“dogs can’t digest Vegetables” Myth- BUSTED-

Written by ketopoweredk9

How many times have you read this in other dog groups? “dogs cant digest vegetables because they don’t produce any Amylase in their saliva to break down the vegetables !” Most Raw feeders are pretty adamant on their stance with this mindset.

But is it true?

Dr. Becker explains in the video below that although dogs don’t produce any salivary amylase, they produce pancreatic amylase, so it’s a moot point everyone is trying to make by claiming dogs can’t digest vegetables just because they don’t produce amylase in their saliva. And why are we feeding veggies in our Raw Ketogenic meals? well, a number of reasons. They contain nutrients- vitamins & minerals, they contain fiber, they can help the dog feel “full” when we are feeding calorie restricted in the case of cancer, and as Dr. Ian Billingurst brilliantly points out in the video below from the RFVS conference 2018 (Raw Feeding Veterinary Society), the veggies help the digestive system in a number of ways , and even tho he is talking about a kidney specific raw diet, one would postulate that the same principal he is talking about would also be beneficial for all dogs if it’s helping the kidneys.

Although Dr.Becker does not cite any references in the video below when she claims “they make a ton of amalyse” , studies cited in the National Research Council book of nutritional requirements for Dogs and Cats support the fact that dogs do in fact produce amalyse , and studies published in NCBI ( National Center for Biotechnology Information) also confirm that dogs do produce amalyse from their pancreas.
Some research has also shown that rats fed a high carbohydrate/starch diet actually start to produce more amalyse because their pancreas becomes hypertrophied and actually becomes larger in size due to the increase load of carbohydrates/starch in the diet. When they are returned to a Raw food diet the pancreas reduces back in size. – source
NCBI has also published studies about “drastic increase in copy numbers of the gene coding for pancreatic amylase, AMY2B, that likely allowed dogs to thrive on a relatively starch-rich diet during early dog domestication.” source

Dr. Ian Billinhurt’s explanation on how vegetable matter can be beneficial to a dog/cat


Audio is hard to hear so you have to turn it up! I subtitled what he says here
“for example kidney diet Is high in raw crushed vegetables because of the fiber, the fiber promotes the short chain fatty acids (SCFA) In the large bowel which promotes the health of the large bowel, it brings the blood supply there , it promotes the growth of bacteria , the bacteria need nitrogen to form their own protein, they draw it out of the blood, and this way they help nitrogen to bypass the kidneys , they act like a third kidney and its part of the renal program that we’ve done for years with tremendous success.”

Watch this video below from Dr. Karen Becker dispelling this myth once and for all.

Fermented Vegetables as a probiotic
taken from “The dog Dad”

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