October 29, 2025 • 17 mins
Ever wondered what’s actually inside a “homemade” dog diet—and whether it truly keeps dogs healthy? We sat down with researchers Drs. Janice O'Brien and Audrey Ruple from the Dog Aging Project to pull back the curtain on what owners are really feeding, what the data reveals, and how to make home-prepared meals complete and balanced without guesswork. The conversation starts with a major survey upgrade: moving from simple checkboxes to detailed free-text responses that capture real ingredients, supplements, and routines. That shift exposes a surprising truth—most DIY bowls contain nine to ten ingredients, far beyond chicken and rice, yet many still miss key nutrients for maintenance.
We walk through the practical and the personal: how to take a smarter diet history in the exam room, what owners should ask before they shop, and which tools can reliably build balanced recipes. Instead of fear or food wars, we focus on action. Consulting a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, using validated recipe platforms, and leveraging commercial base mixes can transform care and confidence. We also explore the long game. Do incomplete diets quietly shape future health risks? Which deficiencies matter most over time? Longitudinal data from the Dog Aging Project aims to turn those open questions into guidance that protects joints, skin, metabolism, and longevity.
There’s another layer that deserves attention: diversity among human owners. While our canine cohorts are broad, our human samples often aren’t. Culture, income, education, and access influence feeding choices, shopping habits, and follow-up care. Broadening who participates in pet nutrition research makes our recommendations more realistic and more fair. By the end, you’ll have a clearer view of where homemade feeding succeeds, where it stumbles, and how to build a plan that meets your dog’s needs today and supports health tomorrow.
If this conversation helped you think differently about dog nutrition, subscribe, share with a friend who home cooks, and leave a quick review—your feedback helps more pet owners find science they can use.
AJVR article: https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.25.06.0216
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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(00:21):
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helps you care for your dog fromthe inside out.
Learn more at greeneats.com.
Lisa Fortier (00:35):
Welcome to Veterinary Vertex, the AVMA
Journal's podcast, where wedelve into behind-the-scenes
look with manuscript authors.
I'm editor-in-chief LisaFortier, joined by Associate
Editor Sarah Wright.
Today we're exploring thereally important topic of
home-prepared diets.
This is an important topic toboth pet owners and
veterinarians.
(00:55):
We have our guests JaniceO'Brien and Audrey Ruppel.
Thank you, ladies, for beinghere with us today and sharing
the background on thismanuscript.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, happy to be here.
Sarah Wright (01:08):
So you are both repeat guests on our podcast.
We're so excited to have youwith us today.
And before we dive in, couldyou share a little bit about
your background and what broughtyou to the dog aging project?
Audrey Ruppel (01:18):
Sure.
This is Audrey, and I'll start.
I went to vet school atColorado State University and
then did a residency and amaster's associated with that,
but then kept on for a littlebit more pain and did a PhD in
epidemiology and ended up reallyfocusing on small animal Epi.
And that's a pretty uniqueperspective to have as an
(01:41):
epidemiologist in the veterinaryfield.
Most veterinary epidemiologistshave a large animal focus.
And so it became a prettynatural fit for working on
projects that look atlongitudinal data in dogs, like
the Golden Retriever LifetimeStudy or the Dog Aging Projects.
And then fortunately for me, Iwas able to convince Dr.
Janice O'Brien to come back toschool and do a PhD with me.
(02:04):
Janice, why don't you talkabout your background?
Janice O'Brien (02:07):
Yeah, but that was um, yeah, basically I was in
practice.
Um I had gotten out of the armyand I was in small animal
practice in rural Virginia.
And I was just kind of missingand having this feeling of
wanting to do research.
Um, and I really wanted to doit specifically in epidemiology.
And I remember looking for theepi programs that I knew had
(02:31):
existed when I was in vet schooland wasn't finding uh things on
them.
So I just reached out toAudrey, who had taught me
epidemiology when I was in vetschool.
And she was like, Hey, you'rein Virginia.
Uh, I'm in Virginia, you needto come do a PhD.
And I was like, Yep, thatsounds, that sounds like this
needs to happen.
That's a great story.
