Is Homemade Dog Food Best For Dogs?
No, it is not UNLESS you consult a board-certified veterinary nutritionist before embarking on your homemade dog food journey.
I started this article with the intention of providing awesome, nutritionally complete homemade dog food recipes for your pooch.
After some research, I realized that making dog food at home is not as easy as it sounds. I could not with good conscious publish recipes that were nutritionally incomplete, and potentially life-threatening.
Instead, I switched up my research to present facts about homemade dog food so that you can make the decision about whether preparing dog food at home is right for you.
Before You Start Making Homemade Dog Food
Gaining control over your dog’s diet, feeding a picky eater, food intolerances, distrust of commercial dog food brands, or the joy of making food for your dog are all valid reasons for wanting to make your furry bff homemade dog food.
But before you start, consider these factors:
- Your dog is younger than 12 months old
- Puppyhood is one of the most nutritionally demanding times in a dog’s life
- Most cases of severe health problems due to nutritionally inadequate diets are seen in growing puppies fed homemade diets
- Keeping up with the nutritional demands of a growing puppy is very challenging on a homemade dog food diet
- It is best to wait until your puppy is over 12 months old to start home-cooked meals if you so choose
- Your dog is pregnant or nursing
- Pregnancy, nursing, and growth are the most nutritionally demanding times in a dog’s life
- If they are fed diets that are too low in nutrients, serious life-threatening health conditions can result.
- Homemade can be more expensive than commercial dog food
- Preparing homemade dog food is time-consuming
- There is no evidence that proves feeding a homemade diet provides nutritional or health benefits when compared to commercial diets
Why Making Homemade Dog Food Is Harder Than You Think
Creating and maintaining a nutritionally complete home-cooked diet can be challenging for a number of reasons.
1. Sticking To The Recipe
Tufts nutritionists conducted a study [1] to evaluate their clients’ experiences and ability to follow homemade dog food recipes formulated by board-certified veterinary nutritionists.
The study found that only 13% of participants were still feeding their dogs the original recipe.
Almost all changes to the recipe were made without consulting vets for advice.
Substituting ingredients, or even a brand swap, may dramatically alter the nutritional profile of the diet and make it deficient in important nutrients.
It is important to follow the recipe EXACTLY because each ingredient and its preparation method are critical for the unique nutrient profile of homemade dog food.
2. Online Recipes Just Don’t Cut It
Homemade dog food found online and in books is often vague, out of date, and nutritionally deficient.
Unfortunately, the majority of recipes dog owners design for their pets are deficient in one or more essential nutrients.
These inadequate levels of nutrients may not be evident for weeks or even years in adult dogs. Until the dog has a serious health problem that may not be easily reversed.
Providing consistent amounts of all essential nutrients in a homemade dog food recipe requires the use of concentrated supplements to fill in the gaps between the main ingredients.
Not all supplements are created equal.
Most vitamin and mineral supplements marketed for dogs are not sufficient to bring the nutrients of homemade dog food up to the required levels. The amounts of each nutrient needed depend on both the diet ingredients and the specific dog.
The ONLY way to make a nutritionally complete diet is to consult with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
Common Mistakes Dog Owners Make When Preparing Homemade Dog Food
Yes, even the best of us make mistakes. These unintentional ‘whoopsies’ could have negative effects on your beloved pooch.
Not Using Trusted Sources
Homemade dog food recipes found online, in cookbooks, or recommended by friends, fare more than likely nutritionally incomplete.
The ONLY way to make sure you’re feeding your dog a nutritionally complete meal is to consult a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
Unbalanced recipes lead to nutrition deficiency or excess, which can cause diseases such as malnutrition or obesity and can ultimately be fatal.
Using Unsafe/Unhealthy Ingredients
There is a wide variety of unhealthy and unsafe foods to avoid when preparing meals for your dog. It is important to know ALL these to avoid accidentally hurting your pooch.
Following Vague Recipes
Most general recipes provide vague instructions for ingredients or preparation. This leaves you to interpret what type of meat to use or which supplement to buy which could change the whole nutritional profile of the recipe.
