Find food that fits your pet’s needs
You mightve heard from your veterinarian that fiber is key to your dogs nutrition. Its also vital for maintaining their health and managing some diseases. But how do you go about finding good fiber for dogs? Read on to learn what kind of fiber your dog may need as well as signs they could have a fiber imbalance.
The Purpose of Fiber for Dogs
Fiber is a type of complex carbohydrate. Its different from other starches in that it resists digestion in the small intestines. Typically, fiber is fermented in the large intestine, which means that it takes a lot longer to digest than simple carbohydrates.
Fiber functions to increase bulk and absorb excess water, which aids in bowel regularity and helps produce firm, formed stools. Fiber also helps produce a healthy intestinal pH which inhibits growth of undesirable bacteria in your dogs gut.
When shopping for dog food containing fiber, the main things to look for are the solubility of the fiber and the amount of total digestible fiber (TGF). Soluble fiber readily disperses in water, whereas insoluble fiber maintains more of its structure in watery environments, like the gastrointestinal tract. Insoluble fiber supports dogs gut health.
Unfortunately, pet food nutrition labels dont provide information about fiber solubility or TGF. Instead, youll need to ask your veterinarian to help you figure out which dog food will provide what your dog needs. Keep in mind that dogs and their unique gut microbes respond differently to different fibers. This means that it will take trial and error to find the right type and amount of fiber for them.
The fiber in dog food comes from a variety of sources, including grains like corn and brown rice, as well as soy, beet pulp, peanut hulls, pectin and cellulose.
Many dog parents use canned pumpkin as a DIY fiber booster. However, since its about 80 percent water, it usually doesnt contain enough fiber to provide a therapeutic benefit. If you feed your dog canned pumpkin, be sure not to give them canned pumpkin pie mix, which can be high in calories and sugar, and avoid canned pumpkin that has added sodium. You can also buy dried pumpkin powder, which can be dosed similarly to dried psyllium husk (often sold as the fiber source in Metamucil). Make sure to consult your veterinarian before adding anything to your dogs meals.
Sources of dietary fiber for dogs
To see how much fiber your dog is already getting in their diet, you can read the label on their food. You should be looking for fiber-rich ingredients like vegetables and grains and avoid those listing “powdered cellulose,” which is a blanket term for subpar ingredients that literally could include shredded paper, tree pulp and cotton. These are cheap, starchy fillers that offer virtually no nutritional benefit.
If you’re concerned that your dog might need more fiber, you can supplement with fresh fruit and vegetables including:
Can My Dog Eat Fiber – Dogs & Fiber Benefits – Can My Dog…? Show – Dogs & Fiber – Ep2
Since we’re in the middle of fall, let’s start this discussion about fiber with pumpkins. Dog owners, as well as veterinarians, often add pumpkin to pets’ diets to increase the food’s fiber content, according to the head of the Clinical Nutrition Service at the Tufts Cummings School, Lisa Freeman, DVM, PhD, DACVN. She hears it all the time, she writes on Tufts’s Petfoodology site (vetnutrition.tufts.edu/petfoodology). Most commonly, they report to her that they add anywhere from a quarter teaspoon to two tablespoons of pumpkin to their dog’s chow. What does that amount of fiber do?
Probably not much, if anything. To put the amount typically added to a dog’s diet into context, to reach the level of fiber found in one popular high-fiber diet for dogs that can be had by prescription from a veterinarian, you’d need to feed a medium-size dog (20 to 50 pounds) nearly 12 cups of pumpkin a day. Should people be doing that?