Lisa Fortier (02:52):
Your guys' AJVR article describes home-prepared
diets for dogs enrolled in thedog aging project cohort.
We've seen a lot of studies,really fabulous, uh meaningful
studies from this dog agingproject.
Uh, what motivated you behindthis specific area of looking at
home-prepared diets?
Janice O'Brien (03:11):
Yeah, and so the really the impetus for this was
the change in the diet survey.
So um originally the dog agingproject diet survey collected
really, really basic informationabout diet type.
Like it was just a button oflike, do you feed your dog
kibble, canned food, um, youknow, freeze-dried food, uh, or
a home prepared diet.
(03:32):
And it was just a button.
Um, and then in response tofeedback from participants, the
diet survey changed in 2023 toallow um much more detailed
information to be collectedabout both commercial and home
prepared diets.
But when I started looking intothe home prepared diet, free
text responses where people arejust telling us everything that
(03:53):
they wanted to tell us abouttheir home prepared diets, um,
it was really interesting.
And I was like, there's a lothere we should look into this.
Lisa Fortier (04:01):
Surveys are tough.
Those free text uh areas areneed to be combed through pretty
carefully to find out what yournext goals are.
Janice, did you have anyassumptions uh going into this
study that were challenged bythe resultant data?
Janice O'Brien (04:18):
Yes, absolutely.
So, and this is one of thereasons that I love
epidemiology.
Um, my experience in my narrowworldview had taught me that
basically home-prepared dietswere all chicken and rice.
And so turns out that that isnot at all true.
Um, this uh data set reallyshowed me that all of the
(04:40):
ingredients that can go into adiet are so varied.
And then the average number ofingredients uh in each diet in
this data set was nine to teningredients.
So that's not two.
Um so yeah, that was importantto learn why epidemiology is so
important and not just knowingyour small um big breadth of
experience.
Sarah Wright (05:01):
Yeah, I was just at a um association management
leadership seminar last week.
And I was the only veterinarianthere.
So of course people are talkingto me about their pets, and a
lot of people are like, what areyour thoughts on like homemade
versus commercial diets?
And I'm like, well, if you'regonna do homemade, please work
with the veterinary nutritionistto make sure it's complete and
balanced.
Like that's always my take-homemessage for people when they
ask.
(05:21):
So with that being said,Janice, what are your key
take-home messages that you hopeveterinarians and clients will
remember from your work?
Janice O'Brien (05:28):
Well, yeah, uh, that's definitely one of them.
That yeah, we there's a lot ofthings that we can do to help
people to make a complete andbalanced diet.
Um, but that most of the dietsthat were in this data set were
not um likely meetingnutritional recommendations for
maintenance.
Um, and it was interesting tome to show that in a different
(05:50):
way than previous research hasdemonstrated that because
previous research just looked atthe recipes that were
available.
Um, then this was actuallylooking at the way that um
people are feeding their dogs.
And so I think that's the firstone.
Then the second one is justthat, yeah, the home prepared
diets are really as different asthey could possibly be.
Lisa Fortier (06:11):
Yeah, I'm sure glad no nutritionist looks at my
diet to see if I'm meeting allthe nutritional requirements.
Uh, Giannis, of all theprojects uh within uh the dog
aging project, what sparked yourinterest in nutrition?
Janice O'Brien (06:27):
I feel like it was uh literally just having
been in practice, I felt like alot of the questions that I
wanted to answer um in terms ofmy research were focused around
nutrition.
And so that's that's whatreally drove me to focus on
nutrition, but in theepidemiology sense.
Lisa Fortier (06:44):
From that lens, how could you approach
nutrition?
As you said, it's so highlyvaried.
Uh, give us some insight ontohow you think about researching
this area of nutrition.
Janice O'Brien (06:55):
Yeah, so my PhD program, um, like both the
classes, but then also just theexperience of being able to
conduct research, get feedbackon it, um, has really taught me
so much about all of thedifferent ways that we can
approach a question and try toanswer it and all of the, you
(07:15):
know, potential flaws, you know,with survey data and and the
study designs that you have tobe considering when you're
trying to work with the data.
Lisa Fortier (07:24):
What questions are still out there that really
bother you and drive yourcurrent research or next
research project?
