Does Your Dog Actually Need Grains
If You've Been Told Your Dog Needs Grains, You're Not Alone!
If you’ve walked into your veterinary clinic lately, there is a very high chance you’ve been told that your dog needs grains in their diet to prevent heart disease (Dilated Cardiomyopathy, or DCM). Maybe the message wasn't as blunt as "you must feed grains", it could have been a little more subtle with the same message. "Don't feed a grain free diet" or "raw is dangerous because it doesn't have grains". Regardless of how it's being said, insisting dogs need grains is as ridiculous as saying a fish needs a life jacket to swim! It sounds crazy because it is! Fish are natural born swimmers and dogs are natural born meat-eaters. Because what we should be asking is, when was the last time you saw a wolf hunt a wheat field? 🤔
We've talked about this issue previously and even though this bogus rumour started without any science behind it, it still lives on nine years after it started! We hear it from our customers every single week. Pet parents walk through our doors feeling anxious, guilty, and confused because a professional told them that feeding a grain-free, fresh, or raw diet is putting their dog’s health at risk. We're here to say...and we're going to say it loudly for everyone in the back....grains DO NOT protect the heart!
It’s time for a completely open, honest conversation: this is one of the most persistent fear-mongering campaigns in the pet food industry, and it's time to put it to rest. It's been making the rounds for nine years! Nine long years of pet parents being told absolute rubbish, which makes them feel guilty, feel scared and forces them to start feeding something completely unnecessary in their pet's diet. So let's start with where this bogus rumour came from!
🎙️ If you'd prefer to listen to this blog, you can find it here anywhere you love listening to podcasts! Look for S1 E40: "Does Your Dog Actually Need Grains".
The Beginning of the Nine Year Long Debunked Rumour
Nine years ago a trend emerged in pet food. Grain free food sales were on the rise, while grain inclusive sales were in a downward tailspin. There was no study done, no peer-reviewed research paper, no actual evidence was found aside from a blog written by a vet on Purina's payroll. A blog! In other words, an opinion put out on the interwebs. The media latched on to this blog as though it were gospel and the word spread like wildfire! "Dogs need grains to protect their hearts" This blog coined the term BEG Diets, which stood for Boutique Food, Exotic Proteins and Grain Free Food (everything the big pet food companies don't sell).
Pet parents scrambled to grab their bags of food and make sure it contained grains. Vet clinics compounded the messaging by insisting your dog would get DCM if they ate grain free food and the internet exploded with a million different "grain experts". But what was never made clear was just how grains would protect a carnivore's heart. When scientists and vets pushed back stating "taurine keeps a heart healthy and taurine is only found in meat, not grains", the message changed. It changed from "grains protect the heart" to "legumes prevent the absorption of taurine". Legumes are oftentimes found in grain free diets.
But where was the science? That little piece of valuable information didn't exist! Lisa Freeman, the vet on Purina's payroll who wrote the blog failed to provide any scientific evidence supporting her claim that BEG foods were dangerous or that grain inclusive foods supported heart health. But the damage had been done. All of the big pet food companies jumped on this very convenient bandwagon and rallied the troops! "Grain free diets are harmful and our grain inclusive diets will protect your dog's heart". Still, no science to substantiate the claims but the bogus rumour went on.
What no one could answer was why this grain free epidemic only affected dogs in the United States of America? Grain free food was an option all around the planet in countries everywhere, but yet only dogs eating grain free food in the USA were dying from DCM? Now to be fair, there were 600 known cases of DCM in the USA (the year this started) and we're not making light of any animal who lost their life to a horrible disease. But why was no one asking why the USA has six million dogs diagnosed with cancer annually? Six million! Lisa Freeman and company focused on 600 dogs with DCM. None of which could be proved developed from diet. And why weren't these same vets and food companies outraged by the six million dogs being diagnosed with cancer?
All of the big pet food companies perpetuated this bogus rumour and today, some of them are facing class action lawsuits for deceiving the public. Because even though the FDA initially made a statement siding with Lisa Freeman, they later recanted their statement saying the science didn't support the claims. And funny enough, one month after Mars Pet Care acquired Champion (the most popular grain free food on the planet), Mars funded the research to prove "legumes do not impact the absorption of taurine". Huh! Funny how that works isn't it?
But no media latched on to the story that grains don't protect the heart, or that a protein rich diet is the best way to keep your pet's heart healthy. Why? Because that doesn't make a good story! So where did all of this grain nonsense start? Because it truly is nonsense and you'll soon see why!
Where did "Grains Protect the Heart" come from?
