Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance diets for dogs.

JAVMA, Vol 242, No. 11, June 1, 2013 D the availability of complete and balanced commercial canine maintenance diets, many owners choose to prepare their pet’s diet at home for reasons such as having more control of the foods that their pet eats, distrust in pet food companies, and the desire to feed a more natural diet. Recipes published by veterinarians and lay writers are readily accessible to pet owners in the popular media (Internet, pet magazines, and books). However, current recommendations are that home-prepared diets are best evaluated and formulated by a veterinary nutritionist. In general, many homeprepared diets are more costly, more time-consuming, and less convenient than are commercial diets, and many home-prepared diets have major nutritional imbalances. Another concern is lack of clear instructions in many recipes, which necessitates assumptions or judgments by pet owners. The nutritional adequacy of recipes for 67 home-prepared diets for dogs and cats with chronic kidney disease has been evaluated, and assumptions were needed for the preparation of every recipe. Lack of clear instructions likely increases variability and potentially impacts the nutritional profile of the prepared diet. Combined with problems of nutritional adequacy, this may result in substantial harm to pets when homeprepared diets are used on a long-term basis. The information reported here is intended to provide an evaluation of recipes for home-prepared diets for adult dogs conducted via computer-based software and compared with recommendations for essential nutrient intake in adult dogs as provided by the NRC and AAFCO. A secondary objective was to compare recipes written by veterinarians with those written by nonveterinarians. We believed that most of the recipes would not meet requirements for essential nutrients and that recipes written by nonveterinarians would have a higher number of deficiencies than recipes written by veterinarians. We also expected all recipes to require that at least 1 assumption would be necessary for preparation of the diet and dietary analysis. Evaluation of recipes of home-prepared maintenance diets for dogs