Grain-free dog food: what you need to know

When it comes to the right dog food, the question often arises as to whether it should contain grain or not. Opinions on this are very divided. One point of criticism often voiced is that cereals can trigger allergies or intolerances. However, current research shows that this is only true to a very limited extent. Another criticism of grain in dog food is that it only serves as a filler and has no nutritional value itself. This is also not true from a scientific point of view.

If your dog has been diagnosed with a grain intolerance or allergy, you should definitely feed it a grain-free diet. Even if you already know that your dog has a sensitive stomach, grain-free dog food is a good choice.

To ensure that your dog still has a balanced diet and is supplied with carbohydrates, grain-free dog food often contains certain types of fruit and vegetables. These include apples, bananas, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, parsnips and sweet potatoes.

Not all grains are the same. There are therefore various ways of replacing cereals in dog food. One option is food containing carbohydrates.

However, it may also be that your dog does not tolerate grain per se, but the gluten it contains. In this case, you can use gluten-free cereals or so-called pseudocereals - grains that are used like cereals.

Gluten-free cereals for dogs:

• Hirse
• Mais
• Reis
• Teff (dwarf millet)

Pseudocereals for dogs:

• Amaranth
• Quinoa