Raw vs. Kibble Research: What Happens Inside Your Dog's Body

What we put in our dogs’ bowls doesn’t just affect what we see on the outside. It can have a measurable impact on what’s happening inside their bodies too.

A new peer-reviewed study from researchers at the University of Helsinki compared dogs eating a raw meat-based diet with those eating a traditional high-carbohydrate kibble diet — and the findings add an important piece to the growing conversation around how diet can influence canine health.

What did the study look at?

Researchers followed 46 dogs for approximately 4.5 months, with dogs eating either a raw meat-based diet or a high-carbohydrate kibble diet.

Before and after the study, researchers measured body weight and a range of blood markers to understand how each diet affected the way the dogs’ bodies processed and used nutrients.

What did they find?

The differences between the two groups were significant.

Dogs eating the raw diet showed:

• Lower blood sugar
• Lower total cholesterol
• Improvements in a marker related to how the body handles blood sugar and fats

Dogs eating the kibble diet showed:

• Higher longer-term blood sugar levels
• Higher total cholesterol
• An increase in body weight

By the end of the study, kibble-fed dogs also had higher levels of several types of fat and cholesterol in their blood compared with raw-fed dogs.

Raw-fed dogs also had higher levels of ketones, which the body naturally produces when it uses fat for energy.

Why are these findings important?

The results show that what we feed our dogs can create measurable differences inside their bodies — in just a matter of months.

In this study, the raw-fed dogs showed reductions in several markers related to blood sugar and blood fats, while the kibble-fed dogs showed increases in several of these markers, along with increased body weight.

For pet parents, this is important because it moves the conversation beyond ingredients, labels, and what a food looks like in the bowl. Different feeding methods can affect how a dog’s body responds to and uses that food.

One study alone cannot tell us that raw feeding prevents disease or guarantees better long-term health, and the researchers highlight the need for further research.

But the findings provide another compelling reason to keep studying fresh, meat-based nutrition and its potential role in supporting our dogs’ health.

At Furchild, we believe better pet nutrition starts with asking better questions, following the science and continually raising the standard of what we put in our dogs’ bowls.

Want to see the science for yourself?

Click here to read the full peer-reviewed study

About DogRisk

DogRisk is an independent, university-based research group at the University of Helsinki that studies the connections between diet, environmental factors, and chronic disease in dogs. Founded in 2009, its research aims to understand better how nutrition and other factors may help dogs live longer, healthier lives.