The Dog Chef Diaries
Stories, fresh ideas and practical tips to help you and your dog enjoy a healthier, happier life together.
Common Myths: Dogs Don’t Like Variety
It’s a common myth that dogs don’t like variety in their diet. Quite aside from the health implications of feeding a dog exactly the same thing every day, how would any of us feel if we were forced to eat the same meal, day in, day out for the entirety of our lives?
Why dogs need variety
While it has been said that dogs do not naturally crave variety the way humans do, their digestive systems are NOT built to thrive on a consistent routine as some would argue. If a human would get bored with eating the same meal every day, why would it be any different for a dog? After all, courtesy of their distant ancestors, dogs have been on this planet longer than we have. One of the elements that has contributed to their staying power when so many other species have become extinct is their ability to thrive on a varied diet. To eat whatever was available to them at the time. Dogs were never designed to survive let alone thrive by eating the same meal all the time!
Why? Well quite apart from anything else:
- If a dog eats a varied diet, rotating proteins, organ meats and other ingredients ensures they get a full spectrum of essential amino acids and micronutrients, something they can never achieve by eating the same meal every day of their lives.
- Exposure to a single protein over a long period is likely to trigger a food sensitivity whereas a rotational diet that more accurately mimics their ancestral diet will greatly reduce this risk.
- The fact that dogs by nature are scavengers and facultative omnivores means they are designed to eat and thrive on a mix of plant and animal matter.
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Common sense dictates that dogs prefer variety
Pet food manufacturers spend millions trying to convince pet parents that dogs prefer to eat the same thing, the same meal, day in, day out for the entirety of their lives.
But there is a major flaw with this. (Actually there are dozens of major flaws but let’s stick to just one).
Commercial dog food is approximately 160 years old. Dogs as a distinct species from wolves have been on this planet for something like 40,000 years. 40,000 minus 160 is 39,840.
So for 39,840 years dogs not only survived but thrived on a diet that would generally have varied day by day. Most certainly it would have varied to some extent if not on a daily basis at certain times of the year, and most definitely on a seasonal basis.
Now suddenly we are told that dogs don’t like variety after all. They would actually prefer not only to eat the same food, but synthetic food at that.
I don’t think so!
Just as studies prove that dogs in training are motivated by variety, like human beings, dog’s are genetically programmed to expect variety in their diet. Not only to expect variety, but to need variety in order to thrive in exactly the same way you and I do.
It may take a while, but if we human beings were to eat the same thing over and over again without variety, we would become ill or at the very least, fail to thrive. That is precisely what is happening to today’s dogs who, sadly, are living shorter unhealthier lives than at any time in history.
Don’t believe it when someone tells you that dogs do not like variety. Few things are further from the truth!
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