Essential Nutrients
Dogs need a balanced diet, much as humans do. While there are essential nutrients that you will need to ensure your dog gets either in their food or as an additional supplement, your dog can thrive and be healthy by eating homemade dog food.
Expertise
Just as you would before making any drastic changes to your own diet or lifestyle, you should always consult with a vet before switching your dog to homemade dog food. If possible, take along a label from the food you have previously been feeding your dog, as well as any notes regarding health or behavioural impacts this has had. This will enable your vet to help you put together an excellent feeding plan for your dog.
Why?
There are a number of reasons why you may want to switch over to homemade dog food. The biggest reason that is making this such a popular option is that dog food is increasingly coming under fire for not containing the required levels of healthy nutrients to properly sustain a dog. With attitudes towards animals and in particular household pets evolving, many owners wish to ensure that their pets receive nutrition to the same standard as they themselves do. Unfortunately, this is not always guaranteed when buying commercial dog food.
How to do it
Your vet will advise you on any specific measure you need to take, however the make-up of your homemade dog food should be approximately 40% meat, with 30% each of vegetables and starches.
There are many popular recipes and ideas online for making your own dog food, however try mixing up ground beef with carrots and rice, and see how your dog takes to it. At this stage you can really experiment with the ingredients you use, as long they are not likely to be harmful to your dog. Having used commercial dog food you will likely have an idea of what foods your dog likes, so ensure you keep using these and your dog will probably not even notice the difference, except for in the much improved taste! Having said that, ensure that you use a variety of recipes and foods without sticking to one set meal plan, as this could lead to your animal being deprived of key nutrients.
General Rules
Ensure that you cook all of your food thoroughly before feeding it to your dog, then store in the fridge. Try to prepare your dog food the day before the dog will eat it, and only cook enough that he will eat. Do not risk your dog’s health by storing food in the fridge for any longer than 48 hours.
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