Cooking For Pets: Good Idea?

Dr. Debbye Turner: It's Too Easy To Short Them On Needed Nutrients

(CBS)  As the pet food recall grows, so does the number of people cooking for their dogs and cats.

But is that wise?

The Early Show's resident veterinarian, Dr. Debbye Turner, suggested Tuesday that it might not be.

"I cannot recommend that you cook for your pet," she told co-anchor Hannah Storm. "They have very specific nutritional needs. If you're going to cook for your pet, you need to formulate a diet that has all the right nutrients, plus supplements, and all in the right proportions."

Turner says people "absolutely shouldn't" stop feeding Fido or Fluffy commercial pet food: There are still plenty of commercial pet foods on the shelves that are believed to be safe. Of course, check the recall list on the Menu Foods Web site to make sure you're not feeding one of the affected brands.

Since it's believed wheat gluten is somehow involved, you can help assure the food you're feeding is safe by looking at the ingredients listed on the package or can and making sure wheat gluten isn't one of them.

Also, cautioned Turner, cats and dogs have different nutritional requirements. Dogs need 38 nutrients daily. Cat need 40. Dogs are omnivores, like people. So they need protein, carbohydrates, fats and fiber, plus vitamins and minerals. Cats are obligate carnivores. They need a high protein diet that contains animal fat and taurine.

What's more, pets can't eat everything people can. Most spices are upsetting to pets' systems and will cause gastric irritation and diarrhea. So, you definitely shouldn't season food for pets the way we season it for ourselves. Plus, there are some foods that we know are toxic to cats and dogs. They include onions, garlic, raisins, grapes, chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Also, Turner was wary of Internet info. "You do not want to trust Internet recipes," she said. Anyone can come up with a recipe and post it on the Web. And while these recipes may be tasty to your pet and OK to give them as a treat, many just aren't nutritionally complete and shouldn't be used for long-term feeding. You will simply do more harm than good to your pet. If you still feel you have to cook for your pet, it's best to take the recipe to your veterinarian and let her review it and make adjustments, just to be safe.

That said, Turner did offer an example of a recipe for dogs, from a Web site run by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist who formulates custom-made recipes for pet owners. They're designed to be nutritionally balanced specifically for your pets.

There are hundreds of recipes, but the one shown by Turner includes white rice, vegetable oil and chicken. Seems pretty simple, right? Well, in order for it to be nutritionally balanced, you must add supplements to the dish: a multivitamin, calcium, choline, salt and zinc. That's the advantage of commercial diets: all the work has been done for you. The vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids are already there. If you cook for your pet, YOU have to add them. It's a lot of work!

The recipe for dogs that Turner showed:

Rice (white, long-grain, regular, cooked) 3-7/8cup
Oil (vegetable, corn) 4-1/4 tsp
Chicken (breast, cooked) 5-1/8 oz

PLUS: must add these human supplements:
1-1/8 tablets of One a Day Maximum Multivitamin/mineral supplement
3-7/8 of Posture caplet (600 mg elemental calcium)
1-3/8 tablets of generic choline tablet (600 mg tablet w/250 mg choline)
1 tsp of Morton Lite Salt Mixture
1/8 tsp of Morton Salt Substitute
3/4 tablet of generic zinc gluconate tablet (250 mg tablet w/30 mg elemental zinc)

Bake the chicken in the oven and cook the white rice without adding salt. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Place the white rice in a bowl and add the oil and the supplements. Mix well. Place cut chicken on the rice and serve.

Why is it, Turner was asked, that cats are far more affected in this recall than dogs?

It's important to point out that we still don't know exactly what has caused illness and death in pets, Turner responded, but we know that far more cats have gotten sick and died than dogs. It could be because they are smaller and can't tolerate the "load" of the toxin in the food. Or their metabolism is faster than dogs, so it could be that hastens the affect of the poison. We're just not sure yet.

Turner also demonstrated the preparation of a recipe for cats, which she said is a good example of what a cat would eat. It's from the same Web site as the one for dogs, and includes sweet potato, salmon, and vegetable oil. But again, the food alone doesn't contain all the necessary nutrition for the cat. So you would need to add these supplements to make it nutritionally complete: a multivitamin, calcium, taurine, choline, salt, zinc, and caltrate.

