Is Homemade Diet a Valid Alternative to Commercial Pet Food?
Is homemade diet a valid alternative to commercial pet food? Some pet owners like the idea of giving their furry friend homemade meals. Buying handpicked ingredients and preparing the meal seems like a good way to show their love, but it could prove counterproductive for their health.
If the feeding plan has not been developed with the advice of a veterinary nutritionist, there is a risk that the pet will not receive all the necessary nutrients. For example, to ensure healthy body functionality, a dog needs approximately 37 nutrients daily, and a cat needs more than 40.
The FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines for Dogs and Cats
FEDIAF, the association that brings together the pet food industries in Europe, has detailed the nutritional requirements of dogs and cats in various stages of life, from growth to old age, and these guidelines are subject to review by independent veterinary nutritionists throughout Europe.
Providing a pet with a “complete” diet is equivalent to feeding a person with meals prescribed by a nutritionist for human beings. This is why the vast majority of homemade diet recipes have nutritional deficiencies.
Can I Occasionally Prepare Meals at Home?
A cat or dog, just like its owner, may from time to time enjoy a homemade meal. If it is “occasional” it does not break the nutritional balance of the general feeding regime, but you must carefully avoid foods that are toxic to the pet, such as: onion, garlic, raisins, grapes, chocolate, avocado, certain types of nuts and foods sweetened with xylitol.
A study by the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine1 analysed 200 different homemade diet recipes for pets selected from internet sites, veterinary texts and literature on pet care. The results showed that 95% of recipes presented deficiencies of at least one essential nutrient and 84% lacked several necessary nutrients.
Providing a do-it-yourself homemade diet as an alternative to commercial pet food is nutritionally not impossible, but these results demonstrate how difficult it is to do so with a small margin for error. Caloric control can also be difficult. Most pet food products on the market are designed to provide complete nutrition to the animal.
Such products indeed carry the term “complete” on the package. It is a legal definition and by law the product must contain, in the right proportions, all the nutrients the animal needs. Providing the right and balanced amounts of proteins, fats, fibres and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids, is difficult, but it is precisely this the task of pet food manufacturers.