Janice O'Brien (07:31):
Um, so my big questions are all related to um,
you know, how how we feed ourdogs for the period of time
during their lives when they'rebasically young and healthy and
how that affects their lifelater on.
Like we know so much aboutnutrition for disease processes,
but as a preventive medicineperson, I wanted to know how
(07:53):
nutrition exposures can helpkeep pets healthy.
Sarah Wright (07:57):
So, Janice, looking ahead, what are the next
steps for research in thisarea?
Janice O'Brien (08:02):
Well, so my big follow-on research question is
now that we've uh demonstratedwithin this data set that um
these diets in general are notum meeting nutritional
recommendations, I want to knowwhat sorts of effects long-term
feeding of these diets has.
Um, because I know when I wasin practice, I saw patients that
(08:24):
were eating very clearlyincomplete diets, but they
seemed mostly fine when I wasseeing them.
And so I would, I was alwayscurious how much of a fuss
should I be making that as apractitioner?
Um and so, yeah, my researchquestion is to basically answer
that long-term feeding questionfor dogs that are eating
home-prepared diets formaintenance, um, are they more
(08:46):
or less likely to develop anyparticular health conditions
later in life?
Sarah Wright (08:49):
And Audrey, are there any particular
populations, species, orenvironments that you think
deserve closer study?
Audrey Ruppel (08:55):
I do.
Um, we're doing a really greatjob in terms of getting a really
diverse population of dogsenrolled in our research
programs, not just the dog agingproject, but at every
individual vet teaching hospitalacross the US that's doing
research, we do an exceptionaljob of getting a diverse
population of dogs, but we don'tdo a very good job of getting a
(09:16):
diverse population of humanowners.
And so it's hard for us to knowhow people's cultural or
socioeconomic status reallydirects or interfaces with our
dog's health outcomes.
And so, especially when we'rethinking in terms of nutrition,
we know that nutrition for ouranimals would be impacted by
(09:37):
things like an owner's um incomelevel or an education level.
And so I think that for me,what's really interesting is
thinking about over the, youknow, the rest of my career is
trying to really broaden thescope of diversity in the human
populations that we're enrollingin our dog-related studies.
Lisa Fortier (09:55):
That's fascinating.
And I forgot to say Go Rams,I'm CSU 91.
Um, Janice, you've already uhalluded to mentorship and uh
working with the fabulousAudrey.
Uh, what other mentors'experiences shaped your
perspective on research?
Janice O'Brien (10:14):
Well, um, another one of uh my PhD um
committee members is Dr.
Katie Tolbert.
And she is a board-certifiedveterinutritionist, and she has
been really a truly amazingmentor in this arena and really
helping to shape my questionsand um and and how that fits
(10:36):
into the nutrition clinicalperspective.
Um, and then also, if you canconsider the mentors, the
participants in the dog agingproject themselves, I think,
have really taught me a lotbecause they have really taught
me about all the different waysthat people are choosing to feed
their cats that I wouldabsolutely never have um learned
about if I if I wasn't umworking with this data set.
Lisa Fortier (11:02):
Yeah, Katie's amazing.
Uh it's I think it people takeit for granted how hard it is to
write a good question, whetherit's a an exam or a survey or
any other sort of research.
And I remember taking two weekson my, what was it, a T32 or an
R01?
I can't remember, my firsttraining grant with my mentor,
(11:24):
two weeks to write thehypothesis.
I I was out of my skin, but itwas absolutely the right thing
to do and transformational,transformative in uh how I
looked at writing good questionsafter that.
What what would you say to howdo you write a good question?
Janice O'Brien (11:44):
I feel like uh for epidemiology stuff, that is
like always our first question.
We're like, what is thequestion you're trying to ask
right now?
And what do you want to answer?
It's totally an epidemiologyquestion.
Lisa Fortier (11:57):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, just what is yourquestion, right?
Just start there.
What is your question?
Um, you you said that, youknow, we're looking at some of
these animals clinically.
How did that clinical workinfluence this direction of your
research?
Janice O'Brien (12:12):
Yeah, I alluded that.
I feel like a lot of myclinical work um really left me
with the questions that I hopeto answer in my research.
