I know you’ve heard it before: do NOT give your dog raw food if he eats kibble (or vice versa), or never give kibble and raw at the same time, they digest at different rates and your dog will get sick! Of course, you have heard these statements, am I right?

Well, I’m here to tell you…these are myths!

Well-meaning, but misinformed people started these myths, and unfortunately, they still circulate on the internet to this day.

Let me try to clear things up for you.

The myths and truth of kibble and raw food

The misconception that because kibble and raw digest at different rates means your dog will get sick actually doesn’t make sense. We digest everything we eat, and they digest everything they eat at different rates!If you eat a meal with, for example, fish, potatoes, asparagus and bread, each of these will be broken down and digested differently. The same goes for your dog.

What’s interesting is that in an experiment where they looked at digestion times, kibble was digested FASTER than raw food, not slower as many people believe!

The other myth circulating on the internet is that the pH of kibble is different from that of raw food, so if your dog eats kibble, which has a higher pH, your dog will not be able to digest raw food properly. Guess if it’s true! It’s not!

In reality, the pH of the stomach never remains constant. It drops during digestion and then rises after digestion. And one study found that, contrary to popular belief, the stomach pH of dogs fed kibble was actually very low, around 2! Again, it’s a myth that kibble raises a dog’s stomach acid pH.

A dog’s stomach is very well-adjusted and is constantly adjusting the pH based on what the dog is eating. No confusion, no bad digestion, no increased risk of infection. It’s perfect !