🥩 Cooked Homemade Diets: Where Nutrients Disappear

Cooking improves digestibility and safety but it comes with measurable nutrient losses.

Key Gaps in Cooked Diets

1. Calcium (#1 Issue)

• Meat-heavy diets = high phosphorus, low calcium
• Cooking doesn’t fix this imbalance
• Chronic imbalance → skeletal stress, especially in growing dogs

2. Vitamin E (Commonly Low)

• Destroyed by heat and oxidation
• Fresh meats are not a reliable source post-cooking
• Important for:
  
• Cellular protection (antioxidant)
• Immune support
  

3. Vitamin D (Often Inadequate)

• Dogs cannot synthesize enough vitamin D from sunlight like humans
• Cooking doesn’t add it and most ingredients don’t supply enough
• Critical for:
  
• Calcium absorption
• Bone development
  

4. Taurine (Conditionally Essential)

• Heat processing can reduce availability
• Risk increases in diets:
  
• Low in organ meats
• High in certain fibers or legumes (peas)
  

5. B Vitamins (Leaching Losses)

• Lost in cooking water and heat-sensitive
• Includes:
  
• Thiamine (B1)
• Riboflavin (B2)
• Folate