Homemade Dog Food, More Harm than Good?

It is not rocket science that a varied fresh food diet is healthier for us as humans and therefore it must be better than the packaged, processed, dry food we feed our beloved animals, right? As animal lovers, we all want to supply the absolute best food for our pets. They are such an important part of our world, and we want to do everything in our power to help them live longer, healthier lives. Nutrition can be a powerful tool in preventing and managing disease and feeding our pets fresh food seems like a straightforward way to improve their health. While the basis of that statement may be true, it isn’t necessarily that simple. Our pets all have unique nutritional requirements that vary between species, breeds, life stages, activity levels, and health status. Feeding a mix of meat, grains, and vegetables without considering the crucial differences in our animal's biology can potentially put your pet in much more danger than if you were to feed a balanced dry dog food.

Dry dog food that claims to be “complete and balanced” indicates that it has either met one of the dog or cat food nutrient profiles established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) or passed a feeding trial using AAFCO procedures. This statement ensures that the food is suitable to be the only product that an animal ingests and by doing so they will meet all of their nutritional requirements. While this nutrition guarantee may provide some relief, it should also be known that solely feeding ultra-processed food to our animals is not void of risk. Many companies are hyper supplementing these diets in order to meet the micronutrient requirements and AAFCO lacks safe upper limits for many of these micronutrients. This lack of regulation has a downstream effect on the commercial pet food industry and many of these companies fail to consider the potential dangers associated with hyper supplementation and the use of synthetic nutrients in these popular diets. This hyper supplementation and use of synthetic vitamins is not only seen with the traditional bagged kibble, but also with the newer pre-made “fresh foods” that can be bought in pet stores or delivered via a subscription service. With that being said, while these foods are completely balanced, it is not uncommon for dedicated pet owners to want to do more for their beloved pet in regard to the food that they feed.

Over the past few years there has been a shift in pet food nutrition, grain-free, raw, and fresh-food diets have begun to flood the market without substantial research to back up health claims. This has left pet owners confused on what they should reach for while choosing the right food for their pet. Additionally, these continuous changes in the world of nutrition have placed many veterinarians in difficult positions. Unless a veterinarian has chosen or has had the privilege to pursue additional education in the field of nutrition, they are often pushed to recommend a typical “big name” food brand due to partnerships or contracts with the company.

The confusion associated with choosing the right dog food has led some owners to create their own food for their pet or search the internet for simple dog food recipes. The problem with homemade dog food is that there is no regulatory body overlooking these diet formulations and they are often extremely unbalanced. Unknowingly, owners are putting together ingredients that they have been told are appropriate to feed their animals and ditching the dry food. This is slowly creating deficiencies in the animal’s diet and over time serious health issues can develop.

Feeding an animal, a varied fresh food diet can be a healthy alternative to dry kibble but only if it is done in a balanced way. This can be done by working with a boarded veterinary nutritionist and utilizing an appropriate diet formulation software. To demonstrate the grossly unbalanced recipes that are flooding the web, I searched “homemade dog food recipe” and have included the results of the top five recipes. I then ran each recipe through a formulator software and as expected, each recipe was unbalanced. Any of these recipes would be fine to feed to your animal once in a while as long as the rest of the animal’s diet is complete and balanced but as mentioned earlier, if these recipes are repeatedly fed to a dog over a period of time nutritional deficiencies will develop which can be detrimental to the health of your animal. This is especially important to consider in any growth phase or high energy demand phase of life.

*Each diet was checked with the Animal Diet Formulator software using AAFCO standards and a "gently cooked" setting. I have not included the names of the blogs that these recipes were found for privacy reasons. These recipe creators are not intentionally trying to harm any pets but are not necessarily educated in animal nutrition and a veterinarian with nutritional knowledge should be consulted when formulating fresh-food diets. The individual needs of each pet should also be considered in an attempt to tailor the diet to optimize their health.

On the surface, each of these diets appear to be a healthy alternative to feeding the burnt looking dry food that we are used to seeing our animals eat; however, it is important to make sure that the diet is balanced. Micronutrients play a vital role in the physiological function of our animals and a veterinary nutritionist should be consulted before attempting to formulate your animal’s food.

It is also important to realize that feeding our animals in a way that optimizes their health does not have to be black and white. Think about what you eat on a daily basis… I can almost guarantee you that it is not a monotonous diet that is completely balanced at every meal of every day. As you eat different meals, nutrients are combined to create an overall balanced diet. This thought process can be translated to the way we feed our animals. The organisms that reside inside the gastrointestinal tract, also known as the microbiome, thrive off of variety and aid in a multitude of important physiologic functions such as metabolism, protection against pathogens, and immune system function. Adding variety into an animal’s diet whether that is home cooking their meals, adding in fresh foods to their kibble, combining kibble and canned food, or just shaking up the type of food that they eat can positively impact their health from the inside out!

If you are interested in learning more about formulating pet food diets check out the Animal Diet Formulator. There are different subscription levels and veterinary students can get free access to this program while they are in school! I have included a list of references that were used while writing this blog and would also like to thank Dr. Natasha Lilly for her expert oversight.

Sources:

“The Association of American Feed Control Officials.” AAFCO, 4 Dec. 2023, www.aafco.org/.

Pilla DVM. “The Gut Microbiome of Dogs and Cats, and the Influence of Diet.” Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, Elsevier, 27 Feb. 2021, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561621000127?via%3Dihub.

RJ;, Thiel. “Natural Vitamins May Be Superior to Synthetic Ones.” Medical Hypotheses, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11090291/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.