Carbs? Low Carb? No Carb?

In the same day, I received an article from a friend and my brother regarding a new DNA study on wolves and domesticated dogs.  My friend sent it thinking I would find it fascinating, my brother because of the last paragraph in the article he sent. The author, Rosie Mestel, of the Los Angeles Times writes in that paragraph:

"Dr. Oscar Chavez, director of the veterinary technician program at Cal Poly Pomona, said the findings serve as a reminder that dogs don't eat like wolves. He said he and his colleagues are befuddled by the trend toward pricey low-carb dog foods and raw diets, which could stress dogs' kidneys with their extra protein load."

I had told my brother I was feeding Bella no grain/high protein kibble and that her coat was glossy, her stools (a dog owner's odd focus), and her demeanor even keel. He switched his young Wheaten to a similar diet with similar results. However with this news, and his understanding that Wheaten's can have kidney issues, he was concerned he might be hurting his dog with the best of intentions.

First off, I recommended he contact his vet and see what her/his thoughts were. I sent an email to my vet (and have not heard back yet), and went on-line to start reading. It seems in a layman's nutshell, the gist of the study was an apparent large difference between wolves and domesticated dogs ability to digest starch. Domesticated dogs have an enzyme that allows for easier digestion; wolves don't have it. (It is worth reading the articles, plus this one also.)

Someone mentioned to me the correlation in humans between a high protein (low carb) diet and kidney function and sent me the link to this article. I am no scientist and don't pretend to be, but found this statement in the Harvard study interesting:

"While the researchers observed that protein consumption had an adverse impact on women with mild kidney problems, the same did not hold true for women with normal kidney function."

As I wrote my brother, the high protein, low/no grain dog kibbles have been around long enough that if there were significant reports of kidney damage, I believe we would have read something about it. I also found it reassuring that none of the other articles mentioned anything about the high protein/low carbohydrate diets correlating to canine kidney dysfunction and that the Harvard article mentioned in people with good kidney function, high protein diets did not equate kidney problems.

My brother's vet did respond to his email and told him not to be concerned. If he wanted, the next time he brought his dog in, they would do a baseline test to measure Murray's kidney function.


My brother will rest easier and so will I. Thanks to all my on-line buddies at Good Paws for their input and knowledge sharing regarding this issue!