Is Homemade Dog Food The Right Lifestyle Choice For You and Your Dog?I know your life is busy but Homemade Dog Food is an important consideration that fits in with all of the emphasis on health and weight in our society today. I'm sure that you have made an effort to improve your diet by including healthier foods like fruits and vegetables. However, have you considered making that same change to your dog's diet? After the scare of tainted pet food a couple of years ago, people really began to take notice of what their pets were eating.
On top of that, they use preservatives, color additives and fillers which only adds to the problem causing health issues for your dog. The problem is that there are very few laws that regulate dog food ingredients in the U.S. and so they are free to throw in whatever makes a profit!
By choosing to make your own Homemade Dog Food, your could potentially eliminate your dogs health issues. So be brave for that special pampered pup in your life and at least give learning how you to make your own Homemade Dog Food a chance.
First and foremost, you should always take your dog in for a checkup with your vet before making any dietary changes. This gives you the chance to discuss with your vet the new potential diet changes you are thinking of implementing, as well as, any vitamin deficiencies that your vet may discover during the checkup and testing. It also allows for determining any more serious potential health risk that could be warded off with a better diet or a specific deficiency being corrected. Be sure to address any such issues with you vet thoroughly, so that you understand how to best treat the problem. It will be necessary to include vitamins and supplements in a Homemade Dog Food diet but there may be something specific that your dog needs and in a specific amount as advised by your vet. So be sure to make that appointment and keep it! You should make sure that you take your dog in for a thorough check-up at least once a year.
As we have already talked about, there are lots of reasons to change your dog over to a Homemade Dog Food, but another reason to consider it is how does your dog actually like their food? When you fill their bowl, do they show immediate interest or barely look up? The latter is a good indication that you have a poor quality dog food and need to make a change.
There are so many things that you can include to not just make their dog food healthy but to make it exciting taste wise. You don't just add meat but there are tons of vegetables to choose from and you may add herbs and spices as well.
The thing I would like you to consider first, is that although you may always make dog food available for your dog to eat, that doesn't mean that your dog isn't still hungry. What do I mean? Simple, all dog foods are NOT nutritious and are NOT giving your dog the rounded diet they require. Simply stated, your dog can eat a huge amount of bad dog food and still be nutritionally hungry. So where do you start? You need to start with meat and although at one time the suggestion to feed raw meat or the BARF diet was highly popular, there is now evidence to the contrary. Many veterinarians and specialist in the field are now recommending that the meat you serve should be cooked until the meat isn't red anymore. By doing this you will avoid your dog getting infections or parasites from the raw meat. However, there are still plenty of advocates for the BARF diet and they are still strongly promoting serving raw meat to your dog. So before starting any diet be sure to consult your veterinarian and do your research. Yes it's true your dog is a carnivore but the meat being served now is full of chemicals and just isn't the same as what animals were eating in nature several hundred thousand years ago. You must consider all factors when you are deciding what and how you feed your dog.
When preparing your dog's homemade diet, approximately 40% of the mix should be meat. The meats that are considered safe to use are as follows:
You should not use meats that can cause trichinosis like pork.
The next important ingredient is of course vegetables. You can add an amazing variety of veggies to your dogs homemade dog food but it's super important that they are very finely chopped. The idea is to simulate the vegetables after they have gone through the track of the prey that your dog would eat in the wild - hence the already digested or very small size of the veggies.
Unlike the meat, you may use more than one vegetable at a time. I think three to five is a good combination, but it's important to try different combination's that suite your dogs taste. Approximately 30% of the diet should be vegetables. Here is a list of safe veggies to use:
Remember when picking leaves like dandelions that the bigger the more bitter! There are some vegetables that you should really avoid. For one thing they can irritate skin conditions, cause digestion problems and worst of all - MORE GAS!!! I don't know about you but at my house we certainly don't need this problem!
