Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog diet types linked to owner-reported health issues in 27,000 dogs
By Ortiz, Alexandra Varela et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2025·College of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Association Between Diet Type and Owner-Reported Health Conditions in Dogs in the Dog Aging Project.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A survey of over 27,000 dogs found that those fed home-cooked diets were more likely to report gastrointestinal issues, kidney disease, and liver problems compared to dogs eating standard extruded diets. Additionally, dogs on commercial raw diets had a higher chance of developing respiratory issues. This suggests that while alternative diets are popular, they may be linked to certain health conditions. If you're considering a home-cooked or raw diet for your dog, it might be worth discussing these findings with your veterinarian to ensure your pet's health is prioritized.
People also search for: dog home-cooked diet health issues · raw diet respiratory problems in dogs · kidney disease in dogs diet
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Alternative dog diets, such as home-cooked and raw, have grown in popularity. Claims regarding health benefits for these diets have limited supporting evidence. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether feeding home-cooked, commercial raw, or homemade raw diets is associated with health conditions compared to extruded diets. ANIMALS: Twenty-seven thousand four hundred seventy-eight dogs. METHODS: Cross-sectional, survey-based study. We analyzed a large cross-sectional dataset (n = 27 478) of dogs fed homemade cooked (n = 1214), commercial raw (n = 961), homemade raw (n = 329), or extruded (n = 24 974) diets. We investigated associations between diet and 13 owner-reported health condition categories. Logistic regression was used for the analysis of all health conditions. RESULTS: Controlling for sex, age, and body size or breed, a home-cooked diet was associated with higher odds of gastrointestinal (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.4; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2-1.7), renal (aOR: 1.3; CI: 1.1-1.6), and hepatic disease (aOR: 1.6; CI: 1.2-2.0) compared to an extruded diet. A commercial raw diet was associated with higher odds of respiratory disease (aOR 1.7; CI: 1.3-2.3) compared to an extruded diet. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of cross-sectional data can only suggest effects of diet on health and are most useful for hypothesis generation or for testing existing hypotheses.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40256950/