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Homemade pet food not always best

Natural Pet Supply in Johnson City offers such a wide variety of natural foods for dogs and cats that Jenny Wallace's dog Scout has a difficult time choosing which treat he wants.

 

Natural Pet Supply in Johnson City offers such a wide variety of natural foods for dogs and cats that Jenny Wallace's dog Scout has a difficult time choosing which treat he wants. Ned Jilton II photo.

The recent pet food recall has many pet owners thinking about cooking for their dog or cat. But while homemade recipes are an option and can provide pets with an adequate diet, they require a considerable amount of work to ensure that the final product is nutritionally complete and balanced.

"You can make your dog's food," said Valerie Whaley, co-owner of Natural Pet Supply in Johnson City, "but you need to be responsible in how you do it."

Whaley has been cooking for her dog, Fozzie, for six years. Her "Fozzie Stew" recipe consists of meat, grains and vegetables, along with nutritional supplements to help ensure the 10-year-old terrier gets the same vitamins and minerals he would get from a commercially prepared diet.

"There are a good variety of supplements out there that are designed to do that," Whaley said.

Jenny Wallace of Bristol prepares a raw-food diet for Scout, her 4-year-old German shepherd mix. The recipe includes ground turkey, organic yogurt, pumpkin, green beans, asparagus and chicken gizzard, along with vitamins and minerals.

The recipe was recommended to Wallace by her veterinarian when Scout was a puppy.

"I actually don't eat meat myself, so I wasn't sure if that was something I'd be able to do," Wallace said. "But I researched it and decided to try it."

The pet food recall - linked to contaminated wheat gluten supplied by a Chinese manufacturer - has many pet owners looking for reliable recipes for their animals. But while numerous books and Web sites offer pet food recipes, choosing the proper recipe isn't easy.

"A lot of those books are written by lay people and will have a preface by a veterinarian," said Dr. Susan Lauten, a clinical instructor of nutrition at University of Tennessee's Veterinary Nutrition Center. "That doesn't mean those recipes are balanced. You also have to remember that every animal is different. Just because you cooked for your dog for five years doesn't mean that that's an adequate recipe for somebody else's."

Lauten conducted a study last year of more than 100 pet food recipes found in books. Upon comparing those recipes to standards established by the National Research Council Committee on Animal Nutrition and the Association of American Feed Control Officials, she determined that while most were nutritionally complete, about 70 percent of them were not balanced.

Most often those recipes where lacking in calcium, which can lead to malnutrition.

"This is something that may not be detected for years," Lauten said. "Then your animal gets challenged by a trauma or illness, and that's when you find out that your dog doesn't have the nutrition on board that's needed. That's not the time when you want to find that out."

Lauten has a Web site - www.petnutritionconsulting.com - that offers nutrition consultations, diet analyses and customized recipes. Formulations are $100 for healthy pets and $125 for pets with special medical needs.

Because pets have complex nutritional needs that are based on their species, age and other factors, pet owners need to be careful when changing their pet's diet, particularly when the change is as significant as switching from commercial to home-cooked food.

"There's an erroneous assumption that the nutritional requirements are the same as ours," said Dr. Rebecca Remillard, a veterinarian and nutritionist at Angell Medical Center in Boston. "I've had people say to me, well, ‘I've managed to feed my children for 20 years. I think I can feed my dog.' And the answer is no. One is not the same as the other."

An American College of Veterinary Nutrition diplomate, Remillard operates www.petdiets.com, a Web site that offers personalized pet nutrition consulting while also selling nutritionally balanced pet food recipes for $50 each.

Launched in 2000, the site was initially designed to help veterinarians create diets for animals with health problems. Since the start of the recall, Remillard says her site and others have become deluged with inquiries by recipe-seeking pet owners who have lost faith in the commercial pet food industry.

"What's happening today is people are jumping on the Internet thinking that it's going to solve the problem of contamination," Remillard said. "They're also guessing what their dog or cat needs and trying to find the cheapest recipe out there."