Back when industrial farming left massive processed-food conglomerates sitting on mountains of cheap, subsidized surplus corn and wheat, they needed a way to package it up and turn a massive profit. At the exact same time, the public was panicking about cholesterol and saturated fats. Cereal giants like General Mills and Kellogg’s saw an irresistible commercial opening: aggressive marketing. They started hammering the narrative that cheap, refined grains were "heart-healthy" simply because they contained no animal fat.
When those same human food conglomerates bought up the major pet food brands, they brought that exact same cash-cow playbook straight to the pet industry. They filled bags of commercial kibble with cheap corn gluten, wheat, and grain by-products, framing high-carb grain inclusive diets as "balanced and heart-protective." It was never about canine evolutionary biology, it was about selling cheap cereal crops under a different label. Fast forward to today, and pet parents are still being scared every single day into feeding their dogs grains, completely unaware that they're reciting a 60-year-old cereal marketing myth.
Despite years of buried headlines, FDA updates, nutrition experts sharing the research and extensive scientific review, the narrative that dogs require grains to avoid heart disease, still exists today and is still not backed by science. And the message that a protein rich, grain free diet is not only perfectly safe for your dog, but actually better for your dog is being muffled by the bogus rumour that will not die.
Ask for the Research
The next time someone tells you to avoid grain-free, fresh, or raw food out of fear of DCM, ask them a simple question:
👉 "Can you show me the peer-reviewed research proving grains prevent DCM?"
The answer is simple: there isn't any. Grains do not possess magical cardio-protective properties for dogs. Taurine, an amino acid only found in meat, is what actually and scientifically supports a carnivore's heart. Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that is heavily concentrated in cardiac muscle tissue. It plays a critical role in regulating calcium ions within heart cells, which controls the strength and consistency of every single heart contraction.
Taurine is naturally occurring only in animal proteins, muscle meat, hearts, organs, and fish. It is completely absent from plant proteins like corn, wheat, soy, peas, or lentils.
Unlike cats, who cannot synthesize taurine at all and must get it directly from their diet, dogs have the biological ability to manufacture taurine internally using two precursor amino acids: methionine and cysteine (which are also derived from high-quality animal protein).
Grains contain zero taurine. A dog's heart doesn't thrive on carbohydrates; it runs on the amino acids found strictly in real, high-quality animal meat.
Ask yourself again: Do wolves hunt wheat fields? No! Because grains were never part of their biological diet.
While dogs have adapted to digest some carbohydrates over time, being facultative carnivores, grains are not a nutritional requirement for a thriving canine. Meat will always be what any carnivore thrives on and our dogs are no different.
For furry guys eating a dry diet, we always recommend freeze dried hearts as a treat because they are pure protein and full of that beautiful taurine to keep the heart healthy!
Why Does this Narrative Persist?
It’s easy to feel frustrated when outdated information keeps circulating. So you might be asking why are clinics still pushing grain-inclusive foods so hard when there's no evidence to support it?
Most of our clinics lack deep nutritional training and receive their nutrition training from the same food companies they sell. Traditional veterinary programs devote very little time to biologically appropriate nutrition training because Royal Canin, Purina and Hills mostly formulate kibble. The training most of our clinics receive is what I refer to as biased sales training, where symptoms are matched with formulas versus finding a diet that supports overall health.
Most veterinary clinics are bound to selling specific grain-heavy commercial brands right from their lobby shelves. We've all seen the Hills, Royal Canin and Purina in our vet's offices and those are some of the biggest pet food companies that are not only training our vets, making the food, in some instances owning the clinic but they're also the pet food that is heavy in grains. Suggesting a grain-free diet, goes against everything the pet food manufacturers have built their fortunes on.
We said earlier in this blog, that the demonizing of grain free diets was one of the most persistent fear-mongering campaigns in the pet food industry. It's important to understand exactly what it is, because when fear is used as a sales tactic, pet parents lose out on making informed choices for their pets.
Nutrition Built on Science, Not Fear
At House of Paws, we don't believe in scaring you into a bag of food. We believe in species-appropriate, high-quality nutrition that helps your pet live a vibrant, healthy life, whether that’s fresh, raw, freeze-dried, or quality protein-rich diets. And we can and do explain why the food we recommend is the best choice for your pet. We'll help you improve any bowl you choose to serve and we won't scare you with statements we can't back up.
If you’ve been feeling stressed or conflicted about what’s in your dog's bowl, drop by and let's chat! We’re always here to break down the science, clear up the noise, and help you feed your pet with confidence.
Always sharing information from science,
Carly, Zaner (grain free and happy to be) and the House of Paws Team 🐾