Cooking Home Cooked Food For Your Dog
As a dog owner, I’m sure you would never deliberately feed your dog poison. But that is exactly what has happened over the last few years. In a number of high profile cases, contaminated dog food has led to the death, or severe illness of hundreds of dogs. Yet, pet owners continue to feed these products to their dogs. Many believe there is any alternative.
If that describes you, read on because in this article I’ll provide some usefull tips for making your own dog food.
It’s no secret that most commercial dog food is not good for your dog. Many of these foods are packed with processed grains which have no nutritional value and are known to cause all manner of allergies in dogs.
Other ingredients like artificial colors and flavors are chemical based and may be behind more serious canine diseases.Even where meat is included in these products, it is of extremely poor quality and often unfit for consumption.
Of course, some commercial dog foods are better than others. The premium and super premium brands generally will provide your dog with a nutritionally balanced diet. But if you have the time, and willingness, I’d like to suggest that you consider feeding your dog a whole food diet.
Here are 3 quick tips on how to get started;
Feed your dog a diet of unprocessed meats, vegetables, eggs, whole-wheat grains, and brown rice. Avoid junk food, table scraps, and white bread or white rice.
As an omnivore your dog cannot survive on meat alone, so be sure to include vegetables in his diet. The ideal split should be 1/3 meat, 1/3 vegetables, and 1/3 fiber. You can also feed slightly more meat, at the expense of the other two ingredients if you so wish.
Bland food is easier for your dog to digest, so lay off the spices. In fact, spicy foods will probably just end up giving your dog diarrhea.
Also keep in mind that some of the foods that we eat are not good for dogs.
It’s common knowledge that chocolate is dangerous, but it doesn’t stop there. Many other human foods are harmful, even deadly to your dog.
For example, onions, garlic, raisins, grapes, and macadamia nuts are all harmful. Other foods carry less obvious dangers. Things like human junk food and table scraps are generally high in fat and will result in your dog becoming obese, with all the related health risks that brings.
Something else that not many dog owners consider is that giving bones to dogs can be dangerous. A bone that can be crunched up and swallowed may damage the stomach and intestines, while there is a risk of salmonella poisoning from raw bones.
Feeding your dog a whole food diet based on meat, vegetables and fiber is a wise choice, but have a word with your vet before making the change.
Click here to learn more about homemade dog food, dog care, dog breed info and other helpful dog info at dogsanddogtraining.com
Tags: dog care, dog health, dogs, homemade dog food
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