What should I know about feeding a home-prepared diet to my pet?
The optimal diet varies among individual animals in any species. Companion dogs and cats need an ideal ratio of essential nutrients, including amino acids delivered from dietary protein sources and essential fatty acids. Daily Calorie needs must be met from the energy-producing nutrients: proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Adequate levels of trace nutrients (minerals and vitamins) are also required for balanced nutrition.
The specific requirements of an individual within a species varies by age, health, and environmental conditions, as well as daily activity, work, training, performance, and exercise. Each day, a properly balanced diet should meet an animal’s minimum caloric needs for energy and, over time, the animal should maintain a stable body weight and body condition.
To maintain the nutritional adequacy of a home-cooked diet, you must carefully select ingredients and strictly adhere to the original recipe. Removing ingredients or making ingredient substitutions can disrupt the nutrient balance, potentially leading to nutrient deficiencies or excesses. Such changes make a recipe incomplete, which is particularly a concern for growing puppies and kittens or any pet with specialized dietary needs.
How do I know what a properly balanced diet is?
The best way to avoid nutritional deficiencies and excesses is to follow recipes formulated by veterinary nutritionists who are experienced in using formulation software. When possible, experienced nutritionists can formulate a recipe with appropriate ingredient substitutions and quantities specific to your pet. Properly balanced diets must include a specifically recommended vitamin-mineral supplement to avoid trace nutrient deficiencies or excesses. Experienced veterinary nutritionists will review a pet’s medical record and interview the pet owner to learn what is currently fed and accepted by the pet. Most nutritionists include a small amount of vegetables and/or fruit, if desired by the pet owner.
Ask your veterinarian for their recommendations on nutrition services. They may recommend consulting with specialists who are certified through the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), the European College of Veterinary Comparative Nutrition (ECVCN), or the Canadian Academy of Veterinary Nutrition (CAVN). Additionally, your veterinarian can refer you to a veterinary school with nutrition services.
What are the benefits of home-prepared diets for my pet?
Those who support feeding pets home-prepared diets emphasize the importance of a variety of fresh, whole foods (with less processing) for the maintenance of health. The benefits of home-prepared diets include confidence in the freshness and wholesomeness of the ingredients and more control over food safety, as you can ensure ingredients are properly handled, cooked, and mixed.
Pet owners report their dogs and cats experience increased levels of energy and improved hair and skin condition after starting on a home-prepared diet. Many also report improved bowel movements and smaller stools. However, if a pet has pre-existing allergies or intolerances to one or more components of the diet, home cooking does not provide any advantage over commercial dry kibble or canned food.
What are the risks of home-prepared diets for my pet?
As mentioned, it is not enough to just feed a diet of table scraps or to toss some meat, grains, and vegetables into a bowl for your pet. Feeding this type of unbalanced diet over time could result in your pet becoming malnourished. You can decrease the risk of nutrient deficiencies or excesses by using recipes that have been formulated by veterinary nutritionists (or other qualified individuals with a Masters or PhD degree in animal nutrition) and by adhering strictly to the recipe.
Avoid using recipes that are complicated or time-consuming to prepare, since you are more likely to take shortcuts in preparation. While a recipe for a home-cooked diet may appear to come from a knowledgeable source, ideas about what constitutes the ideal diet for dogs and cats are constantly evolving.
Rigid adherence to one recipe over a long time may thus cause severe nutritional imbalances if that diet is later found to be inadequate. Problems may occur if diets are either under- or over-supplemented with certain vitamins and minerals. The most common imbalances in home-prepared diets involve calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, and iron.
"Animals have different nutritional needs based on their life stage and lifestyle."
Animals have different nutritional needs based on their life stage and lifestyle. For example, growing animals and animals used for breeding have increased requirements for energy, and require enhanced protein levels and optimal ratios of vitamins and minerals to support growth and reproduction. The advice of a veterinary nutritionist is imperative, and scheduled rechecks with your family veterinarian 2–3 times a year will help to decrease avoidable risks to your pet’s well-being.
What are the risks of home-prepared raw diets?
