One of the biggest mistakes made in feeding dogs is the idea that dogs are exclusively meat eaters and do not require fruits in their diet. This mistake of overfeeding proteins to our companions has led to epidemics of chronic disease. Yet the most popular raw feeding models, PMR and BARF miss the mark on this essential part of the natural diet for dogs. Even when presented in raw feeding groups to substitute fruit meals for some of the meat meals to lessen the burden on the body, it is nearly always rejected. Luckily we have tons of evidence from nature to guide us to the natural eating habits of canids and we see their love of fruits is clearly evidenced. Below is a collection of various studies and amateur and professional wildlife videos showing clear evidence that our dogs are meant to eat fruit and thrive. Adding to this evidence I have personally seen all of my rescues with chronic and terminal disease conditions heal rapidly once put on a fruit-heavy raw natural diet. If you want to learn more about the natural dog and cat diets get our free feeding guide here: https://www.therawkey.com/the-animals-key/
The Voyaguer Wolf Project has been studying the diet of wolves and has found many examples of the wolves feeding heavily on fruits!
Read the full study “Berry Important? Wolf Provisions Pups with Berries in Northern Minnesota – https://www.therawkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Berry-consumption-of-Wolves-Voyaguer-Wolf-Project.pdf
Studies of the natural diet of coyotes show a heavy reliance on plant foods even in areas of low productivity.
Videos of Wolves, Coyotes and Dogs enjoying fruits
Photos of Wolves, Coyotes and Dogs Enjoying Fruits
I hope you have found this collection insightful. Please check back regularly as we are constantly expanding this page with new videos, studies and photos! If you have any photos, videos or other insights you would like to share, send me an email I would love to add them to our page for the benefit of all!
This is great and all, but what fruits and vegetables were these wolves and coyotes eating before humans planted highly modified, domesticated fruit bearing trees and domesticated vegetable plants?
That’s right. None. With the sole exception of maybe blueberries in the specific regions and during the specific season in which they grow naturally.
What about the wolves and coyotes that don’t live where blueberries grow?
They don’t eat blueberries. They just eat meat.
Well, unless you think humans are sneaking deep into the wild woods of Yosemite or the wild forests in the northern United States and Canada and planting fruit trees for the wolves, I cannot imagine what you are even talking about. I also sincerely doubt that humans have wandered the deserts planting mesquite trees by the millions. Wolves are not predominantly prancing onto orchards to eat. They are eating from the fruit trees that are growing wild deep in the woods. They are being studied remotely as they travel vast regions deep in the North woods. They are eating from the wild grapes, wild plums, wild paw paws, wild persimmons, wild apples and wild blueberries. One of the favorite snacks of wild coyotes living in the deserts of Las Vegas are the mesquite pods. You will rarely find a stool that does not include some mesquite pod fiber and the droppings I recorded were roughly 20% rabbit fur and 80% plant matter. This is in a desert environment with a low plant productivity and yet they still live on mostly plant matter and would regularly be seen snacking on the mesquite pods despite there being an abundance of rabbit, small rodents, lizards and fish for them to hunt. There are thousands of videos from trail cams of coyotes and wolves eating fruit deep in the woods where there would be no reason for any human to plant these wild fruit trees. Here in Texas coyotes regularly eat of the wild persimmon trees which grow abundantly in the woods. They are also fond of the Pecans in the winter months.
So, no, that’s not right. Your claim does not hold any validity and you present no evidence to support your claim. Your claim falls contrary to the evidence already presented. You must show proof that mankind wandered deep into wild woods all over the country and deep into the deserts all over the country and planted “highly modified domestic fruit trees” at no benefit to themselves, for no reason. You seem to be just making claims based on what some social media personality told you, rather than what the evidence clearly supports. Most likely someone trying to push the carnivore diet scam or some other fad diet where they try to convince you that humans are meat eaters and they rely on wolves and coyotes being meat eaters to make their illogical argument
A journal of nutrition study in the Cambridge University Press on the Dietary nutrient profiles of wild wolves: insights for optimal dog nutrition?
