Homemade Dog Food: The Negative Side Of Homemade Recipes

These days, many dog owners are giving their dogs homemade dog food. It is understandable as a lot of us now know the shady production practices that are going on in the pet food industry, including fake “Made in the USA” labels, filler ingredients, and many other things that can harm our pets.

Making use of homemade dog food recipes is one of the ways that you can let your furry friends enjoy the good things of life, especially delicious and high-quality meat. But, this does not mean that there are no negative points of homemade dog diets.

According to a 2013 study, it was discovered that close to 96% of homemade dog diet recipes found online have some negative impacts on your dog. In 2017, another study was made where pet owners were given plenty of DIY homemade dog food online recipes to test. After the analysis, it turned out to be that these diets make pets prone to nutrient deficiencies.

It is not easy to make a homemade dog food diet and takes a lot of time.

Okay. So, it is not necessarily the approach of homemade dog food that is bad. Rather, it is the lack of knowledge and expertise in preparing the diets for your dog.

Most pet owners do not know the type of nutrients that are absent in the meal. They seldom make use of essential dog supplements like fish oil or monitor the canine for nutrient deficiencies so that they can make up for the macro-nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that their dog is missing.

To better understand this, think about the 2014 study whereby the Clinical Nutrition Service evaluated how 59 dog owners made use of adequate dog food recipes to prepare DIY homemade dog food diets. After the study, it was discovered that the pet owners did not properly follow the entire instruction guide that their Vet gave them, thereby making unhealthy meals.

After the above study, a question arose which says: even if it might be healthier for our dogs to eat DIY homemade dog food than consuming commercial dog food, is it necessary to risk it if you are unsure whether or not you can closely follow the entire instructions given to you?

This article contains some of the negative sides of homemade dog food to help you decide whether you should go ahead with it or not.

Below is a list of some negative points of homemade dog diets:

Bad Ingredients

Sometimes, you might be making use of a recipe that includes wrong or unsuitable ingredients.
It is surprising to know that plenty of homemade dog food recipes that are gotten from the internet include things that dogs should not even consume (or consume a very small amount). But the recipe will tell you to include a dangerous amount that is harmful to your dog.
One extreme example is giving a large amount of garlic to your dog to prevent intestinal worms. Another example is giving avocado to your dog because it is healthy for humans.

The major reason for such mistakes is that pet owners assume that their dogs can eat everything that humans can eat, thinking that whatever is healthy for them is healthy for their dogs. When in reality, they can’t. We cannot dispute the fact that dogs are omnivores, their stomachs are stronger than ours (in some cases), and that some foods we eat are extremely healthy for them. But, there are a lot of food items that you do not want to include in your dog’s next meal.

Missing Ingredients

The recipe you are using might be lacking some essential ingredients.
Another common problem with homemade dog food recipes is that the essential ingredients might be missing in the dog’s diet. Just as we have mentioned above, pet owners often overlook skipping on the minerals, amino acid supplements, and vitamins.
Additionally, skipping any organ meat like heart or liver in homemade DIY dog food diets because of how it looks is a huge mistake that pet owners make.
There is no problem if you make this mistake once in a while. You cannot just throw away the dog food you recently made just because you forgot to add a piece of heart or liver. But, when you are always doing this, skipping the essential ingredients, then you are exposing your dog to several health issues and deficiencies.

Nobody is Watching

There are no inspections and quality control standards in homemade dog food recipes.
“Quality control” doesn’t have a nice ring to it – anyone involved in the manufacturing of pet foods, pet medicine, or other pet products that require quality control and monitoring by agencies like the FDA and USDA do not want to hear about it because it increases costs of production. This is the reason companies manufacturing human-grade dog food with frequent factory inspections have to increase the costs for their pet foods.

Whatever the case may be, quality control is vital to guarantee well-balanced food. When you are making your homemade dog food diets, quality control is always missing. Just like the 2014 study that we mentioned above, pet owners made unintentional mistakes which were just because there was no quality control.

Lack of Storage

The proper storage of your DIY homemade dog food diets might be a problem.
When you are preparing homemade dog food for your dog, there is every chance that you will make it in large quantities. This is true because you do not want to be preparing the food every single day.
Nevertheless, there are usually some potential storage challenges with larger quantities of homemade dog food. Additionally, improper storage of your pet’s food in a fridge or dog food storage container and not freezing it when necessary is as dangerous and unhealthy as not storing your own food adequately.

Bad Purchases

You might mistakenly buy low-quality ingredients to make your homemade dog food diet.
Your dog’s long-term health depends on the quality of meat that you are making use of. If you want to buy commercial dog food that is very cheap, then do not expect it to be made with high-quality ingredients. But, this is also a problem that you should be careful not to make when you are preparing a homemade dog food diet for your dog.

Conclusion

The above article has shown the negative sides of preparing a homemade dog food diet for your pet. So, if you know that you cannot follow the whole instructions well, then it is advisable that you purchase high-quality commercial dog food for your four-legged companions.