Can I feed my dog cooked meat with his kibble?

Original Question: Should we be feeding our dog meat? On the weekends as a treat we’ll mix chopped chicken breast or lean beef in with his kibble. We also give him sweet potato or red pepper slices as snacks throughout the week. What are your thoughts? Also I heard on your radio program that Revolution may not be the best option for flea and tick prevention. What should we be using? Thanks. - Gary

Nov 13, 2018

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your question.

It’s very difficult to recommend the best diet for your pet. In fact, I think it is near impossible because you really need to know how a dog responds to a food to know if it is good for them or not. I have always maintained that a food is good if your dog eats it, has good solid stools, does not become itchy, doesn’t vomit, and maintains an ideal body condition.

Any food you select has to have a trial period before knowing whether it is ideal or not. To avoid this risk, I would recommend that you introduce any new food or diet ingredient very slowly. Add the food item once a day and monitor your dog’s response to it very closely. If any gastrointestinal condition such as diarrhea or vomiting develops, or any skin issues such as itchiness or inflammation, I would stop it and take a long break from it. It could be reintroduced later to confirm that it was the cause of these reactions but do that judiciously.

I become slightly concerned when owners add meat products to their pet’s diet. It can be quite high in fat and protein which can challenge the pancreas to break it down and actually cause a case of pancreatitis which can be very serious. So once again, I caution you about the amount that you introduce and discuss any issue that occurs with your veterinarian. I think it would be beneficial for you to watch our videos about feeding human foods to pets to start with for more information on this topic.