Balanced diet for pets

What is the correct diet for household pets? Is pet food the norm or should parents give home-cooked meals as well?

Just like us, dogs need a balanced diet which contains just the right amount of protein, fat, carbohydrates, many different vitamins and minerals to ensure that they stay in peak condition. Remember that pet’s nutritional requirements are different to man and generally they need higher level of nutrients.

These nutrients must be present, not only in the correct amounts, but also in the correct proportion to each other to provide a nutritionally complete and balanced diet.

The nutritional profile of any diet—including homemade diets—depends on how the recipe was formulated, the nutrient content of the ingredients, and how the owner prepares the diet.

Homemade diets may also contain contaminants and food-borne microbes if the owner is not as careful as he or she is about his or her own foods.

Common human foods such as chocolate, Macadamia nuts, Grapes and raisins and onions are toxic to pets. Internet information can be misleading and incorrect unless supported by competent authorities like National Research Council (NRC) or veterinary nutritionists.

The standard text books of veterinary nutrition and many recent published studies have clearly indicated that a variety of home-prepared diets (including diets fed to dogs in India) when compared to NRC or AAFCO requirements were are deficient, excessive or unbalanced in essential nutrients.

( like Calcium, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin E - Streiff et al 2002, Adbdul and yahtiraj 2002, Umesh and Heaton 2004). No single ingredient/ source of diet will provide all the nutrients and energy requirement of a dog. For eg., Cereals are rich in some vitamins but lack many nutrients required for a dog or puppy.

Meat is rich source of proteins but low in Calcium and Vitamin A. Likewise Milk is low in iron and Vitamin D. Therefore a combination of ingredients from plant and/or animal sources is required to meet the requirements of a dog.

It is difficult even for an experienced breeder to prepare balanced diet for puppies or dogs at home.
Home-prepared diets are often high in fat, and result in overweight pets, particularly during growth.

Most of the reason why people decide to feed home-prepared pet foods is probably due to a combination of petfood industry bad press (commercial petfoods are perceived as unhealthy), and a desire to feed a wholesome, “as nature intended” diet, probably in direct response to current trends in the human market.

Other owners will feed an intricate home-prepared diet because they feel this is pampering their pets. Prepared pet-foods is the best way to feed a pet as it is nutritionally complete and safe and are specifically made to meet all their nutritional requirements.

Addition of Homemade food or vitamins supplements along with balanced prepared pet food can only upset nutrients balanced in the food and may cause imbalance, deficiency or toxicity. All they need is fresh clean water

By: Dr Kallahalli Umesh, Waltham Scientific Communication Manager, Mars India