One myth about pets that has emerged in recent years is that homemade food is superior to commercial products. Numerous recipes can be found on the Internet for homemade pet food, and several books have been published about the benefits of homemade food for dogs and cats. The reality is that the actual benefits of such concoctions do not measure up to the rhetoric.
Pet owners may think that cooking special meals for their pet is the way to show their love, but experts stress that nutritional deficiencies may arise because most of the recipes for homemade pet food do not provide the vitamins, minerals or other key nutrients their pet needs to stay healthy.
Most pet food products on the market are designed to provide total nutrition for pets. Such complete and balanced products contain the right balance of protein, fat, fiber and carbohydrates. Complete and balanced products provide between 42 and 48 required nutrients, including specific vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids. "Balancing all of those nutrients is complex, but that work is the day in and day out responsibility of commercial pet food manufacturer” said Dr. Angle Thompson president of Thompson Pet Tech.
A recent study conducted by a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine analyzed 200 different recipes for home prepared dog foods. Recipes were selected from websites, veterinary textbooks and pet care books. The findings were startling: 95 percent of the recipes were deficient in least one essential nutrient, and 84 percent were lacking in multiple required nutrients.
Dr. Jennifer Larsen, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist and one of the veterinarians who conducted the study, explained the challenge of developing a diet for homemade dog food, "Formulation of a balanced recipe is a computer driven process, since complex calculations are necessary to ensure appropriate amounts of each of 40+ essential nutrients are provided. It is difficult for the average pet owner — or even veterinarians — to do this without training and expertise in the various aspects of pet nutrition.” The study found that even recipes authored by veterinarians had significant problems with nutritional adequacy. However, although board certified veterinary nutritionists wrote only four of the recipes, all of these were found to be balanced.
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