Found:
1. Data on the feeding ecology of wolves indicate that wolves are true carnivores consuming a negligible amount of vegetal matter
2. Studies that did include plant material in their food analyses reported values between 0·1 and 3 % of the total percentage of weight.
3. The fruit items contain some energy in the form of carbohydrates but are, compared to the other dietary items, considerably lower in most other nutrients making their contribution to the overall nutrient intake of wolves negligible.
4. Based on these studies reporting data on the foraging ecology, wolves can be considered true carnivores in their nature with vegetal matter being a minor to negligible component of their overall diet.
5. Dogs have adapted to a starch-rich diet (i.e. increased enzymatic capacity to digest starch and increased glucose uptake capacity) and are able to cope with large variations in nutrient intake. There are also situations of reduced adaptation capacity (such as geriatrics and chronic disease) in which the consumption of a diet that requires an adaptable metabolism may place the animal under stress.
6. Conclusions and implications
Data on the wolf’s feeding ecology show that the progenitors of our modern-day dogs were adaptive, true carnivores and not omnivores. During times of feast and famine, wolves would have had to cope with a variable nutrient intake requiring an adaptable metabolism, which is still functional in our modern-day dogs.
Link to full study https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/dietary-nutrient-profiles-of-wild-wolves-insights-for-optimal-dog-nutrition/6698A301900EEDF10E49B062A2BD9ED8#
The study you have shared was an old study (2014) and very poorly compiled showing a serious lack of scientific integrity and a clear agenda. It likely contributed heavily to the misinformation about Wolves being thought of as carnivores by the public. The Voyageur Wolf project, in the last 5 years, has very clearly proven that wolves do eat plant material as a large part of their diet. The amount varies by season and area but is as high as 83% in the summer months of peak fruit production in, and around 20-40% in the winter months when less plant material is available. In order for a study to be accurate the study needs to measure at all times of the year and must be collecting data objectively, not filtering out data based on preconceived beliefs.
The study you referenced has a number of serious issues, for one, “Plant material was identified in scats in several studies, but the contribution of plant material to the total biomass consumed was not always calculated.” Because of the preconceptions of the study facilitators they simply omitted evidence which makes the entire data set useless. This studies conclusions should be dismissed purely on this fact as they admit that the data was altered to reflect the beliefs of the researchers rather than objectively collected. Basically, the study says, we found fruit and other plant matter in their diet but decided beforehand that fruit and other plant matter was not eaten as a food source, so we just omitted the proof that fruit is a food source and now we are telling you, based on our choice to omit the fruit from that data, that fruit is not a part of their diet. That is a pretty insane corruption of evidence and a complete disregard for science.
“Identifiable fruit items found in scats included blueberries (Vaccinium spp.)( Reference Fritts and Mech16 , Reference Fuller19 – Reference Tremblay, Jolicoeur and Lemieux21 ), strawberries (Fragaria spp.)( Reference Fritts and Mech16 ) and raspberries (Rubus spp.)( Reference Fuller19 , Reference Wagner, Holzapfel and Kluth22 ), other berries (Juniperus communis and Vitis vinifera)( Reference Meriggi, Brangi and Matteucci23 ), nuts (Juglans regia, Corylus avellana, Fagus sylvatica and Castanea sativa)( Reference Meriggi, Brangi and Matteucci23 ) and other fruits (Rosa spp., Malus spp., Pyrus spp., Prunus spp., Rubus spp. and Sorbus spp.)( Reference Wagner, Holzapfel and Kluth22 , Reference Meriggi, Brangi and Matteucci23 ). Corn (Zea mays) was also detected in scats by Wagner et al.”
