Our great-grandparents remember very well, the past when there were no bags of dry dog food and canned wet dog. Everyone cooked for their furry friends just like all the other family members! Today, thanks to the success of dry dog food, very many have abandoned this habit, while others, still hesitant about the content of the packaged dog food, would like to go back to a homemade dog food! We will discover the quantities and many other home tips on dog nutrition, natural food, without preservatives and definitely healthier for our furry friends!
Homemade dog food | Premise
We must remind you that our advice on a diet for dogs of homemade food can never ever substitute a nutritionist veterinarian’s directives.You will also need to remember to always exclude all the forbidden foods from your dog’s diet that we already spoke about. Another warning that we must give regards food allergies: many dogs are for example, intolerant of lactose, fish and others to cooked rice! If your furry friend has a disorder of some sort, you’ll realize it immediately by observing their feces. If it’s too soft, there is definitely something wrong!
If you have a particularly active dog, you should have the right balance of proteins and fats; while more a sedentary dog will have to follow a more balanced dog diet. In the past those who gave their dog homemade food generally speaking only gave their pet different types of meat like chicken, turkey, beef, fish and sometimes pork (which is still used today in cases of food allergies). It would seem that the choice of using different cuts of meat in their diet, was supposed to lengthen their life. Even though there has never been any type of scientific confirmations, but it never hurts to listen to our elders!
It might seem strange, but nowadays the average life span of a dog is 14 years, but in the past they used to live much longer. There were some cases in which dogs managed to easily live up to 18-20 years. Obviously even in the new millennium there are these exceptions too, but once these cases were not as rare. Although this could be because living in the city full of smog our furry friends and us breathe it in and it isn’t good for anyone!
Homemade dog food diet quantities and tips
Meat for dogs
In a homemade dog food diet, as mentioned above, you should try to give your dog as many different kinds of meat as possible. For example, chicken one day, then beef the next day, then turkey etc. Remember to always wash the meat you are going to feed your dog and if they are not prime cuts, boiling it first is preferable. Even if they are animals, they are domesticated. You can’t even imagine how many immunitary defenses they might have lost so comparing them to wild canines doesn’t really hold water. Our pets are much more delicate!
So, even with regards to giving dogs raw meat, always choose high quality! If you think about the fact that even people eat the tartar, but made from prime cuts, not offal! As for the fat, it is not necessary to remove it, because it is also part in the diet. Obviously dogs that do little physical activity should have a more limited amount!
Starchy food and rice for dogs
In nature, all canines are not used to eat bread and pasta, and rice. Nevertheless they are used a lot in homemade dog food. The most frequently used grain is definitely rice, followed by pasta and other cereals. They are excellent for healthy dog food recipes, but they must be cooked really well, rigorously without any salt and deprived of as much starch as possible.
Rice for dogs, in particular, must be rinsed before and after being cooked to get rid of as much starch as possible in order to avoid diarrhea. If you don’t have the time, you can use puffed cereals (like rice), which are highly digestible and do not cause digestive problem.
Vegetables for dogs
As for children, we have arrived at the natural food that is least appreciated by dogs! Vegetables! Dogs don’t love vegetables and to make vegetables for dogs more digestible and palatable, normally we recommend boiling them for very long time, even if this isn’t a great option since they lose vitamins. If you decide to do this, it’s a good idea to keep the cooking water and use it to cook rice and pasta.
Ideal dog vegetables are green beans that are rich in fiber and don’t have many calories as well as spinach that has great depurative properties, carrots that are good for their oral hygiene, cooked potatoes, broccoli and other leafy green vegetables. Leafy green vegetables should be used too much, despite being rich in vitamins, because they contain oxalic acid that can cause the formation of small kidney stones. Remember that the vegetables a dog can eat shouldn’t exceed 10-15% of a meal.