Reasons Why It Is MANDATORY To Consult A Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionist BEFORE You Start
In case you missed it, after performing extensive research for this article, I believe that you absolutely need to consult a board-certified veterinary nutritionist before cooking your dog any meals if they are meant to replace commercial dog food.
These are a few of the reasons why.
Your Dog Gets The Proper Volume of Food
Nutritionists think in terms of calories, not volume, so the volume of food rarely comes into consideration during the formulation process.
Dog parents, on the other hand, think about food in terms of volume, not calories.
Most commercial dry dog foods are between 300-400 calories per cup.
Homemade dog foods are much lower in calories per cup because of their higher moisture content. Resulting in more cups that need to be fed to your dog each day.
Expecting More Meat
Approximately 20-28% of calories come from protein.
A typical homemade dog good recipe may contain roughly ⅓ each of protein, fat, and carbs.
This ratio makes the homemade dog food look like there are a lot more carbs than protein or fat, which is not what one would typically think.
Supplements
You need supplements to make homemade dog food sufficient. Not all supplements are of the same quality. Your veterinary nutritionist will recommend the supplements appropriate for your dog.
The amount of each nutrient needed depends on both the diet ingredients and the specific dog.
What Science Says About Homemade Dog Food
The largest ever nutritional evaluation of recipes for homemade dog food found that very few of the 200 recipes analyzed provided all the essential nutrients in adequate amounts for meeting established canine health standards.
About The Study
The study, performed by lead author Jennifer Larson, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at UC Davis, and Jonathan Stockman, a veterinarian and second-year resident in clinical nutrition at UC Davis.
Together, they selected 200 recipes from 34 different sources, including veterinary textbooks, pet care books, and websites.
They evaluated both the ingredients and the instructions for each recipe, using a computer-based program to assist with the evaluation.
What They Found
Only 4 of the 200 recipes were written by board-certified veterinary nutritionists. All four of these recipes had acceptable nutrient profiles for adult dogs.
95% of the 200 recipes examined resulted in food that was lacking in the necessary levels of at least one essential nutrient, and more than 83% of the recipes had multiple nutrient deficiencies.
92% of the recipes contained vague or incomplete instructions that require the pet owner to make at least one assumption related to the ingredients, method of preparation, or the use of supplements.
In addition, 85% of the recipes did not provide calorie information or advise what size of dog the recipe was intended for.
Significance of the Findings
According to Larsen, some of the deficiencies could result in significant health problems such as immune dysfunction, accumulation of fat in the liver, and musculoskeletal abnormalities.
As well, since many recipes shared the same deficiencies, rotation of recipes and the feeding of different food (the balance over time concept) is not likely to correct these deficiency problems.
The results of this study indicate that most available recipes for healthy dogs, even those published by veterinarians, do not provide essential nutrients in the quantities required by the dog.
It is very difficult for the average dog owner to come up with balanced recipes and create appropriate meals that are safe for long-term use.
Recommendations
Avoid general recipes from books or the internet. Instead, consult with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist before starting a homemade dog food regime.
The specialists have advanced training in nutrition to help formulate customized and nutritionally complete recipes.
What I Learned
The biggest takeaway from this research, at least for me, was that if you’re going to feed your dog homemade dog food, please, please, please consult a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
In my opinion, this is the only way to make sure that you are feeding your pooch a nutritionally complete meal.
And for the love of your dog, do not substitute ingredients or change cooking styles without consulting with your board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
What Next?
If you’re not sure about making homemade dog food, but still want to make something for your furry BFF, try these frozen dog treats!
Don’t worry, the occasional dog treat should be just fine for your pooch.
Kathy Burley
Author
Kathy enjoys researching and creating articles to help you make informed decisions that are BEST for your dog.
References
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/cooking-for-your-dog-dos-and-donts/
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2019/01/cooking-up-trouble-common-home-cooking-mistakes/
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2023/03/5-homecooked-diet-mistakes-misconceptions/
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/homemade-dog-food-recipes-can-be-risky-business-study-finds
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/about-home-cooked-diets-for-pets/
https://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/how-make-sure-your-homemade-dog-food-delivers-right-nutrients
[1] Stockman, J., et al. (2013). “Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance diets for dogs.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 242(11): 1500-1505.
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