Thought this might interest some forum members: https://thesciencedog.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/digestibility-matters/ The study found that raw chicken is more digestible than when it is processed (ie cooked) and added to dry food. The study also compared different proteins in extruded dog food to measure which was most digestible.
Interesting! I thought you meant raw chicken added to (as in "in addition to") kibble, not baked in the kibble as the study did. If I ever find my pup, I'll be sticking to a home-made diet, but it's good to see more research into what makes a healthier and more digestible dry food as many people like feeding that way.
Ah yes, it is confusing - sorry! I had to read the results twice before I got it. But bottom line for me is that raw chicken had higher digestibility than kibble. I didn't need a study to tell me fresh is better than highly processed - extruded!! The word is enough to make me skeptical of the health benefits of highly processed dog food. It's like mums believing breakfast cereal is healthy cos it has added vitamins.
no wonder my dogs poo is smaller when he was on boiled chicken and rice vs kibble. (i know the study said raw)
VERY interesting. Some contradictions to what we previously had read. Our Vet really wants us to go back to BARF. Thanks for posting this @MF
No need to be sorry - it was the report that was a bit confusing. But once I understood what they were saying, no problems. Yes, you are "preaching to the choir" as they say, when it comes to me agreeing on the "extruded" thing. Ick. I just can't deal with kibble any more after years of not using it. I understand why a lot of people love it, but I do kind of wish they'd toss in some fresh stuff to go along with it. What really gets me going is vets who insist that you are doing your dog some kind of nutritional damage if you feed him fresh. The idea that a living creature can get all nutritional needs met with a little rock of baked stuff just seems weird to me. I mean, nobody thinks such a thing would be good for humans or else we'd all be living off protein bars or something. Yet I can't tell you how many otherwise excellent vets were HORRIFIED that I was feeding my dog fresh chicken, fish, veggies, fruits and eggs. I finally learned to stop mentioning it. On the other hand, I would really love to have a good healthy kibble to use for emergencies/travel when fresh is hard to do for a meal or two. So any research that gets kibble to be better is great!
