My dog won't eat dry food. Is cat food or homemade diet safe for him?

Question

Hi there! My dog is a rescue and the previous family only fed him a diet of dry dog food. So now he's completely turned off them. He does like to eat cat food though, would it be safe to feed him some. We usually cook us giblets, chicken hearts, rice with some vegetables and add that to a handful of dry dog food. His weight has increased quite fast since we got him but I think he is at a healthy weight now. Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | unneutered | 15 lbs

Kevin Sanada, DVM · Accepted Answer

The advantage of the dry dog food is that it is formulated to meet the nutritional demands of a dog if fed appropriately. When you start feeding other food there's a chance that he won't get all the necessary nutrients and may end up with a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Feeding cat food is not necessarily bad for them, but does have a very nutrient profile from dog food. The advantage of the diet your feeding is that there is variety, which may help keep him from having any dietary deficiencies; but no one really knows with a diet this diverse. Below is a link to a good article written by a veterinary nutritionist about home-cooked dog foods. http://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/07/should-you-make-your-own-pet-food-at-home/ Dogs will often prefer human food to dog food, but that doesn't necessarily mean that its good for them. It also can cause obesity in dogs, which is the biggest nutritional disorder we see with dogs in the developed world. Dog obesity is a big problem in Australia, which means that the average person thinks a fat dog is at ideal weight; and a dog with an ideal body condition, or a lean body condition is thought to be starving. The truth is that the lean dogs are statistically healthier and live longer than overweight dogs. Below is a link to a body condition scoring guide. This is what veterinarians use when assessing whether a dog is overweight or underweight. We prefer them to be at a BCS of 4 or 5. I recommend scoring his body condition and controlling his diet if he is over a BCS of 5. https://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Body%20condition%20score%20chart%20dogs.pdf I hope that helps and all is well with Buzz.

My dog won't eat dry food. Is cat food or homemade diet safe for him?

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