Scientific Results: Dog and owner demographics impact dietary choices in Dog Aging Project cohort
October 4, 2024 - 8 minutes readThis month, we are featuring our team studying all the environmental factors in dogs’ lives. Dr. Audrey Ruple leads this team at the Department of Population Health Sciences, VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. This team has innovative ways to look at environmental factors, which they consider to be everything outside of the dogs. That includes diet and exercise, as well as the built environment, chemical environment, natural environment, and drinking water.
You can read more about this team of researchers here.
Who worked on this research?
Dog Aging Project Team Members:
Janice S. O’Brien
M. Katherine Tolbert
Dog Aging Project Consortium
Audrey Ruple
Where was it published?
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
What is this paper about?
This paper looked at diet types fed to pet dogs in the United States, as reported by their owners. We asked people if they fed kibble, canned (wet) food, semi-dry, freeze-dried, home-cooked, home-prepared raw, or commercially prepared raw diets. We also asked whether they fed these as a primary component (making up 50% or more of the diet), or a secondary component (less than 50%). And, we looked at how these diet choices differed across the states and different populations of people and dogs. We found differences in how people choose to feed their dogs! Geographically, dogs living in the central states tended to eat one type of diet, and that diet choice tended to be kibble. In comparison, dogs living in coastal states were more likely to be fed more than one diet type simultaneously, and the primary component was more likely to be something other than kibble. Older owners tended to feed home-cooked and canned diets more than younger owners. Smaller dogs were more likely to eat canned, freeze-dried, home-cooked, and commercial raw diets than larger dogs (more likely to eat kibble). Neutered dogs were more likely to eat kibble and canned diets compared to intact dogs, and intact dogs were more likely to eat raw diets (both home and commercially prepared). Senior dogs were likelier to eat canned, semi-dry, and home-cooked diets than their younger counterparts.
What do these results mean for me and my dog?
This study doesn’t suggest specific diets for dogs. It shows that different types of dogs likely eat different diets. For example, purebred dogs in this group were twice as likely as mixed-breed dogs to be fed raw diets. These different types of dogs are prone to different health issues. For instance, comparing the health of dogs eating raw diets versus kibble diets without considering these differences would show that dogs on raw diets had a higher risk of reproductive diseases. However, this is because dogs on raw diets are less likely to be neutered. The increased risk disappears when adjusting for these population differences in the statistical model. Previous research studies comparing dogs’ health on different diets may be biased if they didn’t account for these differences in the populations being studied. So, take anyone saying, “(insert type of diet) is scientifically proven to be better for your dog because of this one study,” with a grain of salt.
Where can I learn more?
O’Brien JS, Tolbert MK; Dog Aging Project Consortium; Ruple A. Dog and owner demographics impact dietary choices in Dog Aging Project cohort. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2024 Aug 14:1-10. doi: 10.2460/javma.24.05.0358. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39142333.
Abstract
Objective: To describe the demographic factors of owners and their dogs associated with owner feeding choices and the regularity with which those diets were fed to a US-based population of dogs.
Methods: This cross-sectional analysis examined 40,367 initial survey responses from US dog owners participating in the Dog Aging Project. The surveys were collected from January 2, 2020, to December 31, 2022, and included primary and secondary diet component types and dog and owner demographic variables. Each demographic variable was compared across diet type choices with a χ2 test of independence.
Results: Most owners (82%) fed a commercially prepared extruded dry diet (kibble) as the primary diet component. Most owners (89%) reported that they fed their dogs a consistent diet over time. Owner demographic factors (income, education level) were less correlated with difference in diet choices than dog demographic factors (size, neuter status, purebred status, activity level), but owner age did correlate with choice: younger owners tended to feed kibble more compared to older owners. Home-cooked diets were most often consumed by small (< 30-lb) dogs, purebred dogs in poorer health status, and dogs with owners aged 45 years or older. Raw diets were more commonly fed to purebred, intact, and highly active dogs. Ten percent of service dogs were reportedly fed a raw diet of some sort.
Conclusions: Demographic variables are associated with statistically significant differences in diet types selected. Nutrition studies examining health outcomes associated with the feeding of different diet types should account for these factors during design or analysis in order to avoid bias. An epidemiological tool, the directed acyclic graph, is presented.
Clinical relevance: This information will help clinicians in their discussions with clients about pet nutrition.
Keywords: choices; diets; dog; fed; nutrition.
Tags: Scientific Results, Women in Science