have gotten the specialized education in dog biology and anatomy, right? So you buy that bag of dog food, thinking you are doing the right thing, because your vet told you this was what you needed to do.
Well, unfortunately for us dog parents, vets don't get much education in pet nutrition other than what they are fed by representatives from the large pet food manufacturing corporations. Unless they have elected to take a course in nutrition specifically, they are likely just repeating what they learned from a lecture they attended from a Hills rep.
This leads to misinformation like "dogs are omnivores," which makes no sense given their anatomy and biology. All you need to do is look at a dog's anatomy to know that they evolved to eat meat!
So let's clear this up once and for all! By the end of this post, you will have three solid pieces of evidence to show that dogs are anatomically and biologically carnivores.
1. Classification and History - Dogs Are Subspecies of Grey Wolves
The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a subspecies of the grey wolf (Canis lupus). They split into separate subspecies between 8,000 and as long as 30,000 years ago! While dogs are far removed from wolves from a behavioral and societal standpoint, they are nearly identical from an anatomical and biological standpoint.
* Side note, kibble was created around 130 years ago. What would they have eaten before that??
A "facultative" carnivore means that dogs can survive eating primarily a plant-based diet, but they cannot thrive on such a diet. They lack enough of the necessary digestive enzymes required to break down the cell walls of plants, so their ability to absorb nutrients from plant matter is limited.
This is opposed to "obligate" carnivores, such as cats, who cannot survive without a primarily meat-based diet.
2. Teeth - Evolved to Shred
One of the most noticeable characteristics that make a dog a carnivore are its teeth. The teeth of a carnivore differ pretty substantially from the teeth of omnivorous (eats plants and animals) and herbivorous (eats plants only) animals.
As you can see in the picture to the right, the teeth of a dog are all sharp and jagged - the canines are long to grab and hold prey, while the front teeth are also for holding prey, and the side and back teeth are for ripping and tearing flesh.
The bear skull, as well as skulls of other omnivores, like raccoons, pigs and squirrels, have the front teeth for cutting into, holding and ripping prey items. But their back teeth are wide and flat, which evolved for grinding down vegetation.
The horse's teeth, like other herbivorous animals such as cows, sheep, and rabbits, have wide, straight-edged front teeth for cutting vegetation and wide, flat back teeth for grinding vegetation. They have no sharp canine teeth or any sharp edges on their back teeth for tearing and shredding flesh because they aren't needed.
3. Digestive Tract - Very Short and Simple
Dogs and wolves have a very short, simple digestive tract. Have you ever noticed how dogs don't chew? They get it down into a bite-sized piece as quickly as possible and then down the esophagus to the stomach it goes! That's because digestion starts in the stomach. The stomach of a carnivore is simple and highly acidic, capable of breaking down animal tissues, including bone, in just a few hours.
An omnivore's digestive tract, like ours, is about as simple, but is a lot longer to allow time for the system to properly digest the cellulose in plants. Digestion begins in the mouth for us, where digestive enzymes in our saliva start the breakdown process.
The digestive tract of herbivores is very long and complex, containing a multi-chambered stomach to allow enough time and space to allow microbial fermentation of plant material. Many large herbivores have symbiotic bacteria within their guts to assist with the breakdown of cellulose.
All of the information outlined above provides ample evidence of the domestic dog's carnivorous evolution. You need only look to the wolf to see what dogs should be eating for optimal health.
For more tips and to learn how you can start feeding your dog the way nature intended, subscribe to my weekly newsletter by clicking the button below!
Steph Kovac
CEO and Chief Wagmaker Of Zen Dog World
Steph is a wildlife biologist by education and a pet care professional with over a decade of experience in animal husbandry and care. Her passion is to help people discover the magical world of natural remedies and positive training methods.
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