"Some question exists regarding the need of dogs and cats for dietary carbohydrate."
- Small Animal Clinical Nutrition III (1990), published by Mark Morris Assoc.

"There is no known minimum dietary carbohydrate requirement for either the dog or cat. Based on investigations in the dog and with other species it is likely that dogs and cats can be maintained without carbohydrates if the diet supplies enough fat or protein from which the metabolic requirement for glucose is derived."
- The Waltham Book of Dog & Cat Nutrition (1988), edited by Dr. A. T. B. Edney

Grains, first of all, are NOT a species-specific food. Cats would rarely graze in a field, and dogs would graze a little more but not a great percentage of the time. The things they tend to graze on are not oatmeal or polenta or white rice, but grasses and green twigs and berries and flowers and the like. Also, the amount of grains present in a prey's stomach (let's use a rabbit as an example) is very small - the stomach is small and the prey also doesn't go grazing in a grain field - they eat berries and twigs and roots and flowers and grasses, etc. I have fed whole rats to my cats before, and the ONLY part they leave (and they leave it everytime) is the stomach. So who's to say the cat or dog would even eat the stomach all of the time? Now, we all know that no animal in the history of the world has ever cooked a thing in its life, and to feed grains we typically cook them, right? Another bad thing, in my book, since cooking isn't natural. Prey away from "civilized" areas would have little to no exposure to our modern grains. Wild grains are much more like grasses than the grains of today.

Looking at the chemical structure of grains, it is clear that they are made up mostly of simple and complex carbohydrates - that is, they break down to sugars like sucrose or glucose in the body. We have all been warned of the feeding of sugars, even natural sugars, in the risk of cancers and heart disease. Grains breakdown to sugars. Mucus is made up of carbohydrates (70%) with about 20% protein and some lipids (fat). Now when you feed a food rich in carbohydrates, more mucus is produced. This isn't a bad thing you say? Well, mucus in the body is a good thing, within reason. If your body has more mucus than is actually needs or uses, then absorption of nutrients in the gut is reduced, parasites have more food (intestinal worms typically eat mucus), and more mucus is present in the respiratory tract, which can be annoying especially if you or your animal has a cold or some other respiratory distress (try not eating any grains while you are sick and amaze yourself by how fast the excess mucus clears up). Dogs and cats also have no dietary requirement for carbohydrates (like mentioned above in the quotes) because they can manufacture their own body energy form proteins and fats - something that humans can't do as well or as fast. They also don't have the teeth for grinding up grains - if whole grains were eaten they would be excreted whole too. Look in a horse's or cow's mouth - those are plant-eating teeth. Are your dog's or cat's teeth even remotely similar? Plus Cows and horses have huge cheek muscles and the bones to support those muscle - look at the cheeks of them as opposed to the cheeks of dogs or cats. Dogs and cats have excellent jaw muscles for catching, bringing down and devouring prey with little to no chewing. They also have no salivary amylase - the enzyme that herbivores and omnivores have to start breaking down the grains from the moment they enter the mouth.

Many pets with allergies have allergies to one or more grain (typically corn and soybeans, although soybeans are a legume). Allergies like this result because the immune system, which has sensors and lymph patches (Peyer's Patches) in the gut, gets irritated at the constant bombardment of something it sees as foreign. We all probably know about animals that are also allergic to cooked meat (such as beef-based kibble, etc). The immune system sees things like kibble as foreign materials.

If you are feeding grains for fiber, try using them whole and uncooked (i.e. more natural) or using something else, like fur or feathers, to bulk up stools, although there is controversy whether or not our carnivores (dog and cat) need much fiber/bulk in their diets. They sure don't have the intestines for it - basically no microbial action attacks the foods in the large intestine because it is so small and short and the rate of passage is so fast.

Recently (April 1998) I have been aware of an increasing amount of people who have had success in curing (yes, curing) their dog's urinary incontinence through diet. If they are on kibble, they try raw feeding. Many people have been able to decrease or stop completely the unnatural and potentially harmful drugs used to control this. If they are already feeding raw, the minute they stop feeding grains, the dogs regain their urinary control. Now, mind you, there is no "scientific evidence" about this yet, but there is certainly a LOT of anecdotal evidence. Just another strike against feeding grains.

These are all concepts taken from various vet school textbooks as well as my nutritional physiology class I have this semester (spring 1998). I personally feel that unless something is burstingly wonderful - why feed it? And grains are not burstingly wonderful in my opinion. My rule of thumb when feeding my animals is KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. No grains is a good way to keep it simple:)