The cat recipe:

Sweet potato (cooked, baked in skin, without salt) 5/8 cup
Fish, salmon (Atlantic, wild, cooked) 2.9 ounces
Oil (vegetable or corn) 3/4 tsp

PLUS: must add these human supplements:
1/4 tablet of One A Day Maximum Multivitamin/multimineral Supplement per day
3/8 caplet of Posture caplet (600 mg elemental calcium) per day
1/4 tablet of Generic taurine tablet (1 gram tablet with 500 mg taurine) per day
3/8 tablet of Generic choline tablet (600 mg tablet with 250 mg choline) per day
1/8 tsp of Morton Lite Salt Mixture per day
1/8 tablet of Generic zinc gluconate tablet (250 mg tablet with 30 mg elemental zinc) per day
1/4 capsule of Caltrate 600 per day

Bake the salmon and sweet potato in the oven without any added salt. Once cooked, measure out the salmon 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 supplement. Mix well. Place the cut salmon onto the sweet potato and serve.

For more on pets and nutrition, Turner recommends these sites:
PetDiets.com and the site of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

[kfelber1]

I found "Wheat middlings" In my dog food. Could someone tell me what that Is? Please. thank you kfelber. [e-mail]

[eaton24]

I have had 2 out of 5 vets tell me I should home-cook for my dog. These vets were some of the few vets that gave up incentives and did not sell Science Diet in their clinics.

For some people, that are too busy to home-cook, there are many other great alternatives on the market, than commercial pet foods. You can feed your dog a trusted organic brand, such as Natura Pets, Flint River Ranch or the Honest Kitchen (www.thehonestkitchen.com). These all use human grade ingredients, and there are lots more that do. Contrary to what the pet food industry makes you believe, you can alternate your pet's food with home cooked meals, when you have time for it. A home cooked meal with the right ingredients is the BEST thing you can do for your pet! Feeding them commercial pet food is like eating McDonalds everyday. (Anyone seen Supersize Me?)I beg of CBS to rectify this and publish an article that finally tells the truth about the dog food industry!!!

[eaton24]

WOW! I am SO surprised and disappointed that CBS decided to invite a veterinarian for this discussion, obviously they have not done their homework. Very few veterinarians are canine nutritionists, and the nutrition classes that are taught at the vet schools are given by dog food industry representatives. Veterinarians also receive extra income through incentive programs by selling commercial dog food in their offices, so unless this veterinarian does not sell Science Diet in her vet clinic, I doubt her objectivity.

The recipe that is posted, is very contrived. There are many supplements on the market, that allow you to cook with normal ingredients from the supermarket, and add the extra nutrients to it. Commercial dog food is truly the WORST thing you can feed your dog. Unfortunately, the large corporations that use dog food as a means to sell their production waste, have a good grip on the media. If people truly knew what they are feeding their pets, they would home-cook or find alternatives.

[tumblehome]

Given the severity of the petfood recall, I think CBS can do better than present out a bought and paid-for industry spokesperson as an authority on homemade dog and cats diets.

There are plenty of qualified and reputable internet resources that can help Josephine Average feed her cat and dog better than commercial products could ever hope to do. None of these homecooked menus are as dauntingas Dr. Turner proports.


What really lays her institutionalized caveats to rest though is diet of consumable raw meaty bones, and organs. When one feeds a variety of protein sources (commonly available sources like beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, rabbit, fish) the nutrients are, as the commercial says, "in there."

Even if one prefers to feed prefabricated blends and mixes to avoid whole bones and/or the effort of grocery store shopping, there are many respected, high quality suppliers on the internet.

Whether one feeds cooked, pre-fab raw blends or "whole prey", home-prepared diets are widespread enough today that no one--not even Joesphine Average--need fear lack of advice, instruction or support. I am disappointed that CBS has chosen to present as definitive an opinion that is so strongly biased by corporate status quo.
Chris Ostrowski

[morris61]

Clearly a lot of people are very upset over the poisoned pet food they may or maynot have bought.Please,please consult your vet if you have any questions.If they actually would take the time to read the article Dr.Turner mentioned that.Checking the pet food recall list would probably be a good idea as well.