And, you know, some of thoseare, you know, I feel like some
of them ended up being like, Idon't want to say controversial.
That's not the right term, butjust like they're the edge of
what we don't know and have notyet researched.
(12:33):
And that's what I want tolearn.
And so um, yeah, I'm trying tofigure out how we can use large
data sets like Dot GagingProject to answer all of those
um questions that I feel like alot of people, not just me,
have.
Sarah Wright (12:47):
Now, Janice, this next set of questions is going
to be very important for ourlisteners.
And the first one is going torevolve around the
veterinarian's perspective.
So, Janice, what is one pieceof information the veterinarian
should know about home-prepareddiets for companion dogs?
Janice O'Brien (13:02):
So my number one take home would be that these
diets have lots of ingredients.
Um, and perhaps that's becauseit's the thing that surprised me
the most.
But um, the average number ofingredients in these diets was
nine to ten ingredients.
Um, so if you're asking in ahistory um and you're at like
ingredient number three, I wouldjust keep asking one more time
(13:26):
if that's really everything thatyou're putting in your dog's
diet.
Sarah Wright (13:30):
And for the public, what's one thing you
wish more people understoodabout this issue?
Janice O'Brien (13:34):
I think the thing I I wished so hard was I
know that there are so many goodtools out there that can help
pet owners, um, veterinarianstoo, who are um wanting to feed
and formulate home prepareddiets.
Um, and those tools can helpthem meet make one that needs
nutritional recommendations.
(13:55):
Um and that includes obviouslyconsultation with a board
certified veterinarynutritionist.
Um, but there's also great umrecipes that are written by
board certified veterinarynutritionists.
There are um websites that helpyou formulate based on
particular ingredients that youwant to make maintenance diets.
Um, but just picking a randominternet recipe is not one of
(14:18):
those good tools.
Lisa Fortier (14:21):
Perfectly said.
Uh as you wind up, we like toask a little bit more of a fun
question.
So, Audrey, you've been kind ofquiet.
We'll start with you.
What's the oldest or the mostinteresting item either sitting
on your desk or tucked away in adrawer?
And if you have it, feel freeto show it to us.
Audrey Ruppel (14:37):
Um, I'm not able to show it to you, but I
actually have two magic eightballs in my office because
sometimes science is not enough,and we just need to go out and
just ask, ask for the ask forthe answer from somewhere else.
Lisa Fortier (14:52):
Have you ever done a study to say, like, if I ask
this eight ball, eight ball,what do you say?
Do you go and ask the other oneand do they agree?
Audrey Ruppel (14:58):
I have a favorite magic eight ball that seems to
be more accurate than the otherone.
So I am going to try to testthis in a really scientific
perspective and it's see if I'mact if I am accurate in that.
Lisa Fortier (15:11):
That's awesome.
I don't have an eight ball, butI do have an old lava lamp that
my son gave me at least adecade ago.
And I love to have that thinglike bubbling around, just some
old nostalgia.
It's exactly what it is.
Janice O'Brien (15:24):
It's so nostalgic.
Janice, how about you?
So the thing that I like tokeep on my desk is actually um a
challenge coin.
So in the military, um, we havethese things called challenge
coins that people will get forparticular events, but I am a
member of the Millennium Cohortstudy.
(15:44):
And I keep the challenge cointhat says that I'm a member of
the Millennium Cohort study,which is studying service
members and their health overtime.
Um, and it means a lot to me tobe a member of a cohort and
then to also be a researcherdoing research on a cohort of
dogs.
And I'm a member of a humancohort myself.
Lisa Fortier (16:03):
Fantastic.
Congratulations.
That's really cool.
We haven't had I've never heardthat before.
How about one more?
Audrey, what do you think isthe most beautiful animal and
why?
The dog.
Audrey Ruppel (16:16):
I think because of their loyalty, their
open-heartedness, and just theirability for an infinite
capacity of joy.
Lisa Fortier (16:26):
All right.
So that's an inside beauty.
Janice, how about you?
Janice O'Brien (16:29):
Gotta love the dogs and beautiful, beautiful on
the inside, but also there aresome really, really gorgeous dog
colors that just really can bestriking.
