“Some of the deficiencies, particularly those related to choline, vitamin D, zinc and vitamin E, could result in significant health problems such as immune dysfunction, accumulation of fat in the liver and musculoskeletal abnormalities,” said Larsen.
Of the 9 recipes that did meet nutritional requirements, 5 were developed by board-certified veterinary nutritionists.
The bottom line is, a healthy, well-balanced, homecooked meal can be a nutritionally sound option for your pet as long as that recipe is created and/or approved by a certified veterinary nutritionist.
You want what’s best for your pet, so before switching to a homemade meal, check with your veterinarian to ensure that your dog’s nutritional needs are being met.
Do you feed your dog a homemade dog food? Weigh in with a comment below!
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Jilllian Franck
says:Anyone with half a brain would doubt this article.
Justin
says:Best PR campaign strategy ever!
Partner with a major university; create your own proprietary measuring tool, measure competitors to your standards instead of the well accepted Gold Standard, then publish in a major journal like JAVMA posing as science when the research is pseudoscience at best. Sorry JAVMA, but you’ve been fooled, and are being used as a tool for publicity. These are the same tactics and pseudoscience that has been used by the same industry for too long now. It needs to end.
One of the authors of this study is an owner of the Balance It balancing system. This is also the autobalancer used by the research team and UC Davis to make their diets. Does it seem strange to anyone else that the very researcher involved in the study, and for that matter the research team and very university, has a financial gain in finding 200+ other methods for making a homemade diet, including those of 120+ veterinarians as inferior to their own?
From the Balance It website: “DVM Consulting, Inc. was founded in 2003 by Sean Delaney, DVM, MS, DACVN, a board certified veterinary nutritionist who held an academic faculty position at UC Davis between 2003-2013, headed R&D for Natura Pet Products, Inc. until its acquisition by Procter & Gamble”
This “study” is essentially a Press Release from UC Davis attempting to stop people from making potentially more wholesome diets at home. Vets should be outraged that this group is trying to kill a trend toward more wholesome options instead of supporting them. It is essentially the same as a reputable human doctor fighting tooth and nail for some “Balanced Human Kibble” or processed “Human Meal Replacement Powder” against a balanced whole meal, simply because he’s part owner and his parent company is Proctor and Gamble. It wouldn’t make any sense there, and it makes no sense here.
There are many flaws with this study including: 1) potential conflict of interest 2) novel methodology that has not been used before 3) proprietary methods 4) small sample sizes used to make very large generalizations (only 15 diets were actually prepared and lab tested, but 200+ were claimed to have been concluded on – big leap in the evidenced based process).
Mike
says:Note that they only analyzed chemicals, not the dogs eating those diets. If the standards were set by dog food companies based on feeding studies using their baked pellets of mystery mush, I’m not surprised real food doesn’t meet those standards.
It should be noted that “most recipes for healthy PEOPLE, even those published by doctors, do not provide essential nutrients in the quantities required by PEOPLE”. No one combination of foods can meet every protein, vitamin and mineral recommendation for dogs or people. Meeting our requirements and those of our dogs requires variety and supplementation.
Of course, recipes should be well thought out, but they need not be from a veterinary nutritionist. Do you ask a nutritionist or pediatrician every time you feed your child? I’ve analyzed hundreds of recipes from different books and websites and I agree with the findings of the study; most recipes do not meet every requirement for proteins, vitamins and minerals. However, I wonder if those recipes that did included supplements, because it is virtually impossible to meet every requirement with whole foods alone. If you look at commercial foods, the last half of the ingredient panel is all added vitamins and minerals, again pointing out that supplementation is a must.
Because commercial foods are so heavily supplemented with vitamins and minerals, from 200-600% or more of a dog’s requirements, I always recommend a half and half approach to achieve the best of bost worlds.
You can still Feed Your Best Friend Better at home, as long as you supplement.
Val
says:I think people have forgotten the pet food horror from 2007
naturalnews.com/012647_pet_food_dog.html
I think making your pet food from organic and non gmo food is the key to good health! Remember dogs and cats are carnivores not vegans.
kris
says:‘Only 9 (nine!) of those recipes met minimum standards established for adult dogs by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).’
why do i think this is double speak for the pet food industry that probably funded the study to begin with.. you don’t need a vet nutritionist to feed your dog. you need raw food and common sense. something the pet food industry is lacking.
Tina B
says:That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking!
Mattea
says:it would have been helpful to know what recipes they felt were balanced. I make half the food my dogs eat each day. My vet says they are doing very well but it never hurts to keep researching. Is there any way to find out what recipes they approved of?
I started making my own dog food about 3 months ago. How do I find a Veternain Nutritionist? I am looking for an additive to make it a balanced meal for them. Thanks, Sil
Di
says:I have found useful information by reading Dr. Pitcairn’s books.
April Leavitt
says:I read the Whole Pet Diet by Andi Brown