Some popular authors of pet diets recommend feeding grain-free diets, carbohydrate-free diets, raw meat diets, or bones and raw food diets. However, raw meat, raw milk, raw eggs, raw bones, and poultry are commonly contaminated with bacteria, some of which are pathogenic or harmful. Cooking will kill bacteria, although it may not necessarily destroy toxins that were produced by the bacteria.
Freezing does not kill bacteria. In fact, bacteriologists use freezing to preserve bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and improper food storage allows them to multiply. Critics of raw meat diets maintain that bacterial pathogens common in intensively reared poultry and livestock could represent a health risk to animals or their owners, mainly through environmental contamination.
Additionally, antibiotic-resistant bacteria can pose substantial human health risks. To minimize these risks, it is necessary to ensure that ingredients are stored properly and that good food preparation practices are followed. It is also important to pay strict attention to hygiene, including handwashing after food preparation, sanitation of food bowls and feeding areas, and immediate cleanup of feces.
Animals and humans with immature or otherwise compromised immune systems may be more susceptible to illness caused by bacteria. Therefore, the risks and benefits associated with raw food items must be carefully considered if there are young or old family members or pets, or if any family member has health issues such as cancer or immunodeficiency disease, or if anyone is undergoing chemotherapy.
Likewise, raw bones are not without risk. Several cases of fecal impaction and intestinal accidents have been reported, such as esophagus or bowel perforation. Feeding bones also poses the risk of breaking teeth, leading to tooth pain and possible infection. Cooked bones must never be fed to a pet, since they are brittle and prone to splintering, which can cause obstructions and perforations of the intestinal tract.
How can I minimize these risks?
Be honest with your veterinarian and discuss exactly what you feed your pet, including any treats or supplements that you provide. Your veterinarian can help ensure that your pet’s diet is appropriate or can direct you to appropriate sources of information, including reputable references for healthy, home-prepared meal recipes.
Have your pet examined regularly so your veterinarian can detect any early indicators of problems. Since animals age more quickly than humans, a good rule is to have a complete physical examination every six months. In addition to a physical examination, it is prudent to have a biochemical analysis and complete blood count done on the pet’s blood at these intervals. It is also valuable to have urinalysis performed for your pet as part of regular evaluations. With these test results, your veterinarian can compare values over time and may spot trends that indicate potential problems.
What is the cost of home-prepared diets?
Home-prepared diets are sometimes more expensive than an equivalent commercial diet, but it can depend on the size of the animal being fed and the number of pets in a home. Some pet owners find the trade-offs worth the potential extra cost, while others struggle to appreciate the cost benefit.
Deciding to feed a home-prepared diet should be considered in consultation with your family veterinarian, because they can refer you to a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, find a reputable online service, or even advise on a commercially prepared fresh food.
A formal consultation with a veterinary nutritionist requires review of the pet’s medical record and the owner’s reported diet history, plus an in-person or telehealth meeting. There is a fee for that service and usually a separate fee for homemade diet formulations. The homemade recipe is included in a written report with specific, tailored recommendations for an individual pet. In addition to the balanced recipe, daily food dose, and feeding frequency, there are often recommendations for supplements, daily activity, monitoring of the pet, and a recheck schedule. Many veterinary nutritionists allow for follow-up questions to be addressed by email or phone call.
Pet owners interested in feeding a homemade recipe must account for the time required to select and purchase all the ingredients (including supplements), as well as time each day that’s required to prepare or make the recipe, feed it, and clean up afterward. Many owners improve their efficiency by making multiple days’ worth of a recipe and storing it in their fridge (or even longer in the freezer).
Can I purchase commercial versions of home-prepared diets?
Yes, more commercial options are becoming available that are complete and balanced for healthy dogs or cats and also meet the criteria for fresh, gently-cooked meals using whole-food ingredients. These products are available in many retail outlets across North America or through online subscription services.
Look for a nutritional adequacy claim on the package, which is the manufacturer’s way of telling consumers that the product they are selling has been formulated to meet minimum nutrient guidelines for a specific life stage for either dogs or cats. Whenever you have a question about evaluating an unfamiliar pet food, check with your veterinary health care team for guidance.