[daisy4343]

There is nothing about the anatomy or physiology of a dog that would suggest it is an omnivore. Dogs (wolves) are carnivores. They are also opportunists, and so able to digest a LIMITED amount of carbohydrates. As opposed to cats which are obligate carnivores. So, cats do best on just meats (and bones and organs). Dogs, as carnivores, can also do just fine on the same diet but have limited tolerance for a little more. However, carbs should NEVER predominate the diet the way these "professionals" recommend. And by cooking the food, which is not necessary for a cat or dog, so many nutrients are destroyed.

[rkwiggin]

I was absolutely AMAZED that Dr. Turner was so against preparing meals for your pets and APPALLED at the diet recommended! What are you trying to do? Encourage people to kill their pets the way we are killing ourselves with overprocessed, carb rich foods? I recommend you think about the advice being given by vets who support commercial dog foods. What kind of kick-backs do vets give for "prescribing" these foods? Think about what a dog is (hunter and scavenger)and you have the recipe for keeping them healthy. If dogs were hunting, what is the first area they will go after upon catching their prey? The soft underbelly, which contains foods consumed by the herbivore. Then it will go after organs and muscle meats, typical of hunters in nature. Dr. Turner is correct that dogs are omnivores (that's why they graze on grass, go after the stomachs of prey, etc), but dogs absolutely need raw meaty bones which are essential to their digestion (the chewing causes the digestive enzymes to become active). It has only been since the invention of commercial dog foods that our pets have been riddled with cancer, kidney failure and all sorts of other diseases. I had a dog (Jake, he was actually much more than that)diagnosed with bone cancer (Osteosarcoma) and given 3 months to live. I found Dr. McDowell and the raw food diet, and Jake lived for more than 3 YEARS (!) on a raw food diet, herbal supplements and conventional vet care. Commercial dog food is not only not necesary, it's KILLING our pets.

[katet10-2009]

Wow, is this veterinarian on the payroll of a commercial dog food company? I am very dissapointed that you chose this veterinarian with such limited knowledge of pet nutrition to do this story. Would you consult an MD for a story on human nutrition? Dogs and cats eat meat in the wild. Surely, we humans are not so arrogant that we think we know more than mother nature?? I too will take my chances and feed my pets what they were intended to eat.

I ask you to do a story about the poisons that are put into commercial food INTENTIONALLY. That is newsworthy! The public is begging for it!

I should also note, that I would rather take my chances with bacteria and such that nature designed a dog's system to deal with than the rat poisons, pesticides, plastic chemicals, aflatoxin, heavy metals and other unnatural contaminants found all too frequently in pet foods.

And that doesn't even take into consideration the chronic malnutrient states that result from feeding the exact same food day in and day out. No matter what dog food companies want people to believe, no single food is truly "nutritionally complete" for a dog's whole lifetime. All commercial foods have inherent gaps in nutrition. And they only have to keep a dog alive for a few weeks to call it "nutritionally complete for all stages of life". They are not required to feed that food to their test subjects for years on end to prove it. And the animal doesn't even have to stay healthy. Just not die during the 26 weeks of the feeding protocol. 6 months is only a small portion of a dog's entire lifetime......

"There are still plenty of commercial pet foods on the shelves that are believed to be safe."

I find this an interesting choice of words. "Believed to be safe...." Very interesting, indeed, since we have no assurance that any commercial food is truly safe.

I used to feed commercial foods. I used to believe vets knew about nutrition. Then I found out vets receive about 40 hours of training in vet school on nutrition, and that training is done by the pet food industry. Hm....

I switched to a raw diet 4 years ago and haven't looked back. My dogs are healthier than they've ever been. With a little research, a raw diet is actually very easy to do. Vets and the pet food industry want us to believe it's this overwhelming challenge, but it's nothing of the sort. It's actually very easy once you understand the basic rules of how nature designed the dog.

Of course, there's also the issue of how few decades the commercial pet food industry has even existed. What did dogs eat before the advent of commercial foods? Raw meat, bones and organs, table scraps and whatever they could catch and kill themselves around the farms or community in which they lived.

Sorry, not buying that a home prepared diet is SO dangerous. The glowing health of my dogs that has continued to improve the longer they are on a raw diet is all the testimony I need to feeding the way nature intended. ;-)