At the recent American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association Conference, I discovered that I am not the only one questioning the use of grains in commercial and home-prepared pet foods. Grains, such as oats, wheat, rice, barley, etc, are composed mostly of complex carbohydrates. They also contain some protein, fiber, B-vitamins and trace minerals. However, they are NOT part of the natural diet of wild dogs and cats. In the true natural setting, grains hardly exist at all.
Wild grains are much smaller than our hybridized domestic varieties.
This means that even a mouse or other prey animal is not going to find much of its nutrition from grains. This is not a truly wild diet. Dogs and cats do not have dietary requirements for complex carbohydrates. The other nutrients in grains are readily available from other dietary ingredients. For example, B-vitamins are found in organ meats and trace minerals come from bones and vegetables.