More Homemade Dog Food Recipes Here. |
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I am not a pet nurtritionist, and am doing this through investigating, educating myself, and reading about the horrible commercial pet food industries disgusting manufacturing for profit mentality.
Always check with your vet before starting your pet on a new diet.
If cooking for a dog does not seem to be something you want to start doing, there are of course many ultra premium, organic dog foods available, that are highly recommended.
NOTE: *TABLE SCRAPS are not “homemade dog food” and are not nutritious or healthy for your dog.
HOW TO MAKE NUTRITIOUS HOME MADE DOG FOOD: TOP TEN BASIC TIPS.
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- I checked with my vet, and am doing this with his approval, always check with your own professional
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- Slowly wean your dog onto the new food.
- A sudden switch could cause stomach upset.
- Let him/her get used to the new food by gradually mixing in the new food while slowly decreasing the old food.
- Once adjusted to one new food try another using this method.
- You will find that your dog will tolerate many different types of foods, just as we do.
- A variety diet is much more enjoyable than the same bowl of dry kibble every day!
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- Ensure a well balanced diet by mixing 40% protein, with the balance consisiting of fruit and vegetables and carbohydrates, in their daily diet.
- Following this basic formula will ensure a well balanced, healthy nutritious diet.
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- I always cook the meat before serving, and let it cool off to room temperature.
- I found that feeding my dogs their food hot or too warm seemed to cause them stomach upset. (Lady always vomits if her food is warm – yuck)
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- Organ meat (liver, kidneys etc.) and occasionally adding eggs are very good for your pet, and as we all know variety in our diets is always nice.
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- Feed your pet the daily amount as recommended by your vet, according to the animal’s size.
- I separate their daily requirement into two portions – morning and evening.
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- Rotate food for variety.
- I buy the meat every week that is “last day” sale.
- At my meat market this is the meat that is still for sale for human consumption, but has to be sold by today.
- My butcher sells this at 50% off the sticker price.
- I then bring it home and use it the same day, or freeze it and make the freshly cooked meals in batches later.
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- This is actually cheaper than the premium preservative, chemically filled commercial dog food that I used to buy.
- I had a week’s worth of fast fry steaks for my two 80 pound Labrador retrievers that cost under $20.00. Just look for and stock up on sales.
- I made a big batches of meat, rice and veggie stew for them and freeze it in individual portions.
- Simple as when we grab for a frozen dinner on those nights when we’re too tired to cook, but nutritious, healthy and homemade.
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- Use oatmeal, rice, pasta or potatoes as the starch requirement.
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- Use fresh or frozen fruit and veggies and cook until tender.
- Make a puree after cooking any combination of veggies and fruits that your dog likes.
- Don’t add extra salt when cooking veggies.
- Use more veggies to fruits (3/4 to 1/4)
- Start with basics such as carrots/ green beans and apples. Get creative by trying new tastes and flavours as your dog will tolerate, such as: tomatoes, peas, corn, blueberries, bananas, peaches etc.
- AVOID GRAPES AS THEY ARE TOXIC, ALONG WITH THE OTHER INGREDIENTS LISTED BELOW
Meat and Rice RECIPE (Make 4 portions for a 20 pound dog @ 2 servings daily)
Precook rice, meat and make a veggie/fruit mix ahead of time Use any lean meat such as chicken, turkey, venison, lamb, beef. Remove fat. Use brown or white rice (or subsitute cooked macaroni potatoes) For the fruit/veggie puree I usually stick with the favourite of carrots and apples. I mix 3/4 vegetables to 1/4 fruit. Cook fruit, cool and puree in food processor. Mix meat, veggie/fruit puree, starch and salt together, drizzle with oil and serve. Separate into 4 equal servings and feed 2 servings per day. (This equals 2 days worth of food.) Make bigger batches when you have the time and freeze in portions for easy meal time |
Dog Vitamins And Supplements: Adding vitamins and supplements to our home made dog food is essential as the food will be deficient of certain necessary vitamins and minerals for optimum health.
Bone meal (Calcium) is essential to a homemade dog food diet. Dogs calcium requirements are given according to body weight. The calcium is to replace bones that wild dogs originally ate when feeding in the wild.
This necessary addition can be found in human grade bonemeal, which is available through pet supply stores, health-food stores and of course speciality on line pet stores.
Make sure you NEVER use the garden grade bone meal as this contains toxins, such as lead.
I also give my two Labs, Lady and Lola a daily multi-vitamin for dogs, according to their weight also when they are on their homemade dog food diet such as Natural Vitamins for Dogs at Only Natural Pet Store
FOODS THAT ARE KNOWN TO BE TOXIC TO DOGS!
- Onions and onion powder
- Chocolate
- Coffee and all coffee related products
- Chocolate covered espresso beans ( extra toxic !! )
- Tea
- Alcoholic beverages
- Macadamia nuts
- Hops (used in home brewing beer)
- Grapes and raisins ( including juices or anything with grapes or raisins as the base)
- Tomato leaves and stems
- Green part of potatoes (peelings, sprouts and foliage)
- Rhubarb leaves
- Avocados
- Pits and seeds from fruits (plum, apricot, peach apple and cherry)
- Bitter almonds
- Moldy or spoiled foods