Clearly, there was a wide variety of fruit found in the scat, which is also confirmed by the more recent and thorough Voyageur studies, indicating that they are in fact omnivorous. Cats, true carnivores, will not consume fruit even when very hungry, except for the occasional papayas and cantaloupe which are high in protein and fats like avocados and coconuts. Dogs will consume fruits whenever offered, as long as they are not being overfed, because they are a large part of their natural diet.
So let’s look at each of the claims that you posted:
“1. Data on the feeding ecology of wolves indicate that wolves are true carnivores consuming a negligible amount of vegetal matter” – Clearly this statement is false and not supported by the data the study itself provides. It’s like they know that most people won’t read the fine details so they just claim whatever they want. What the evidence showed was that fruit and plant matter was found but the study administrators chose to not record the data, so the data is useless because it has been altered.
“2. Studies that did include plant material in their food analyses reported values between 0·1 and 3 % of the total percentage of weight.” – Again, this is a useless piece of information because they have admitted that the fruit and plant matter was omitted from the data.
“3. The fruit items contain some energy in the form of carbohydrates but are, compared to the other dietary items, considerably lower in most other nutrients making their contribution to the overall nutrient intake of wolves negligible.” – The nutrients found in fruits are well documented and it is well established that fruit contains a wide range of nutrients which are not present in animal tissues. I don’t know why they would include such an obviously false claim. They have provided no evidence to support this claim and they have admitted that they did not include an appropriate accounting of the plant materials in the diet because the study administrators had decided that the fruit was not relevant, therefore any comparison of nutrient intake from the fruits compared to the meat would not be valid because it is based on a skewed sample size.
“4. Based on these studies reporting data on the foraging ecology, wolves can be considered true carnivores in their nature with vegetal matter being a minor to negligible component of their overall diet.” – This conclusion is the opposite of what the evidence within the study shows. See above. It is like they had an agenda they wanted to promote and so they just make a claim that is contrary to the evidence and just hope that no one capable of critical thought reads any further than their bullet points.
“5. Dogs have adapted to a starch-rich diet (i.e. increased enzymatic capacity to digest starch and increased glucose uptake capacity) and are able to cope with large variations in nutrient intake. There are also situations of reduced adaptation capacity (such as geriatrics and chronic disease) in which the consumption of a diet that requires an adaptable metabolism may place the animal under stress.” – Dogs have not adapted to being fed kibble or commercial foods as evidenced by the epidemic levels of chronic disease and cancer. Degeneration is not adaptation. Starches are not fruits. Grains are starches, grains are not fruit, and fruit is not a starch. It is true that starches are not a part of the natural diet for any canid species, and just as grains cause disease in humans because humans are not granivorous, they will also cause disease in our dogs and cats because they are not granivorous. Not being a granivorous and not having the ability to digest, or assimilate grains does not have any connection to dogs, wolves and coyotes ability to digest fruits. This is a false equivalence fallacy. Just because grains should not be fed to a dog does not erase the fact that fruits are a significant portion of ALL canid species diets.
“6. Conclusions and implications
Data on the wolf’s feeding ecology show that the progenitors of our modern-day dogs were adaptive, true carnivores and not omnivores. During times of feast and famine, wolves would have had to cope with a variable nutrient intake requiring an adaptable metabolism, which is still functional in our modern-day dogs.” – Yet another claim not supported by the evidence. They just keep ignoring the evidence and stating whatever they want to believe rather than objectively analyzing the evidence.
It’s also quite obvious from the results of thousands of dogs on the natural diet that when dogs are overfed on protein they get sick and when dogs are sick, if we put them on all fruits they heal and return to pristine health. Dogs fed on the PMR model and the B.A.R.F. model have a high incidence of chronic disease, which is why owners feeding these diets continue searching for answers to improve their dogs health. It would be pretty silly to dismiss the obvious just because one old and very corrupt study tries to tell us that what we see with our own eyes is wrong.
I hope you will continue your research and not injure any dogs in your care by omitting an essential part of their natural diet.