Lisa Fortier (16:39):
Very good.
Sarah Wright (16:40):
I agree.
When you see like a reallypretty golden retriever that's
like just think room, theircoat's all shiny, and you're
like, that's a good lookinggolden.
Well, JS, Audrey, thank you somuch for joining us.
We appreciate you being herewith us today.
Audrey Ruppel (16:55):
Thanks so much for having us back.
Sarah Wright (16:57):
It's great to see you both.
Janice O'Brien (16:59):
Thank you.
Sarah Wright (17:00):
And for our listeners, you could read their
full article on AJVR.
I'm Sarah Wright here with LisaFournier.
Be sure to tune in next weekfor another episode of
Veterinary Vertex.
And don't forget to leave us arating and review on F Podcast
or wherever you listen.
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dog's wellness.
Green East Smart Essentials DryFood Delivers complete balanced
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animal nutritionists, offersoptions to help support healthy
(00:21):
joints, digestion, and more.
Whether it's mealtime ormobility support, Green Eats
helps you care for your dog fromthe inside out.
Learn more at greeneats.com.
Lisa Fortier (00:35):
Welcome to Veterinary Vertex, the AVMA
Journal's podcast, where wedelve into behind-the-scenes
look with manuscript authors.
I'm editor-in-chief LisaFortier, joined by Associate
Editor Sarah Wright.
Today we're exploring thereally important topic of
home-prepared diets.
This is an important topic toboth pet owners and
veterinarians.
(00:55):
We have our guests JaniceO'Brien and Audrey Ruppel.
Thank you, ladies, for beinghere with us today and sharing
the background on thismanuscript.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, happy to be here.
Sarah Wright (01:08):
So you are both repeat guests on our podcast.
We're so excited to have youwith us today.
And before we dive in, couldyou share a little bit about
your background and what broughtyou to the dog aging project?
Audrey Ruppel (01:18):
Sure.
This is Audrey, and I'll start.
I went to vet school atColorado State University and
then did a residency and amaster's associated with that,
but then kept on for a littlebit more pain and did a PhD in
epidemiology and ended up reallyfocusing on small animal Epi.
And that's a pretty uniqueperspective to have as an
(01:41):
epidemiologist in the veterinaryfield.
Most veterinary epidemiologistshave a large animal focus.
And so it became a prettynatural fit for working on
projects that look atlongitudinal data in dogs, like
the Golden Retriever LifetimeStudy or the Dog Aging Projects.
And then fortunately for me, Iwas able to convince Dr.
Janice O'Brien to come back toschool and do a PhD with me.
(02:04):
Janice, why don't you talkabout your background?
Janice O'Brien (02:07):
Yeah, but that was um, yeah, basically I was in
practice.
Um I had gotten out of the armyand I was in small animal
practice in rural Virginia.
And I was just kind of missingand having this feeling of
wanting to do research.
Um, and I really wanted to doit specifically in epidemiology.
And I remember looking for theepi programs that I knew had
(02:31):
existed when I was in vet schooland wasn't finding uh things on
them.
So I just reached out toAudrey, who had taught me
epidemiology when I was in vetschool.
And she was like, Hey, you'rein Virginia.
Uh, I'm in Virginia, you needto come do a PhD.
And I was like, Yep, thatsounds, that sounds like this
needs to happen.
That's a great story.
Lisa Fortier (02:52):
Your guys' AJVR article describes home-prepared
diets for dogs enrolled in thedog aging project cohort.
We've seen a lot of studies,really fabulous, uh meaningful
studies from this dog agingproject.
Uh, what motivated you behindthis specific area of looking at
home-prepared diets?
Janice O'Brien (03:11):
Yeah, and so the really the impetus for this was
the change in the diet survey.
So um originally the dog agingproject diet survey collected
really, really basic informationabout diet type.
Like it was just a button oflike, do you feed your dog
kibble, canned food, um, youknow, freeze-dried food, uh, or
a home prepared diet.
(03:32):
And it was just a button.
Um, and then in response tofeedback from participants, the
diet survey changed in 2023 toallow um much more detailed
information to be collectedabout both commercial and home
prepared diets.
