DIY-ing Home Cooking

Aug 3

Home-cooked diets can be a wonderful choice for your pet. Preparing meals with whole, fresh ingredients is a meaningful way to engage with your animal's health, and many pet owners find it deeply rewarding. I fully support clients who want to take this on — with the right preparation and commitment, it can work beautifully.

That said, home cooking for pets is not the same as cooking for people. Dogs and cats have very specific nutritional requirements that differ significantly from our own, and a diet that looks healthy and wholesome can still be missing critical nutrients. This handout explains what we want every client to know before making the switch.

The #1 Rule: Home-Cooked Diets Must Be Formulated

This is the most important thing we can tell you: please do not simply cook "healthy food" and serve it. Even meals made with excellent ingredients — lean protein, fresh vegetables, whole grains — are almost never nutritionally complete for a dog or cat without deliberate formulation.

A balanced home-cooked diet needs to be designed by a qualified practitioner or created using a trusted, evidence-based recipe source. This is not about being overly cautious — it's about the reality that nutritional deficiencies in pets often develop slowly and silently, and by the time signs appear, real harm may already have been done.

Common Deficiencies in Unformulated Diets

Without proper formulation, home-cooked diets frequently fall short in the following areas:

NutrientWhy It MattersCalcium & Phosphorus (ratio)Critical for bone health and organ function. Imbalances — especially in growing animals — can cause serious skeletal problems.Vitamin DEssential for calcium absorption and immune function. Often insufficient when sunlight and commercial feed are removed from the equation.Taurine (cats especially)Cats cannot synthesize taurine on their own. Deficiency leads to heart disease (dilated cardiomyopathy) and blindness.ZincPlays a role in immune function, skin integrity, and wound healing. Commonly low in home-cooked diets.IodineThyroid hormone production depends on adequate iodine. Deficiency or excess can both cause thyroid dysfunction.Essential fatty acidsOmega-3s and omega-6s in proper ratios support skin, coat, brain, and inflammatory response. Easy to miss without targeted inclusion.

How to Do This Right

If you're committed to home cooking — and we hope you are, if it's right for your household — here is how to approach it safely:

Work with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist (DACVN) — the gold standard for complex or high-stakes cases.
Dr. Emily Newman is certified in Natural Nutrition through the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies and is qualified to provide nutrition consulting for a wide range of food-related questions — from building wholesome, balanced diets to diets guided by Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) principles, working alongside Dr. Stephanie James. Ask us about scheduling a nutrition consultation.
Use a reputable recipe resource such as the BalanceIT® platform or recipes from the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN) if a nutritionist consultation isn't feasible right away.
Follow the recipe exactly — substitutions and approximations can shift the nutritional balance in ways that are hard to predict.
Include the recommended supplements. This step is non-negotiable. The whole-food ingredients alone will not fill all nutritional gaps.
Plan for regular monitoring. We'll want to schedule periodic bloodwork and exams to catch any emerging deficiencies early.
Reassess as your pet ages or if their health status changes. Puppies, seniors, pregnant animals, and those with medical conditions have different needs.

A Note on Online Recipes

The internet is full of home-cooked pet food recipes, and the vast majority of them are not nutritionally balanced. A 2019 study found that over 95% of home-diet recipes available online failed to meet minimum nutrient guidelines. Even recipes from well-intentioned sources — including some veterinary websites — may be incomplete.

Please check with us before starting any recipe you find online, no matter how credible the source appears.

Is Home Cooking Right for Your Pet?

Home cooking is a real commitment — of time, consistency, and attention. It works best for clients who:

Are willing to follow a formulated recipe closely and use all recommended supplements
Can commit to consistent preparation (nutritional gaps often appear when the diet becomes irregular)
Are open to regular veterinary monitoring
Have a specific reason for wanting to cook — food sensitivities, medication interactions, a pet who won't eat commercial food, or simply a strong personal preference

If any of those feel uncertain, a high-quality commercial diet — or a commercial diet with whole-food supplementation — may be a better fit for now. There's no wrong answer here, only the one that's sustainable and safe for your animal.

Helpful Resources