Do dogs need food variety, or is one formula best for digestion?

Question

Are dogs digestive systems really sensitive? Shouldn't a dog be able to handle different foods like humans can? Like variety? I thought feeding the same food over and over again was not good because the dog doesn't get as many nutrients. Don't living creatures need different nutrients from different things? I don't want to cause my dog harm by doing this if it's not recommended. Can you explain the benefits of staying on one formula vs. switching flavors? I would like to know so I understand.

Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS · Accepted Answer

A dog's digestive system is completely different to a human's digestive system. While the anatomy is the same, the physiological processes are different, meaning they process food differently. That's why certain food are toxic to them and they can never have certain ones such as chocolate, garlic, onions, grapes, and raisins among many others. A dog food is specially formulated to contain all the nutrients they need in that one bag; therefore, additional or different foods are not needed. Their system is much more sensitive than a humans in regards to changing foods, which is why it's not recommended to switch flavors. Dogs are perfectly fine with one flavor of food for their entire lives, and that one bag of food will give them all the nutrients they need to be healthy on a daily basis. Dogs are not humans, they are different creatures with different physiological processes, and therefore cannot handle different foods on a daily basis like we can. Their taste buds are also different than humans. They only have 1,706 taste buds compared to humans who have 9,000. All these flavors are essentially a marketing gimmick aimed at the owners who buy the food. We as humans like to think that our dogs love having "beef stew" flavored dog food for dinner, when in reality they don't care. We are talking about an animal that often likes eating their own poop! I hope this helps you understand why it's not recommended to continually switch flavors of dog food :-)

Do dogs need food variety, or is one formula best for digestion?

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