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
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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
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!
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.)
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.
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!