But when I started looking intothe home prepared diet, free
text responses where people arejust telling us everything that
(03:53):
they wanted to tell us abouttheir home prepared diets, um,
it was really interesting.
And I was like, there's a lothere we should look into this.
Lisa Fortier (04:01):
Surveys are tough.
Those free text uh areas areneed to be combed through pretty
carefully to find out what yournext goals are.
Janice, did you have anyassumptions uh going into this
study that were challenged bythe resultant data?
Janice O'Brien (04:18):
Yes, absolutely.
So, and this is one of thereasons that I love
epidemiology.
Um, my experience in my narrowworldview had taught me that
basically home-prepared dietswere all chicken and rice.
And so turns out that that isnot at all true.
Um, this uh data set reallyshowed me that all of the
(04:40):
ingredients that can go into adiet are so varied.
And then the average number ofingredients uh in each diet in
this data set was nine to teningredients.
So that's not two.
Um so yeah, that was importantto learn why epidemiology is so
important and not just knowingyour small um big breadth of
experience.
Sarah Wright (05:01):
Yeah, I was just at a um association management
leadership seminar last week.
And I was the only veterinarianthere.
So of course people are talkingto me about their pets, and a
lot of people are like, what areyour thoughts on like homemade
versus commercial diets?
And I'm like, well, if you'regonna do homemade, please work
with the veterinary nutritionistto make sure it's complete and
balanced.
Like that's always my take-homemessage for people when they
ask.
(05:21):
So with that being said,Janice, what are your key
take-home messages that you hopeveterinarians and clients will
remember from your work?
Janice O'Brien (05:28):
Well, yeah, uh, that's definitely one of them.
That yeah, we there's a lot ofthings that we can do to help
people to make a complete andbalanced diet.
Um, but that most of the dietsthat were in this data set were
not um likely meetingnutritional recommendations for
maintenance.
Um, and it was interesting tome to show that in a different
(05:50):
way than previous research hasdemonstrated that because
previous research just looked atthe recipes that were
available.
Um, then this was actuallylooking at the way that um
people are feeding their dogs.
And so I think that's the firstone.
Then the second one is justthat, yeah, the home prepared
diets are really as different asthey could possibly be.
Lisa Fortier (06:11):
Yeah, I'm sure glad no nutritionist looks at my
diet to see if I'm meeting allthe nutritional requirements.
Uh, Giannis, of all theprojects uh within uh the dog
aging project, what sparked yourinterest in nutrition?
Janice O'Brien (06:27):
I feel like it was uh literally just having
been in practice, I felt like alot of the questions that I
wanted to answer um in terms ofmy research were focused around
nutrition.
And so that's that's whatreally drove me to focus on
nutrition, but in theepidemiology sense.
Lisa Fortier (06:44):
From that lens, how could you approach
nutrition?
As you said, it's so highlyvaried.
Uh, give us some insight ontohow you think about researching
this area of nutrition.
Janice O'Brien (06:55):
Yeah, so my PhD program, um, like both the
classes, but then also just theexperience of being able to
conduct research, get feedbackon it, um, has really taught me
so much about all of thedifferent ways that we can
approach a question and try toanswer it and all of the, you
(07:15):
know, potential flaws, you know,with survey data and and the
study designs that you have tobe considering when you're
trying to work with the data.
Lisa Fortier (07:24):
What questions are still out there that really
bother you and drive yourcurrent research or next
research project?
Janice O'Brien (07:31):
Um, so my big questions are all related to um,
you know, how how we feed ourdogs for the period of time
during their lives when they'rebasically young and healthy and
how that affects their lifelater on.
Like we know so much aboutnutrition for disease processes,
but as a preventive medicineperson, I wanted to know how
(07:53):
nutrition exposures can helpkeep pets healthy.
Sarah Wright (07:57):
So, Janice, looking ahead, what are the next
steps for research in thisarea?
Janice O'Brien (08:02):
Well, so my big follow-on research question is
now that we've uh demonstratedwithin this data set that um
these diets in general are notum meeting nutritional
recommendations, I want to knowwhat sorts of effects long-term
feeding of these diets has.
