Instinctual, ancestral or scientific diets? What I should give to my dog Astor? Ancestral diets: Ancestral theorists claim that dog should be fed as a wolf. High meat protein diets with low as possible starch content. Instinctual diets – definition: Diets assembled by macronutrient geometry where 30% of metabolic energy comes from protein, 63% of fat and 7% from carbohydrates Nutritionally balanced scientific diets: diets that are assembled according to regulated scientific standards. Many argue are dogs carnivorous due to their genetically heritage. We all know dog ancestor is wolf (Vila et al., 1997). There are many evidence that some anatomical and physiological attributes are indeed carnivorous by its nature. I will not argue with that but I can ask myself if they were choosing carnivorous diet because they were actually surrounded with it? Picture 1. European grey wolf (source: http://www.cosmosmith.com/european_gray_wolves.asp ) Why did dog accepted an omnivorous way of life? I read somewhere in scientific literature that dogs were domesticated from the wolf strain that was more prone to human contact.  Dog does not eat raw grains, raw potatoes or peas but on the other thought, humans do not eat this either (at least not the majority). We are cooking it first and as such, we start to offer it to dogs. Amazing is the dog`s ability of domestication and adaptation. An evidence of dogs appearance/domestication at European continent is between 18,000 and 10,000 BC. Evidence of morphologically transformed animals has been found in the Iberian Peninsula, Siberia, Aquitaine in France, the French Alps, central and northern Europe, and the Near East (Harard-Herbin et al., 2014). First dogs served as hunting aid. Imagine, from wolves, to hunting help, to the lifetime companion, amazing. They learned to live and to evolutionary develop with us. We are learning and evolving with them. Naturally, the question arise, should we feed dogs with ancestral, instinctual, or scientific diets? Recent study by Axelsson et al., 2013, reported that mutations in key genes of dogs caused increased capability for starch digestion so domesticated dogs are no longer wolves. Domestication has modified their behaviour and way of life. Picture 2. Astor However, instinctual diets are something my dog would choose self (according to recent studies Buff et al., 2014).  An instinctual diet is high in fat so it is important to know which fat was used and how fresh this fat was when produced. I know antioxidants are miraculous quick fix. Every dissent producer should use them. Anyway, instinctual diets have to be closely monitored in order to avoid fat oxidation and cause spoilage problems. In best case my dog will not eat it (well I hope so, he is Golden). Let’s assume everything is good, top quality, hygiene and safety on a first place for the producer. Astor loves it due to all tasty fat inside but I need to take care how much he eats as he could turn to a pig J. This is not good for my Golden Retriever. Astor's joints and hips are not tolerating increased weight. Is instinctual just a trend as ancestral is? Is instinctual going to be a part of all scientific diets? Only future can tell. One thing is certain, trends come and go, science need time to build knowledge database but eventually science solve the myths.

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