A new study has found that although home-prepared diets for canines are often diverse in ingredients, most canines may be lacking key nutrients. Investigators assessed 1726 homemade diets for nutritional completeness as well as how dog owners prepared the dog food.1,2
Diet information was collected through an open-ended survey with responses from owners participating through the Dog Aging Project. The study was a collaborative effort led by the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) with support from additional institutions.1
“We found that only 6% of homemade diets had the potential to be nutritionally complete,” Janice O’Brien, DVM, a PhD student in dog nutrition epidemiology at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia, and a study author, said in a news release.1,2 “Since our study didn’t include exact ingredient amounts, it’s possible that a smaller percentage than 6% were nutritionally complete.”
The diet information collected for the study was entered into a digital tool, Balance It, which helps owners create nutritionally complete homemade diets for their pets. “Balance It is compliant with both the [FDA] and the Association of American Feed Control Officials’ recommendations for canine nutrition,” O’Brien said.1 “By entering the list of ingredients in each recipe into Balance It, we determined if there were nutrients missing.”
Based on the collected diet information, home-prepared diets were composed of a range of ingredients that may include meat and organs, vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds, and added oils. “The most common dietary ingredients were meat (90%) and vegetables (65%). Nearly half (45%) of owners added some form of commercially prepared diet or base/topper to supplement the home-prepared ingredients,” according to the study’s authors.2
O’Brien previously found that few home-prepared diets are balanced. In a presentation of her research at the 2025 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum in Louisville, Kentucky, she shared that about 25% of diets for pets enrolled in the study were partially balanced (1 to 10 nutrient imbalances), and 52% were unbalanced (10 or more nutrient imbalances), while approximately 17% could not be categorized.3
Home-prepared diets have seen a rise in popularity among dog owners over the last 2 decades, according to VMBS. Katie Tolbert, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM, SA Nutrition), an associate professor in the department of small animal clinical sciences at VMBS and an author in the study, noted that dog owners should be aware that there is a responsibility that comes with the choice to prepare their pets’ meals in their homes. The word of caution is based on the study’s results.1
