Background: Pet owners in Florida recently went through two hurricanes in two weeks (Helene and Milton). We are taught here in Florida to be prepared for storms, including preparing for our pets. I have learned that some pet owners, while trying to be prepare for our two storms, went back to kibble pet food for their pets (from feeding a fresh food diet) in advance of the storms. They believed their pet must have a balanced diet for every meal, and that a highly processed complete and balanced diet (kibble) was better than their pet eating an unbalanced diet.
I disagreed with these beliefs, so I went to experts for their opinions.
My question to them was: If something prevented a pet owner from having a balanced pet food available to provide their pet, and all they had was eggs or hamburger and a few vegetables to prepare for their pet…how long can the pet eat an unbalanced meal without a worry of health concerns? A week? Two weeks?
Dr. Donna M. Raditic DVM, ACVIM (Nutrition), Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionist shared with me veterinary posts regarding allergies in pets where pets are fed an unbalanced diet for 2-3 months (to confirm an allergy and/or confirm non-reactive ingredients). Such as in this post sent to me by Dr. Raditic the author (Dr. Wendy Brooks DVM) states “Most veterinary dermatologists recommend 8 to 12 weeks, which is a long time to be strict on the diet, but that is the only way to detect food allergic dogs.”
Dr. Raditic shared she has worked with clients (pets) with severe adverse food reactions “by starting with a protein, then adding ingredients one at a time to get them to a complete and balanced diet over months. But this is done with me supervising.” In other words, long term un-balanced diets must be done with veterinary supervision.
Dr. Karen Becker shared something that I personally have never thought of before: “You’ve just described an AAFCO feeding trial.” (Very good thinking!)
When a pet food manufacturer wishes to formulate their products different than meeting AAFCO Nutrient Profiles (for a complete and balanced pet food), they perform a feeding trial. The trial lasts for six months with blood work being performed at the beginning and end of the trial, with only minimal requirements needing to be met in those blood tests to pass as a complete and balanced diet. Dr. Becker shared that most of the time, in a small feeding trial, all eight dogs or cats survive the six-month trial with some nutrient deficiencies; “with the most noticeable symptom being really poor hair coat/excessive shedding.”
Dr. Becker continued with “Veterinarians regularly suggest a bland diet (for gut issues) or an elimination diet (for allergies) between one and three months, again, knowing there will be nutrient deficiencies that will be made up with a nutrient dense meal plan at the end of the trial. My limit for my clients is a month.”
Do NOT try this at home…
Dr. Judy Morgan and Dr. Laurie Coger both shared stories of clients that fed an unbalanced diet to dogs for “years.” One had a client that fed their dog hamburger and peas, and the other has a client that has fed their dog a breakfast sandwich in the morning and shared the human’s dinner every night. Both veterinarians stated pets are amazingly resilient, and both do not encourage anyone to try this long term.
Dr. Morgan shared that “canned sardines mixed with eggs” are a great substitute meal that is pretty close to balanced. And shared “We try to get people to store freeze-dried food and some bottled bone broth or water to rehydrate it” for emergencies.
So…the consensus of experts is…
Try to be prepared for an emergency. Have shelf stable food such as a freeze dried or dehydrated food in storage (replacing every six months). But if you are caught off guard, please know that you do NOT need to provide your pet a complete and balanced diet every meal every day. Based on the information shared by experts, in an emergency – you can give your cat or dog an unbalanced diet safely for a week to ten days.
If you are without electricity, choose canned meats and fish (look for low sodium no sauces), and eggs for protein. Vegetables can be given to dogs raw or you can use canned (but again, low sodium).
And even when it is not an emergency situation, know that you can feed your pet an unbalanced meal ever so often without concern.
One more personal story: Andi Brown, the author of The Whole Pet Diet and the founder of Halo Pet Foods (which she is no longer affiliated with – when Andi owned the company it was a human grade canned pet food, today it is a feed grade pet food) lives in the same area of Florida as I do. We have met for lunch several times (yes, to talk about the pet food industry) and once she brought her dog along. We sat outside in the patio area of a restaurant, and along with her lunch – she ordered a plate of scrambled eggs for her dog (just plain scrambled eggs, nothing added in). The waiter could not understand…what? Eggs for your dog? After several times of repeating the order, he begrudgingly went to the kitchen to relay the order. When the food was delivered, Andi put the plate of scrambled eggs on the floor and her dog enjoyed lunch at the same time we enjoyed our lunch. While I knew the dog was perfectly safe eating scrambled eggs, other patrons of the restaurant were shocked.
