OK – one more thing to worry about. Lots of people are still feeding rice as part of their dog’s diet, even though their digestives system is not geared for it (except it is great for diarrhea). Many commercial dog foods have rice as a major ingredient, thought thanks to consumer pressure there are more grain free dog foods.
Consumer Reports recently reported (in two issues – second was January 2015 pgs 41+) that rice absorbs arsenic from the air and the soil. The second article details which rice is the safest to eat/feed. In summary, Basmati rice grown in California, India and Pakistan have 1/2 the arsenic content. Brown rice (arsenic is stored in the husk) is 1/3 less arsenic than other rices. Quinoa, Buskwheat and Millet are low.
Well, what about ORGANIC?? Organic rice is just as full of arsenic as other rices.
Let’s start a chat about this. I am contacting several experts and will add to the post as I get more information. For now – decrease rice if you are feeding it.
I don’t feed rice to my dogs because I believe dogs are not meant to eat grains of any sort. Sometimes there seems to be call for grains from therapeutic perspective, such as buckwheat for heart support. But I’d still way other options first.
We do eat quite a lot of rice ourselves, though. I’ve read before that barley has a lot of arsenic (or whatnot) in it. So rice too? Where does all the environmental arsenic come from?
From a Chinese medicine perspective, some dogs may need grains, not especially rice, and not in large quantities. Just as in people nutrition, there is no right answer. We make our choices (and I do not feed grains), then continue to evaluate health status using the early warning signs, our intuition, readings by intuitives, physical exams, etc. One very astute discovered that if she added 1 T rice to her big dogs 3 C of food she was healthier. For many years, my cat Ed had a nicer coat if on NuCat vitamins, although no other vitamin helped.
I do not know where the arsenic is coming from – am getting this information out as soon as possible. Maybe some other readers will know or I will get it researched soon.
I always cooked for my dogs. Grass feed beef, bison, sometimes turkey, berries, apples, carrots, kale, broccoli, sweet potato. I added brown rice to his bowl at feeding time. At age 14 Trevor, a wire hair fox terrier, was diagnosed by accident with a liver mass. He had no symptoms. He lived for 6 months treated with Chinese herbs. I feel guilty I gave him Cancer with the rice.
while we all feel guilty when we think we did the best, then hear of another new way that people or dogs can become ill, you do not need to feel guilty. If you had fed commercial, there would have been rice in it. Lots of things cause cancer that you have no control over. the fact that he had no symptoms and lived 6 months of good quality life is wonderful. We all have to die from something, so he had a great life, though maybe not as long as you would have wished. One of my cats died at 8 – out of the blue. she was fine til then. I am not saying to never feed/eat rice, merely to eat it in moderation. The same is true of soy (tofu) and lots of other foods. That is why a home prepared diet with lots of variety is the best. Even the best does not yield immortality. Bless you for following holistic approaches. Trevor is very grateful.