The third ingredient that you need to include in your dog's diet is carbohydrates and starches. About 30% of their diet should consist of carbs and starches. The following are some of the top choices to include in your homemade diet:
The following are just plain toxic to your dog and should NEVER be used in your Homemade Dog Food or fed to them in any circumstances. I always am careful to watch when I have my young nieces and nephews to visit because they love to share with Rodeo and kids always have things like candy (chocolate) and grapes or raisins. I try to make a special effort to explain to them that Rodeo only gets "special" treats and that it's very nice for them to share but those treats will make Rodeo very sick and he will feel bad. Then I let them give him some of the healthy treats.
If you know or even suspect that your dog has ingested a toxic food, you should get them to your veterinarian immediately. Your vet will most likely induce vomiting to get your dog to eject most of the toxic food they have ingested. They will likely follow up with additional treatment to finish removing the toxin from your dog's system.
To prepare your Homemade Dog Food you can use your standard kitchen items: a mixing bowl, food processor, mixing spoons, measuring cups and some type of storage containers that seal tight.Start by thawing 1 pound of ground meat in the refrigerator overnight. Then add 1 cup of water to the meat and mix well. It is natural for a dog to get some of their water intake from their food. This can be stored in a seal tight container in the refrigerator for about 5 days. To prepare your vegetables, always wash them first, just as you would if you were preparing them for yourself. Remove any skins or rinds that don't belong and then put them into your food processor and chop them extremely fine. About the size of a pencil tip. It is important that they are as fine as possible for your dog to take advantage of the nutritional value. You will need to cook them before serving. So how much do you serve your dog? It's always a good idea to consult your vet but here are a few general guidelines: Grown Adult Dog
Mix these together in a bowl and then add 1 cup of hot water. As I explained earlier, this adds water into the food that your dog would normally be getting from it's prey in the wild. At this point, you should also add any nutritional supplements (recommendations listed below)that your vet has recommended, as well as the following to make your Homemade Dog Food nutritionally complete:
Feeding Homemade Dog Food is totally different that feeding a commercial dog food. When you start feeding your new Homemade Dog Food to your dog, I suggest you introduce it slowly. I would start by adding a small amount to their regular dog food each day and increase that amount each day according to how your dog is adjusting. Eventually your dog should be gauging how much they eat. Yes, I said your dog should be deciding how much they eat. After your dog is completely changed over to their new diet and adjusted to the new food, you can start really gauging how much and how often they need to eat. Once they start getting the actual nutritional value they need out of their dog food, they will only eat what they need each day.
For example, a grown dog may only need to be fed one time a day and will actually walk away from his bowl with some of his Homemade Dog Food leftover. This is when you know you are getting it right. Your dog is getting what they need nutritionally and doesn't have to eat every last drop or eat several times a day to satisfy themselves. A puppy however, may need to be fed 4-6 times a day and smaller amounts. They are growing and changing everyday, so be sure to pay special attention to a changing puppy's needs. A dog who is overweight or a senior dog may warrant closer monitoring when first introducing the new diet. It is also a good idea to keep an All Natural Dog Food on hand for those weeks when you just don't have time to prepare your homemade dog food.
Many people will never even give Homemade Dog Food a chance because they think it will take too much time, cost too much and it's going to be way too difficult to make. It's should be clear though after the simple steps above that preparing a healthy meal for your dog is no more difficult that preparing a healthy meal for yourself. Imagine the benefits that your precious pet will be gaining from eating a nutritious diet free of disgusting ingredients that you certainly would not eat. You could be giving your dog the gift of a disease free, healthy weight, no allergies and a much longer life, just by feeding them a Homemade Dog Food. Making this change is doable and if it keeps your loving pet with you longer - isn't it worth it? It's certainly a worthwhile consideration.
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Unfortunately, the things they are eating in many of the commercial dog foods are unbelievable. Did you know that often things like diseased animal parts and euthanized dogs and cats are used in commercial pet foods? 
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