Page 217 - Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 5th Edition

Making Pet Foods at Home 219

are relatively high in moisture and lack a preservative system, Mixing the food before warming will improve palatability.
VetBooks.ir they are highly susceptible to bacterial and fungal growth when mind that some ingredients are acceptable for one species, but
When choosing the ingredients for specific foods, keep in
left at room temperatures for more than a few hours. Pet own-
may markedly decrease the palatability for another. For exam-
ers who feed homemade foods must also check the food daily
for color and odor changes that may indicate spoilage or dete- ple, dogs like sugar but cats do not. When formulating a food
rioration. Clients should be advised of these food safety issues for patients with diabetes mellitus or colitis, for example, beans
when feeding homemade foods (Chapter 11). and peas may be a suitable carbohydrate and protein source for
Pet owners should be encouraged to use a dietary gram scale dogs, but increasing the amount of these ingredients may make
to weigh ingredients. Later, they can convert weights to vol- a food unacceptable to cats.
umes for easier compounding. Ingredient compositions are Vegetable and meat sources may be substituted for similar
published in different ways. For example, some recipes specify ingredients in a recipe (Table 10-10). Owners who feed a vari-
cooked rice, whereas others specify rice to be weighed as pur- ety of foods decrease the risk that a particular nutrient might be
chased. Formulation must take this variability into account, and below requirement long enough to cause clinical signs of defi-
the owner should be informed about it. ciency. Clients should receive a list of possible substitutes, and
Cooking is necessary to improve the digestibility of starch in be informed that inappropriate substitutions may jeopardize
carbohydrate sources (Walker et al, 1994; Wolter, 1982). nutritional balance.
Cooking also destroys anti-nutrient factors that may be present If the patient has a history of food rejection or gastrointesti-
(e.g., anti-trypsin in soybeans, thiaminase in some fish). nal upset with food changes, advise the client to feed the home-
However, carbohydrate and animal protein sources should be made food without supplements for a week or so, and then add
cooked separately. Carbohydrate sources need a longer cooking the supplements one at a time (one per week) to avoid the
time to increase digestibility, due to swelling and gelatinizing of problem or better identify the source of the problem.
starch granules. Meat and liver, on the other hand, should not In practices where homemade foods are regularly recom-
be overcooked to avoid protein denaturation. Cooking vegeta- mended, the staff should have experience preparing the recipes
bles may increase starch digestibility, but does not decrease the to become familiar with the preparation of homemade foods.
value of vegetables as a source of fiber. Longer cooking times, Furthermore, it is worthwhile and probably cost effective to
however, may increase vitamin losses (Meyer, 1990). send the most commonly recommended formulas to a food
After cooking, all ingredients should be thoroughly mixed in analytical laboratory to confirm the calculated analysis. In the
a blender to prevent the animal from picking out single food United States, AAFCO provides valuable guidelines for mini-
items. An unbalanced intake of nutrients may occur if ingredi- mum and maximum nutrient allowances within which a food
ents of a nutritionally balanced homemade food are allowed to for healthy dogs and cats should be formulated if no feeding
separate and the animal does not consume the entire mixture. tests are done. These guidelines may be a useful target for for-
Be sure the owner understands the dietary formulation only mulating homemade foods as well.
approximates the recommended nutrient intake of the pet at a
given weight for a certain number of days.
Owners should be warned that although vitamins and min- PATIENT ASSESSMENT/MONITORING
erals are present in only small quantities, they are very impor-
tant and are not optional.Vitamin-mineral supplements should Patients that eat homemade foods should be brought in for reg-
not be cooked or heated or stored with the food. Vitamins may ular veterinary examinations (two to three visits per year).
be destroyed by heat or oxidation.The vitamin-mineral supple- Because the nutritional profile of homemade foods is quite
ment should be kept separate from the food, and administered variable, a nutritional review is recommended at least twice a
just before, during or after a meal to ensure proper dosing. year. If a dog or cat eats a homemade food exclusively for more
Overall digestibility and availability of vitamin-mineral supple- than six months, the veterinarian should ask the client to record
ments are improved when using USP labeled products and and submit a three- to five-day food history so that the nutri-
when these nutrients are present in the small intestine with a ent profile and ingredient substitutions can be reevaluated.
meal composed of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The effectiveness of a food can be grossly evaluated by not-
The food should be warmed to just below body temperature ing the patient’s body weight, body condition and activity level.
before feeding. Clients should be advised to carefully check for Laboratory data such as albumin level, red blood cell number
“hot spots” that could burn a pet’s mouth after food has been and size and hemoglobin concentration are gross estimations of
rewarmed in a microwave oven. Wetting the food may improve the animal’s nutritional status and can be used with other clin-
palatability. Moisture content of homemade foods is approxi- ical observations to evaluate homemade foods.
mately 70%, which is more similar to that of moist than dry More specifically, the skin and hair should be examined
commercial foods. Animals that favor dry forms of commercial closely and an ophthalmic examination, including evaluation of
foods may reject homemade foods. the lens and retina, should be performed. These tissues are
When stored too long, the food mixture may separate and more sensitive than others to nutritional status (Remillard et al,
dry out, becoming less palatable.Therefore, it is best not to pre- 1993; Glaze and Blanchard, 1983; Sousa et al, 1988; Harvey,
pare large amounts of food that cannot be eaten in a few days. 1994). Stool quality should also be assessed.