Are Dogs Carnivores or Omnivores?

A dog is a carnivore. You can see that a dog is a carnivore as soon as you open its mouth. Dogs have a typical carnivorous dentition, pronounced canines and sharp molars. Omnivores also have sharp canines, but the surface of the molars is much flatter, which allows them to chew food. Omnivores can move their jaws left and right to chew food, carnivores (including dogs) cannot move their jaws to the side, they do not chew. The teeth only allow them to tear pieces of food and swallow them. 

How will you recognize if your dog is a carnivore or a vegetarian? Recently, it is often heard that a dog is a carnivore, but dogs are really carnivores. The fact that they can survive with a diet based on foods rich in carbohydrates (various grains, potatoes, peas, etc.) does not mean that this is the optimal diet for them. The very acidic pH in the dog's stomach enables excellent digestion of raw meat, cartilage and bones. Such an extremely acidic pH also protects the dog's body from microorganisms that the dog could potentially ingest with food. The intestines of carnivores are much shorter than those of herbivores and herbivores. Why is that important? Because it is in the intestines that the decomposition of complex plant structures takes place with the help of the microflora that lives in the intestines (not a single mammal is able to digest complex plant structures with its own enzymes, but the microflora in the intestines helps it). 

How does a dog digest plant matter? Dogs cannot digest vegetable matter well due to the shortness of their intestines. The fact that a plant is rich in proteins does not mean that the dog will be able to use them, because they are completely indigestible. On the other hand, simple starch from plants will be easily absorbed by the body. Such easily digestible carbohydrates burden the carnivorous organism, and the result is obesity and diabetes. It is a fact that a dog's organism can digest vegetable matter a little better than a wolf's, but it cannot digest them nearly as well as a canine organism. The fact that today everyone agrees that cats are real carnivores is particularly surprising, and at the same time, cat food contains large amounts of corn, peas, rice, vegetable fats, etc. that are completely unusable by the cat's body. A small amount of plant matter (selected fruits and vegetables) that carnivores should eat is a source of micronutrients important for the proper functioning of the body. A carnivorous organism needs to draw energy and nutrients from foods of animal origin (protein and fats of animal origin). Vegetable matter is not a form of protein and fat that can be used by the dog. What dogs can use from plants are easily digestible carbohydrates that do them more harm than good. The best proof that dogs digest raw food really well (meat, offal, cartilage, bones) is the stool, which in dogs fed raw meat is smaller in volume and harder in consistency. In dogs that eat food based on carbohydrates, the stool is much larger in volume and softer. A large amount of stool indicates that the ingested food is poorly digested, that is, unused. 

Petra Galetić, dr.vet.med See our 

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