The best recipes tend to focus on the individual makeup of a pet. Davis Veterinary Medical Consulting, P.C., in Davis, Calif., offers more than 400 recipes at their www.balanceit.com site. Using the company's specially designed software, pet owners can find a suitable recipe by plugging in the weight, age and reproductive status of their healthy, adult pet.

Recipes are $20 each and come in two versions, one using over-the-counter human supplements and one using the Balance It supplement sold by the company. Pet owners can obtain one free trial recipe by typing in the code "homemade" and clicking "apply" during checkout.

"The recipes are very specific to the pet's requirements," said Sally Perea, a veterinary nutritionist with the company. "The main concern is that people are coming up with their own recipes that have nutrient deficiencies."

While the recall has created worry among pet owners, Remillard thinks people should continue to have faith in the commercial pet food industry.

"It's an understandable reaction to the recall," Remillard said, "but people need to remember that only about 1 percent of the food has been recalled. In that sense, the recall is small."

Whaley says that customers are nevertheless coming into her store more informed than they were in the past."People are asking better questions," Whaley said. "They are thinking now. In the past, they just assumed their pet food was safe. But now, you just can't assume."If you wish to use a homemade diet, you should consult with your veterinarian or an expert with an advanced degree in animal nutrition who is certified by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition.

There are numerous sources for pet food recipes, both online and in books. In choosing a recipe, be sure to pick one that is nutritionally complete and balanced. The recipe should also be formulated for the weight, age and medical condition of your particular pet.

Here are two recipes that are guaranteed to be complete and balanced. The first is for a healthy 11-pound cat. The second is for my dog, Banjo, a healthy 5-year old golden retriever.

Provided by Susan Lauten of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville's College of Veterinary Medicine, this recipe yields six days of food for a healthy 11-pound cat. Supplements can be found in health food or pet stores.

In a bowl, combine the cooked salmon, egg, rice and canola oil. In a separate small bowl, mix together the salt, salt substitute, crushed vitamin, taurine powder, calcium carbonate and bonemeal. Sprinkle over the salmon mixture and stir well. (If your cat is likely to pick out the salmon pieces and leave the rest behind, pulverize the mixture in a food processor.)

Divide the finished recipe into six freezer containers or resealable freezer bags in approximately equal portions and freeze each separately. Move one from the freezer to the refrigerator each evening to thaw. Serve at body temperature in the morning, but be careful of microwave hotspots. It is best to warm the container in some hot water.

This recipe was specially created for Banjo through the DVM Consulting Web site at www.balanceit.com using human supplements. Banjo currently weighs 65 pounds, which is a healthy weight for him. Based on his weight, his calculated energy requirement is around 1,417 calories daily. The following recipe provides 1,428 calories daily.

The protein and carb sources were chosen by me, and then formulated into a complete and balanced recipe. The human supplements can be substituted for by Balance It, a supplement available through the Web site.

Bake the chicken and sweet potato in the oven without any added salt. Once cooked, measure out the chicken and sweet potato in the amounts above and cut into small pieces. Place the sweet potato in a serving bowl and add the oil and the necessary supplements. Mix well. Place the cut chicken onto the sweet potato and serve.

If your dog chooses to eat only the chicken when served on top of the sweet potato, mix the chicken with the sweet potato to ensure that all essential nutrients are eaten.

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Actually, a BARF(Bone and Raw Foods) diet is what is naturally best for your pet. Grains are fillers and this is what is used in commercial dog foods so they don't have to use a load of meat. T

A barf diet should consist of Muscle Meat (Boneless/Skinless) a RMB (Raw Meaty Bones) and some kind of Organ meat such as Beef liver,Chicken Liver or gizzards,etc. Probably 1 1/2 oz of organ meat. You don't need to much iron in the diet. And sometimes veggies can be added, but there is no use for grains.

You will see a huge change in your dogs overall apperance and feeding Raw can run about 79. a pound as oppossed to the 1.50-4.00 per pound that you pay for dog food. And they eat less meat.

Here is a website to learn a little more on the BARF diet for your animals.


http://www.rawdogranch.com/

Jessica Bingham | 5/2/2007 - 7:45 AM - (Suggest Removal )

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