No, that is not a typo — I do mean “carbo” as in CARB as in carbohydrate (not his carbon) paw print!
My book The Dog Bible explains why we have to consider kibble as only a part of our dog’s daily diet. If you are feeding dry food only, it’s important for your dog’s overall health and weight to reduce the amount of carbohydrates in their bowl and replace it with a protein source and some form of vegetables. We know for ourselves that a balanced meal with a variety of items on our plate is healthier because we then get our nutrients from different sources. Eating in this balanced way can also keep us slimmer, rather than eating a diet that is carb-heavy. Dogs also need variety in their diet from a variety of sources..
If you take kibble as a foundation, then you can add whole, less-processed foods including protein and veggies. A great way to do that is to feed about half the amount of kibble you usually feed and then add some protein like meat, fish, cottage cheese or eggs — and a variety of cooked or raw vegetables, too. Halo’s Spot’s stew in a can is a perfect way to do this because you can rotate different proteins and all the recipes include whole cooked vegetables just the way a stew for people would — and you don’t have to worry about supplementing the diet to make it balanced.
What I have done for years is to use Halo kibble as the foundation of my dogs’ dinner, rotating proteins so I serve a different one with each new bag. Many friends and radio listeners who have switched to Halo because of its superior recipes, have also discovered that they need to feed smaller quantities because it is made from such nutritious ingredients that you need less of it to satisfy hunger. This means they are lowering their dog’s “carbo paw print,” and in so doing are reducing one of the possible causes of obesity.
Less carbs overall means less kibble. Feeding a “grain free” kibble does not solve the problem because all kibble is carb-heavy by its very nature. All kibble has to begin as a dough of some kind, before it can become the kibbled shape.
Just as people gain weight from eating foods that are heavy in carbs, so does a dog pack on the pounds when his diet does not have enough quality protein to balance the carbohydrate load. Many of the successful diets for humans depend on reducing carbohydrates and increasing protein — to lower that “carbo pawprint” for your dog, give the High Protein idea a test run on your dog. I’ll bet you’ll be trying it soon on yourself!
-Tracie Hotchner
The Dob Bible
