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Originally Posted by 2Catahoulas  Cottage Rose, dogs are within the scientific order Carnivora by dentition (dental pattern)... but dogs, like Grizzly Bears and Brown Bears are true omnivores. |
ONLY people in the pet food industry and the vet profession will call a dog an omnivore. Pet food industry MUST convince you that they are omnivores to get you to buy their grain based foods. Vet industry goes the omnivore route because almost all their nutrition training is given to them by the pet food industry.
Dogs are definately carnivores. There is no argument about that among people trained in biology, zoology, and animal husbantry.
There are physical charateristics that make an animal a carnivore or omnivore.
1. Carnivores have large mouths as they eat other animals. Omnivores/herbivores have smaller mouths. Dogs have large mouths.
2. Omnivores have flat teeth in the back of their mouths. This is used to crush and mash plant material. All plant material has each cell coated with cellulose. You must mash and crush this shell to extract nutrients from the plant. Humans have these flat teeth. Carnivores don't have flat teeth. Dogs don't have flat teeth. They can't get through the cellulose to get to the nutrients. Carnivore teeth are designed to kill prey(front teeth) and to rip and tear meat and crush bones(back teeth). Dogs have carnivore teeth.
3. When omnivores/herbivores chew, they move their lower jaw not only up and down but also sideways in order to crush the cellulose. Carnivores don't have the ability to move their lower jaw from side to side. Only up and down. Dogs can only move their lower jaw up and down.
4. Omnivores/herbivores hae an enzyme called amylaze in their salava and stomach juices. Amylaze is used to digest plant material and digestion begins in the mouth for these animals. Carnivores don't have amylaze in their salava or stomach. They don't make the enzymes necessary for digesting plant material. Dogs don't have amylaze in their salava.
5. I don't know how to explain it with words but there is a difference in the way the lower jaw is hinged in omnivores/herbivores and carnivores.
6. Carnivores have very acidic stomach juices to kill bacteria on meats and to digest bones. Omnivores/herbivores have much less acidic stomach juices. Dogs stomach juices are more than 50% hydrochloric acid.
7. Omnivores/herbivores have relatively long intestinal tracts. Carbs must ferment in the gut for a long time during digestion. Carnivores being meat eaters have a very short intestinal tract in order to get the meat through the body quickly before it rots. With thier short intestinal tract they are not able to have carbs in the intestines long enough to digest. Dogs have short intestines.
So there you have your biology lesson in a nutshell. There is no arguing the fact that dogs are carnivores. They have all the physical characteristics of a carnivore and none of the omnivores characteristics.
Dogs eat such a very small amount of plant material in the wild as to have no effect on diet. Most of the plant material they eat are sweet berries and fruits when in season. Eating those is the same as us eating cake and ice cream. It tastes great but no nutrition is derived from eating them.
EDITED TO ADD: You can't force a dog to be an omnivore by forcing him to eat plant material. It doesn't matter how much plant material he is forced to eat, he is still a carnivore and always will be until those physical conditions listed above change.
