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Gently cooked dog food (also called lightly cooked dog food) refers to dog food that has been cooked at the minimum temperatures required by the USDA to reduce the potential of pathogenic bacteria. The term “gently” refers to the cooking method rather than implying it’s partially cooked. Gently cooking represents a middle ground between raw feeding and highly processed commercial options, offering safety from pathogens while preserving more nutrients than conventional kibble or canned food.
While raw diets tend to scare some dog parents new to fresh feeding and sound alarm bells at some veterinary offices over bacteria concerns, gently cooked diets are often more palatable for those just getting into fresh feeding. Gently cooked diets supply whole-food nutrition without some of the associated potential risks of raw feeding. Although bacteria risks still exist with any food items, the risk matches the same risk pet parents take with their own diets. Practicing regular food safety at home much like with your own meals mitigates as much risk as possible.
Gently cooked diets can be great for dogs with overly sensitized guts because the process of gently cooking the food can make digestion easier for dogs struggling with various GI issues, such as IBD. One drawback of gently cooked diets is that heat processes increase the presence of histamine in some foods, so for dogs with allergies or food sensitivities this can increase negative reactions, but not in all cases. However, since gently cooking at its core aims to reduce cooking time, this also can prevent increased histamine.
An overview of commercial cooking methods for gently cooked dog food.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Stand-Up Ovens | Similar to conventional ovens used in home cooking, stand-up ovens allow for precise temperature control. Food is typically cooked in batches. |
| Kettle Cookers | Large cooking vessels that can handle significant quantities of food. Kettle cookers allow for gently stirring to ensure consistent results. This method is often used for foods with multiple ingredients that need to be well-mixed. |
| Sous Vide | Food is sealed in plastic bags and cooked in a temperature-controlled warm bath. It locks in moisture and flavor, but some concerns exist about potential plastic leaching into the food during the cooking process. |
| Dehydrated | Uses a slow, low-heat process to remove moisture while preserving nutrients. The food becomes lightweight and compact, requiring rehydration with warm water before serving. |
| Air-Dried | Involves exposing food to a steady stream of warm air for a shorter period than dehydration. This process results in a product that retains slightly more moisture, creating a softer, more palatable texture. |
Gently cooked diets are often cooked over low-heat on the stove top, sous-vide, or made using a slow-cooker to to retain as much of the naturally occurring nutrients from the whole-food ingredients as possible. Nutrient loss begins around 158°F with high-heat cooking methods, such as those used for kibble and canned food, causing significant nutrient loss. When comparing cooking temperatures, gently cooked is 145-165°F (minimum USDA requirements), canned food is up to 279°F, and kibble is around 350°F
When selecting a pre-made gently cooked diet for your dog there are several things to consider. Many gently cooked diets will have shorter ingredient panels than kibble or canned foods, but more ingredients than raw foods. This is not of huge concern unless you have a dog with unidentified food sensitivities or allergies, in which case the more ingredients in the diet the more variables and potential triggers.
Why it matters:
It’s important to consider the macronutrient proportions of pre-made gently cooked diets. Unlike raw diets, gently cooked diets may include grains or legumes and higher carbohydrate content. Carbohydrates are not a required macronutrients for dogs as they naturally use fat for energy. Though carbohydrates can be used for energy in cases where lower fat contents are required.
What you can do:
Why it matters:
Just because a diet is gently cooked does not mean they use the best quality ingredients. Higher quality ingredients or those relying on whole-food ingredients and less supplementation will often come with increased cost, so assess your budget.
What you can do:
Why it matters:
When selecting a gently cooked dog food, it’s important to understand how the company cooks their food. Some of the different methods commercial companies use to prepare gently cooked dog food are: stand-up ovens, kettle cookers, sous vide, dehydrated, and air-dried.
What you can do:
Why it matters:
There is a common misconception that whole-food based diets have a higher risk for food borne pathogens. This is not necessarily true and has been documented by consumer advocate, Susan Thixton. That being said, practicing regular food safety with pre-made gently cooked diets is still extremely important.
What you can do:
Some foods have been shown to become more nutritious after cooking, and others have shown that cooking them reduces their nutritional value. As a general rule of thumb, starchier ingredients like root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, and more) have tougher cellular membranes and their digestibility increases with cooking.
In the case of a homemade diet where you have full control of the process, utilizing different methods for different ingredients can be particularly beneficial in preserving nutrients and making others more bioavailable. For instance, you may bake or boil your root vegetables and steam vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, and zucchini). Instead of cooking your leafy greens and fruits (kale, spinach, and berries), you may choose to blend them to break down their weaker cellular membranes then add to your batch after cooking to avoid nutrient losses during the heat process.
Boiling foods does tend to encourage the greatest nutrient losses. That being said, different nutrients respond differently with various cooking methods as well. If you have a dog where increased Vitamin K is important, such as a dog with IBD, boiling actually tends to increase the availability of Vitamin K in carrots while steaming reduces it. In other instances, cooking food can be beneficial for certain conditions where nutrients need to be monitored like with oxalates and purines which are reduced with cooking.
When transitioning your dog's diet, it's common for your dog to experience some temporary GI changes. You may notice loose stool, diarrhea, constipation, or gas. Many of these symptoms will resolve within the first week, although they can last up to two weeks. There are two popular methods of diet transition: gradual transition and cold turkey method. One may work better than the other for your particular dog. With either method it’s best to expect some digestive changes. The inclusion of digestive enzymes and psyllium husk temporarily can be helpful in mitigating symptoms associated with a diet change.
Another important thing to consider when moving your dog to a gently cooked diet is diet diversity. While gently cooked diets are extremely healthy and minimally processed, the diet should still include variety. If you are looking for a pre-made gently cooked diet, look for a company that has at least 3 different formulations or rotate between different companies to provide even more variety. If you are making a homemade diet, having 3-5 recipes to rotate between is recommended.
What It Means:
This is the most commonly known method, which aims at slowly introducing the new diet to your dog by gradually adding a little bit less of the previous diet and a little bit more of the new diet over a period of several days. It’s generally done over the course of 4-7 days. The idea behind this method is that your dog’s gut is being given the time to adjust to the new diet.
What To Know:
This method can be gentler on the stomach as the microbiome readapts to the new food. It’s typically best for older dogs who have been fed a processed diet for long periods of time, or dogs that have experienced little variation in diet. If your dog has Bilious Vomiting Syndrome (BVS) or commonly gets bile vomits when hungry, the gradual transition is likely an easier route.
What It Means:
This method employs a 24-hour fasting period, followed by the immediate and total introduction of the new diet as the first meal post-fast.
What To Know
The cold turkey method is great for dogs that require the total consumption of certain nutrients monitored, such as copper for Copper Storage Disease (CSD).
What It Means:
Diet diversity ensures your dog is receiving a well-rounded diet as no single food can contain every phytonutrient out there, even those that are “complete & balanced.” Every food will have varying nutrient levels.
What To Know
Variety in the diet also helps to maintain a diverse microbiome which has a hand in nearly every bodily function. The gut microbiome thrives on different foods. Feeding one single food can cause an overgrowth of certain bacterial strains and cause others to die off. Studies on the human microbiome have shown that consuming a diverse diet with more than 30 different plants per week afforded a more diverse microbiome. Similar studies conducted on dogs showed those fed meat-based natural diets had healthier microbiomes.
What It Means:
Regardless of the diet type, food safety practices are always important to implement. When making your dog’s food at home, keeping a meat thermometer on hand can be particularly helpful when first getting used to safely cooking your pets diet. Once the internal temperature hits 165° F, most pathogenic bacteria and parasites cannot survive.
What To Know