While a balanced diet is SIGNIFICANTLY important, short-term feeding of an unbalanced diet is perfectly safe. Educate yourself to what foods need to be avoided, pay attention to sodium levels in canned foods and do the best you can in emergency situations.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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Patricia Ramsay
October 22, 2024 at 10:09 am
I don’t understand why other patrons of the restaurant were shocked that a dog was eating scramble eggs! Guess they must be very uniformed as to what foods are safe for dogs!!
Sandy M.
October 22, 2024 at 10:39 am
Thank you Susan for your reassuring post to think outside the box (or bag!) in tough times. With our state of the world these days it could come in handy for lots of reasons. Glad you and your family weathered the storm ok and you are back at it.
Susan Porter
October 22, 2024 at 10:44 am
The most disturbing aspect of this story is that there were people shocked that your friend fed her dog eggs. If these intellectually lightweight humans think that eggs are bad for dogs why do they eat eggs themselves and feed them to their human children? How the dog food industry has brainwashed millions of people into believing that dogs will die if they eat any real food and should only be fed chemical coated, rendered garbage kibble is scary. Everyone should be scared.
Bethany
October 22, 2024 at 12:10 pm
My cat companions eat raw food from Viva Raw that I keep frozen and refrigerated, so after prolonged blackouts and a couple of disaster preparedness books, I realized they needed backup, so I started keeping freeze-dried raw food in their emergency kit. The best piece of advice I can give is to introduce the “emergency” food to them now, not during a traumatic situation. As such, one cat didn’t take to the food at first. Now, it’s part of their weekly rotation. They look forward to it and I keep extra on hand for emergencies.
Heidi
October 22, 2024 at 5:47 pm
In Australia it’s normal for some cafes/ restaurants with outdoor areas to have a dog menu to buy them their own meals or snacks. It saves us sharing our own eggs. We love dining out with our dogs.
Niurka
October 22, 2024 at 8:14 pm
I am Cuban. My dogs in my country ate nothing but table scraps, because we do not have kibble manufactorers there. My dogs always have had a long healthy life up to 17 years old. Also we only vaccinate dogs once in lifetime .
T Allen
October 22, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Hummmm… I wonder how dogs and cats survived for millennia before “balanced” diets became a “thing”? How did they survive before the first commercial dog food in 1860, which wasn’t balanced and after that until it was? I wonder why the longest living animals in the world are being fed meat, milk, eggs and leftovers on farms around the world. I wonder how rescue dogs from the streets of southern countries survive without getting a “balanced” meal every 10 days? Only in the USA (where 6 month old puppies are getting cancer) do dogs suffer from malnutrition if they don’t eat a properly balanced diet every 7-10 days. I don’t wonder, I know, it’s because eating a variety of real food over a period of time will provide a healthy diet. It doesn’t have to be balanced every day or any one particular day in time. Same as with human nutrition.
Wendy Vernava
October 23, 2024 at 3:26 am
I’m a waitress at a restaurant and when our guests bring their pups, I always make sure the doggies get plates of kid’s portion cheeseburger, plain, no added salt, no French Fries, no bun. Or plain chicken breast, same preparation!
Some days I’d much rather serve dogs than humans!!! 🐾❤️😊
Can
October 23, 2024 at 1:07 pm
What a most helpful article followed by equally informative replies. Thank you everybody! I happily feed my little family raw. I find myself wondering at times the proper way to leave my feline kids eats out when I am away 24 hours few times a year. I am grateful for these posted ideas. This is another one 😉 of your best articles Susan. THANK YOU. Keep well!
Brian Brandfas
October 24, 2024 at 9:41 am
Love this! I am so discouraged at the feeling that feeding our dogs is hard, complicated, and stress-inducing. We need more messages like this one that is encouraging to pet parents. I recently heard Dr. Nick Thompson, DVM, speak and one of his main ideas was that if you don’t love feeding your pet you’re doing it wrong. It is hard to love something when everyone is always pointing out that what you’re doing is wrong. Thank you Susan for all you do for our pets!