Um, because I know when I wasin practice, I saw patients that
(08:24):
were eating very clearlyincomplete diets, but they
seemed mostly fine when I wasseeing them.
And so I would, I was alwayscurious how much of a fuss
should I be making that as apractitioner?
Um and so, yeah, my researchquestion is to basically answer
that long-term feeding questionfor dogs that are eating
home-prepared diets formaintenance, um, are they more
(08:46):
or less likely to develop anyparticular health conditions
later in life?
Sarah Wright (08:49):
And Audrey, are there any particular
populations, species, orenvironments that you think
deserve closer study?
Audrey Ruppel (08:55):
I do.
Um, we're doing a really greatjob in terms of getting a really
diverse population of dogsenrolled in our research
programs, not just the dog agingproject, but at every
individual vet teaching hospitalacross the US that's doing
research, we do an exceptionaljob of getting a diverse
population of dogs, but we don'tdo a very good job of getting a
(09:16):
diverse population of humanowners.
And so it's hard for us to knowhow people's cultural or
socioeconomic status reallydirects or interfaces with our
dog's health outcomes.
And so, especially when we'rethinking in terms of nutrition,
we know that nutrition for ouranimals would be impacted by
(09:37):
things like an owner's um incomelevel or an education level.
And so I think that for me,what's really interesting is
thinking about over the, youknow, the rest of my career is
trying to really broaden thescope of diversity in the human
populations that we're enrollingin our dog-related studies.
Lisa Fortier (09:55):
That's fascinating.
And I forgot to say Go Rams,I'm CSU 91.
Um, Janice, you've already uhalluded to mentorship and uh
working with the fabulousAudrey.
Uh, what other mentors'experiences shaped your
perspective on research?
Janice O'Brien (10:14):
Well, um, another one of uh my PhD um
committee members is Dr.
Katie Tolbert.
And she is a board-certifiedveterinutritionist, and she has
been really a truly amazingmentor in this arena and really
helping to shape my questionsand um and and how that fits
(10:36):
into the nutrition clinicalperspective.
Um, and then also, if you canconsider the mentors, the
participants in the dog agingproject themselves, I think,
have really taught me a lotbecause they have really taught
me about all the different waysthat people are choosing to feed
their cats that I wouldabsolutely never have um learned
about if I if I wasn't umworking with this data set.
Lisa Fortier (11:02):
Yeah, Katie's amazing.
Uh it's I think it people takeit for granted how hard it is to
write a good question, whetherit's a an exam or a survey or
any other sort of research.
And I remember taking two weekson my, what was it, a T32 or an
R01?
I can't remember, my firsttraining grant with my mentor,
(11:24):
two weeks to write thehypothesis.
I I was out of my skin, but itwas absolutely the right thing
to do and transformational,transformative in uh how I
looked at writing good questionsafter that.
What what would you say to howdo you write a good question?
Janice O'Brien (11:44):
I feel like uh for epidemiology stuff, that is
like always our first question.
We're like, what is thequestion you're trying to ask
right now?
And what do you want to answer?
It's totally an epidemiologyquestion.
Lisa Fortier (11:57):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, just what is yourquestion, right?
Just start there.
What is your question?
Um, you you said that, youknow, we're looking at some of
these animals clinically.
How did that clinical workinfluence this direction of your
research?
Janice O'Brien (12:12):
Yeah, I alluded that.
I feel like a lot of myclinical work um really left me
with the questions that I hopeto answer in my research.
And, you know, some of thoseare, you know, I feel like some
of them ended up being like, Idon't want to say controversial.
That's not the right term, butjust like they're the edge of
what we don't know and have notyet researched.
(12:33):
And that's what I want tolearn.
And so um, yeah, I'm trying tofigure out how we can use large
data sets like Dot GagingProject to answer all of those
um questions that I feel like alot of people, not just me,
have.
Sarah Wright (12:47):
Now, Janice, this next set of questions is going
to be very important for ourlisteners.
And the first one is going torevolve around the
veterinarian's perspective.
So, Janice, what is one pieceof information the veterinarian
should know about home-prepareddiets for companion dogs?
Janice O'Brien (13:02):
So my number one take home would be that these
diets have lots of ingredients.
