The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
RAW DOG FOOD DIET
THE THEORY
Rowan Sanderson, chief nutritionist for raw dog food diet company Bella & Duke, is concerned about the amount of additives and processed meat in dog food. These, he believes, contain “rancid fats” that dull their coats, and neurotransmitters that cause bad behaviour, but also ingredients that are unsuitable for dogs.
“You wouldn’t feed your kids deepfried biscuits, why would you feed that to your dog, a carnivore, which is even less adapted to it?” says Sanderson. “They can’t digest carbohydrates, they don’t have the enzymes to do it, grains are used to bulk it out and they’re terrible for dogs.”
These grains, he says, cause “leaky gut” a relatively modern theory that has been linked to everything from allergies to rheumatoid arthritis to Alzheimer’s in humans, but is only just starting to be applied to animals.
“Grain has evolved in a way that doesn’t want to be eaten,” he explains. “They have evolved to trick a chemical that regulates the walls of the gut. As soon as you eat grain, your body relaxes, and it lets whole proteins and bacteria from your gut into your bloodstream.
“The bacteria are covered by something called LPS, which creates all kinds of inflammation around the body, causing all sorts of conditions.”
THE TESTER
Jayne Rear, a 58-year-old local councillor, and her 11-year-old labrador, Oscar, from Lancashire
“We approached this trial with scepticism. I didn’t believe in gut health for myself, let alone my dog! And we were worried about how he’d adjust to new food. But as Oscar’s got older he’s more tired and quite arthritic. He struggles to get up and doesn’t want to go for a walk. We’ve tried medication but nothing seems to work.
“All his meals were delivered to us frozen, in tubs that we had to defrost overnight . The consistency is a bit like pâté; not too appetising in my view. But thankfully, like most labradors, Oscar will eat anything. “Within three or four days, his coat was glossier and shinier. After a few weeks, his eyes are brighter and he’s more alert to things that are going on. He seems happy and more active too. He hasn’t turned down the opportunity to go for a walk, and he is happier to play than he has been in years. It feels like the years have melted off him, which has been a delight to see.”