Today I saw a bag of dry dog food that purported to be smaller pieces, to encourage the dog to chew its food. On the bag is the claim, "Remember, digestion starts in the mouth!"
Yes - if you're HUMAN, but NOT if you're a dog! Our salivary glands produce amylase, which is the enzyme necessary for digesting starches, which is why we are supposed to chew our food 100 times before swallowing.
Dogs' salivary glands do NOT produce amylase. They don't do any digestion in their mouth. Dogs are made to bolt their food and swallow it whole - big chunks of meat, bones, horse manure, dead things, etc. Dogs are not supposed to chew. Their teeth are not built for it, and their jaws only move up and down (perfect for chomping), not side to side like our jaws, or like a horse's or cow's jaw.
It's time to stop making ridiculous comparisons between dogs and humans that aren't supported by simple facts, like anatomy and physiology. Unfortunately it is all too easy for us to fall into this trap based on what we know about our own bodies, and extrapolating this information to our pets.