Um, and perhaps that's becauseit's the thing that surprised me
the most.
But um, the average number ofingredients in these diets was
nine to ten ingredients.
Um, so if you're asking in ahistory um and you're at like
ingredient number three, I wouldjust keep asking one more time
(13:26):
if that's really everything thatyou're putting in your dog's
diet.
Sarah Wright (13:30):
And for the public, what's one thing you
wish more people understoodabout this issue?
Janice O'Brien (13:34):
I think the thing I I wished so hard was I
know that there are so many goodtools out there that can help
pet owners, um, veterinarianstoo, who are um wanting to feed
and formulate home prepareddiets.
Um, and those tools can helpthem meet make one that needs
nutritional recommendations.
(13:55):
Um and that includes obviouslyconsultation with a board
certified veterinarynutritionist.
Um, but there's also great umrecipes that are written by
board certified veterinarynutritionists.
There are um websites that helpyou formulate based on
particular ingredients that youwant to make maintenance diets.
Um, but just picking a randominternet recipe is not one of
(14:18):
those good tools.
Lisa Fortier (14:21):
Perfectly said.
Uh as you wind up, we like toask a little bit more of a fun
question.
So, Audrey, you've been kind ofquiet.
We'll start with you.
What's the oldest or the mostinteresting item either sitting
on your desk or tucked away in adrawer?
And if you have it, feel freeto show it to us.
Audrey Ruppel (14:37):
Um, I'm not able to show it to you, but I
actually have two magic eightballs in my office because
sometimes science is not enough,and we just need to go out and
just ask, ask for the ask forthe answer from somewhere else.
Lisa Fortier (14:52):
Have you ever done a study to say, like, if I ask
this eight ball, eight ball,what do you say?
Do you go and ask the other oneand do they agree?
Audrey Ruppel (14:58):
I have a favorite magic eight ball that seems to
be more accurate than the otherone.
So I am going to try to testthis in a really scientific
perspective and it's see if I'mact if I am accurate in that.
Lisa Fortier (15:11):
That's awesome.
I don't have an eight ball, butI do have an old lava lamp that
my son gave me at least adecade ago.
And I love to have that thinglike bubbling around, just some
old nostalgia.
It's exactly what it is.
Janice O'Brien (15:24):
It's so nostalgic.
Janice, how about you?
So the thing that I like tokeep on my desk is actually um a
challenge coin.
So in the military, um, we havethese things called challenge
coins that people will get forparticular events, but I am a
member of the Millennium Cohortstudy.
(15:44):
And I keep the challenge cointhat says that I'm a member of
the Millennium Cohort study,which is studying service
members and their health overtime.
Um, and it means a lot to me tobe a member of a cohort and
then to also be a researcherdoing research on a cohort of
dogs.
And I'm a member of a humancohort myself.
Lisa Fortier (16:03):
Fantastic.
Congratulations.
That's really cool.
We haven't had I've never heardthat before.
How about one more?
Audrey, what do you think isthe most beautiful animal and
why?
The dog.
Audrey Ruppel (16:16):
I think because of their loyalty, their
open-heartedness, and just theirability for an infinite
capacity of joy.
Lisa Fortier (16:26):
All right.
So that's an inside beauty.
Janice, how about you?
Janice O'Brien (16:29):
Gotta love the dogs and beautiful, beautiful on
the inside, but also there aresome really, really gorgeous dog
colors that just really can bestriking.
Lisa Fortier (16:39):
Very good.
Sarah Wright (16:40):
I agree.
When you see like a reallypretty golden retriever that's
like just think room, theircoat's all shiny, and you're
like, that's a good lookinggolden.
Well, JS, Audrey, thank you somuch for joining us.
We appreciate you being herewith us today.
Audrey Ruppel (16:55):
Thanks so much for having us back.
Sarah Wright (16:57):
It's great to see you both.
Janice O'Brien (16:59):
Thank you.
Sarah Wright (17:00):
And for our listeners, you could read their
full article on AJVR.
I'm Sarah Wright here with LisaFournier.
Be sure to tune in next weekfor another episode of
Veterinary Vertex.
And don't forget to leave us arating and review on F Podcast
or wherever you listen.
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