Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Pet Food News

New Study: Kibble Fed Dogs Produce 3 Times More Poop Than Human Grade Fed Dogs

Less waste in, less waste out.

Less waste in, less waste out.

Disclosure: This study is from a human grade pet food manufacturer, JustFoodforDogs.

Just published in the Journal of Animal Science, “Nutrient Digestibility and Fecal Characteristics, Microbiota, and Metabolites in Dogs Fed Human-Grade Foods” confirms what many pet owners (that give their pets human grade pet food) have witnessed in their own pets; real food (not feed) is more digestible.

From the abstract: “In conclusion, the HG (Human Grade) pet foods tested resulted in significantly reduced fecal output, were highly digestible, maintained fecal characteristics, serum chemistry, and hematology, and modified the fecal microbiota of dogs.”

The study included 12 dogs that were fed four different diets for 28 day cycles, one diet per 28 day cycle – all dogs participating in 4 cycles. The four diets were: Blue Buffalo Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe – kibble, feed grade, Freshpet Roasted Meals Tender Chicken Recipe – study considered this a “fresh” diet, feed grade, JustFoodforDogs Beef & Russet Potato Recipe – human grade ingredient cooked diet, and JustFoodforDogs Chicken & White Rice Recipe – human grade ingredient cooked diet. Among other things, the study measured fecal output (amount of poop produced) of the dogs on each diet.

Dogs fed the extruded diet had greater (P<0.05) fecal output (as-is; DMB) than dogs fed fresh (1.5-1.7 times greater) or HG foods (2.0-2.9 times greater).”

Dogs fed the Blue Buffalo feed grade kibble diet produced 1.5 to 1.7 times more poop than dogs fed the Freshpet feed grade diet, and 2 to 2.9 times more poop than dogs fed JustFoodforDogs human grade ingredient pet food.

The abstract of the study can be read Here, and can be purchased for full view for $35.00 on the same page. (Information above is based only on the abstract.)


Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food


Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com

Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here


The 2021 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Margarat

    February 3, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    Just imagine if they included a raw food diet without all the rice that’s in JFFD? Haha! Good to know what foods were included but it coulda been better. Looks like JFFD has gotten a cash infusion to spend on a study like this.

    • Susan Thixton

      February 3, 2021 at 1:47 pm

      Why trash JFFD? At least JFFD has done the study – who else has stepped up to do studies? This is significant information that benefits all human grade pet foods.

    • Cheryl

      March 7, 2023 at 1:32 am

      There’s suit in dog food now

  2. Sherri

    February 3, 2021 at 1:57 pm

    Yes kibble does equal a lot of waste but there are some popular human grade diets on the market that will also cause enormous amounts of poop. One in particular, I won’t drop names, a dehydrated human grade dog food that includes a long list of things like potatoes, cabbage and other roughage lined up after a single meat source. Tried it, never cleaned up so much poop in my life lol! Now I stick to raw or gently cooked diets that are high meat content with a few appropriate veggies mixed in. Cleaning up much less poop now!

  3. Laurie Raymond

    February 3, 2021 at 3:02 pm

    Curious to know the nutritional density as fed – volume – of each diet. It would seem that calorie for calorie, one would feed less in volume. Is that info in the abstract? I feed my dogs a home-prepared varied diet of all fresh whole foods. The volume is greater than the same calories as kibble would be (due to the much greater moisture content) but probably not much less that the JFFD – if it is a fresh food product. Is it?

    • Susan Thixton

      February 3, 2021 at 3:19 pm

      The abstract said: “Dogs fed the extruded diet required a higher (P<0.05) daily food intake (dry matter basis; DMB) to maintain BW.” I don’t know if the paper gives more details (I didn’t purchase it.)

  4. Patrick

    February 3, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    We were feeding kibble when we adopted our dog, then switched to JFFD about 1 year later. We definitely noticed a significant reduction in the amount of poop. Also our dog’s coat and energy level both improved noticeably. I know I sound like I work for JFFD but I honestly don’t have any connection to them, I am just a happy customer. Ps. Thank you Susan for all you do!

    • Mary

      February 4, 2021 at 11:19 am

      What is JFFD?

      • Susan Thixton

        February 4, 2021 at 1:44 pm

        Just Food for Dogs – the pet food manufacturer that funded this study.

  5. Kristen

    April 15, 2021 at 1:32 am

    Not only do I see less volume and firmer stools when feeding JFFD, but it smells less too!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn More

Human Grade & Feed Grade
Do you know what the differences are between Feed Grade and Human Grade pet food? Click Here.

 

The Regulations
Pet Food is regulated by federal and state authorities. Unfortunately, authorities ignore many safety laws. Click Here to learn more about the failures of the U.S. pet food regulatory system.

 

The Many Styles of Pet Food
An overview of the categories, styles, legal requirements and recall data of commercial pet food in the U.S. Click Here.

 

The Ingredients
Did you know that all pet food ingredients have a separate definition than the same ingredient in human food? Click Here.

Click Here for definitions of animal protein ingredients.

Click Here to calculate carbohydrate percentage in your pet’s food.

 

Sick Pet Caused by a Pet Food?

If your pet has become sick or has died you believe is linked to a pet food, it is important to report the issue to FDA and your State Department of Agriculture.

Save all pet food – do not return it for a refund.

If your pet required veterinary care, ask your veterinarian to report to FDA.

Click Here for FDA and State contacts.

The List

The Treat List

Special Pages to Visit

Subscribe to our Newsletter
Click Here

Pet Food Recall History (2007 to present)
Click Here

Find Healthy Pet Foods Stores
Click Here

About TruthaboutPetFood.com
Click Here

Friends of TruthaboutPetFood.com
Click Here

You May Also Like

Pet Food News

A truly concerning comparison of FDA's actions.

Pet Food News

Two different perspectives from pet feed manufacturers about human grade pet food.

Pet Food News

An unusual reaction to a human grade pet food television commercial.

Pet Food News

A new study discovered some surprising news about how we are feeding our pets...a significant majority of worldwide pet owners give their pets some...