Evaluation of owner experiences and adherence to home-cooked diet recipes for dogs.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate owner experiences and adherence to home-cooked diet recipes for dogs.


METHODS
Clients of a veterinary teaching hospital clinical nutrition service who had a home-cooked diet recipe formulated for their dogs between March 2011 and December 2013 were given a survey by email, postal mail and telephone. Survey questions addressed motivations, positive and negative aspects of feeding home-cooked diets and current feeding practices. Responses were compared to animals' medical records to determine adherence.


RESULTS
Of the 93 owners who were contacted, 53 (57%) completed the survey. Of the 53 respondents, 43 owners (81%) reported that they were still feeding an home-cooked diet or had fed an home-cooked diet until the time of their dogs' deaths. The most common motivation for feeding a home-cooked diet was suitability for specific medical needs. Of the 30 surveys that included a complete diet history, only four (13%) demonstrated exact adherence to home-cooked diet recipes.


CONCLUSIONS
Most respondents liked and continued to feed a home-cooked diet, but few owners adhered to prescribed recipes and many dogs required recipe modifications. It is important to counsel dog owners about benefits and drawbacks of feeding home-cooked diets, importance of recipe adherence and necessity for follow-up after diet formulation with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
L N
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Johnson
Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
D E
DE
Linder
Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
C R
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Heinze
Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
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Kehs
Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, North Grafton, MA 01536, USA.
L M
LM
Freeman
D000821:Animal Feed / Q000592:standards*; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D055927:Cookbooks as Topic; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D010067:Ownership / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires