If you have ever looked at a properly formulated homemade dog food recipe and wondered why it contains sunflower oil, hempseed oil, soybean oil or another plant oil, there is a very specific nutritional reason for it.
In the recipes I formulate, plant oil is there because the diet needs a reliable source of linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid that dogs cannot produce in sufficient amounts themselves and therefore need to obtain from their food.
For healthy adult dogs, FEDIAF includes a specific minimum recommendation for linoleic acid. In other words, it is one of the nutrients we need to account for when assessing whether a diet is complete and balanced.
This is particularly relevant in homemade diets because fatty acids are one of those areas that are very easy to overlook. Owners understandably tend to focus first on the protein source, vegetables, carbohydrates and perhaps calcium, but a nutritionally complete diet also needs the correct amounts of vitamin, minerals and essential fatty acids.
Why not just rely on the fat naturally present in meat?
Meat can absolutely contribute linoleic acid. The difficulty is that its fatty-acid composition is not fixed.
The amount of fat varies between species, cuts and individual products and the fatty-acid profile of that fat can also be influenced by factors such as the animal’s diet and production system. A lean cut of beef will not provide the same amount or profile of fat as chicken thigh, pork mince or a fattier cut of beef.
When I formulate a recipe, I therefore do not want to assume that the meat will “probably” provide enough linoleic acid. I want to be able to calculate it.
Adding a small, measured amount of an oil with a known fatty-acid profile can be a very practical way of doing this. It allows the recipe to meet its linoleic acid requirement without having to increase the overall amount of meat fat simply to reach that one nutrient target.
This is especially useful when formulating for normal household dogs where I may want to keep the overall calorie and fat content of the recipe sensible.
Choosing the right plant oil
One of the most important things to understand is that plant oils are not interchangeable.
Sunflower, soybean and hempseed oils are all useful sources of linoleic acid, while rapeseed or canola oil also contributes linoleic acid but has a different fatty-acid profile.
By contrast, olive oil is predominantly a source of oleic acid, and coconut oil is very low in linoleic acid. That does not make either of them a “bad” oil. It simply means they are not necessarily suitable replacements when a recipe specifically uses an oil to provide linoleic acid.
Sunflower oil is a good example of why the type of oil matters. Traditional sunflower oil is usually rich in linoleic acid, which is often the reason I use it in a recipe. But there is also high-oleic sunflower oil, which contains much more oleic acid and much less linoleic acid. High-oleic versions are often marketed for frying or high-heat cooking because they are more stable when heated.
This is separate from whether an oil is cold-pressed or refined. “Cold-pressed” describes how the oil was extracted, whereas “high-oleic” describes its fatty-acid profile.
If a recipe relies on sunflower oil to provide linoleic acid, replacing it with a high-oleic version could significantly reduce the amount of linoleic acid the dog receives.
This is why I am quite strict about owners using the type of oil specified in the recipe rather than replacing it with whatever happens to be in the kitchen. The oil is there for its nutrient contribution, not simply because it belongs to the general category of “oil”.
What about the concern around seed oils and inflammation?
Omega-6 fatty acids are sometimes linked with inflammation because the body can use them to make signalling compounds that help start the inflammatory response.
That sounds negative, but inflammation is actually an essential part of normal health.
It is one of the ways the body protects itself when there is an injury, infection or damage. It helps bring immune cells and other resources to the area so the body can deal with the problem and begin repairing the tissue.
The important thing is that this response is controlled and temporary. The problem is not inflammation itself, but inflammation that becomes excessive or does not switch off when it should.
This is also why it is too simplistic to say that omega-6 is “inflammatory” and therefore bad.
Linoleic acid is an essential omega-6 fatty acid for dogs and has important roles in normal cell function and skin and coat health. Some omega-6-derived compounds help the body respond when needed, while omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA are also involved in regulating and resolving that response.
So the goal is not to remove omega-6 from the diet. It is to provide the right amount of essential fatty acids and look at the overall balance of omega-6 and omega-3 in the diet.
Is there an ideal omega-6 to omega-3 ratio?
Research in dogs suggests that the relationship between omega-6 and omega-3 can influence immune and inflammatory responses, but there is no single ratio that has been established as ideal for every healthy adult dog.
This is partly because the ratio only tells us the relationship between the two. It does not tell us whether the dog is actually getting enough linoleic acid, EPA or DHA in the first place.
So when I formulate a diet, I do look at the ratio, but I do not use one fixed number as the goal. I first make sure the dog is getting enough of the individual fatty acids they need and then I look at how the overall fatty-acid profile comes together.
Why I prefer cold-pressed oils
Where practical, I normally recommend a good-quality cold-pressed oil rather than simply picking up the cheapest bottle available.
The main reason is processing.
Refining is used to improve characteristics such as stability, flavour and shelf life, but it can also reduce some of the naturally occurring minor compounds found in the original oil. Research on sunflower oil has shown that refining can reduce some of the naturally occurring nutrients and antioxidants in the oil.
Cold-pressed oils avoid many of those refining stages and can retain more of some of these naturally occurring components. PubMed
From the point of view of balancing the recipe, the most important factor is still the fatty-acid profile of the oil and whether it provides the amount of linoleic acid the formulation requires.
I also tend to recommend organic versions where available. Again, I would not claim that organic oil automatically contains more linoleic acid or is nutritionally superior simply because it carries an organic certification. It is more about the quality of the product I am comfortable recommending.
Because the amounts used in a homemade diet are generally small, the difference in daily cost is usually modest. In some recipes, for example, a dog around 10 kg may receive approximately a teaspoon of the specified oil per day. The exact amount will always depend on the recipe and the dog’s individual feeding amount.
Why fresh ingredients are not enough
A homemade diet can use excellent-quality ingredients and still fall short nutritionally if the overall recipe has not been properly formulated.
That is particularly relevant with essential fatty acids such as linoleic acid. Meat will contribute some, but the amount can vary considerably depending on the type of meat, the cut and its fat content. Without calculating the full recipe, it is difficult to know whether the dog is actually receiving enough.
This is not unique to linoleic acid. Research looking at home-prepared diets has repeatedly found nutritional gaps when recipes are not properly formulated. One recent study found that only 6% of the diets assessed were potentially nutritionally complete for adult maintenance. PubMed
The bottom line
Plant oils are not included in a homemade recipe at random. They are used when the overall formulation needs a reliable source of specific fatty acids.
For me, the important question is not whether an ingredient has a good or bad reputation online. It is whether it has a clear nutritional purpose within the recipe.
That is why I would always look at the full formulation rather than judging one ingredient in isolation.
Want to start home cooking for your dog?
Plant oils are only one small part of a properly formulated homemade diet, but they are a good example of why every ingredient needs to have a clear nutritional purpose.
If you have a healthy adult dog and want to start home cooking without having to work out the formulation yourself, this is exactly why I created the DAFY recipes.
Each recipe is formulated by me, reviewed by a residency trained veterinary nutritionist and includes the exact ingredients, oils, V-Integra, feeding amounts and cooking guidance needed to prepare the diet properly.
You can explore the DAFY complete & balanced homemade dog food recipes for healthy adult dogs here.
You can also learn more about V-Integra here.
Thank you for reading and I hope this helped explain why plant oils can have a very specific place in a properly formulated homemade diet.
Gaia x
Founder of DAFY Nutrition
