Feeding A Dog Is No More Difficult Than Feeding A Child
The first reason why you should consider home cooking for dogs is because it is really simple. It is no different from feeding a child.
You dont have to be precise with milligrams of calcium and vitamins, and carbs. You just have to use natural and fresh ingredients. And they have all the required nutrition in them.
You only have to make a list of foods that you are going to serve your dog. And this list of foods should be diverse.
You have to balance between meat, veggies, chicken, grains, or any other food item that your dog loves to eat.
Why You Should Make Your Own Dog Food
If that story wasnt enough for you, there are many other reasons to ditch the bag and make your own dog food.
First, I would like to point out that commercial pet food is much less regulated than you think.
The FDA and AAFCO have rules in place but they are not as strict or scrutinized as hard as human food.
Which means that these companies can put almost whatever they like into your dogs food. And they put a lot of trash in there.
Why do you think pet food is constantly getting recalled? And pet owners CONTINUE to buy it!
So thats why you shouldnt buy commercial pet food but heres why you should make your own:
Homemade pet food typically has more nutrients, less preservatives, can be tailored specifically to your furry friend, and actually costs less than store bought food!
Thats right, you can save money while providing your pup a healthier food option.
And if your canine companion has health issues like irritable bowel syndrome or allergies , DIY dog food can make a huge difference.
Benefits Of Cooking Your Dogs Food
When you cook for your dog, you can ensure that you dogs are not getting the kinds of unmentionable ingredients animal digest , toxic preservatives , diseased animals, even reportedly dead dogs and cats often found in commercial dog food.
You know the origin of the meat and other ingredients. You can add extra healthy vegetables and fruit and leave out non-nutritious fillers. You can also make their food in large batches and freeze it in portions, so that one afternoon spent cooking can last an entire month or more, depending on the size of the dog.
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What Meats Do You Use
Our dogs are allergy-prone so we also follow the Chinese Medicine method which believes in balancing out their inflammatory prone systems with more neutral or cooling meats. If your dog has allergies, itchy skin, rashes, hot ears, pants a lot or sits in the shade, it could be a sign they are a more hot/warm dog and they may do better on cooling or neutral meats like Beef, Turkey or Pork. If you do serve them Beef, it must be Grassfed as conventional Beef is made from cows that were fed corn and grains which means it is no longer a neutral meat.
We only order our meat from Greensbury online as their meat is Organic & grass-fed which is key! We get their Ground Beef and Beef Bone Marrow Bones for chewing. Its also much more affordable than any others I have found. Code: BUNNYSBUDDIES will also save you $$!
Some other neutral or cooling meats you could explore are Cod, Crab, Duck, Rabbit, Turkey, Catfish, Pork or Tuna. Chicken, Ham, and Salmon should be avoided if your dog is a warm dog as they can be common allergens to many dogs.
Not sure which meat your dog would do best on? We highly suggest you skip guessing and get this at-home wellness scan that will tell you their ideal diet ingredients! If your dog is eating fresh food and still reacting this scan is a must to see why.
Is Homemade Food Healthy For Puppies
Like humans, dogs have specific caloric requirements and need certain vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. Puppies have even more specific needs in order to grow at an appropriate rate and thrive. The food you feed your puppy must be complete and balanced. It must also be designed to support growth.
One of the biggest mistakes pet owners make when they decide to feed home-prepared diets is not following the right recipes . Preparing the right puppy diet is about more than just feeding enough calories. It must also have the proper balance of protein, fat, and calories for a growing puppy. The diet must also contain the right amounts of vitamins and minerals.
When you begin to develop a home-prepared diet, make sure your puppy gets everything it needs in its diet to keep it as healthy as possible and help it grow. The best way to do this is to consult with your veterinarian. You might even want to ask for a referral to a veterinary nutritionist.
Working with a vet, you can design a diet that meets all of your puppy’s nutritional needs. Your vet may have recipes for you to use or may guide you to a website like BalanceIT.com or PetDiets.com. These websites have recipes developed by veterinary nutritionists. They can help you choose a diet that is complete and balanced but also meets other needs. In many cases, you can choose your preferred ingredients or find formulas designed for puppies with specific needs or health issues .
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Beef Stew Doggie Style
Beef stew is a very good homemade dog food for your pet. It is rich in protein and fat thanks to the beef and the vegetables provide the vitamins and minerals that your dog needs. This recipe should make four cups and enough to feed your dog for 2 days.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup of diced tomatoes
- A pound of beef stew meat
- ½ cup of flour
- ½ cup of diced green beans
- ½ cup of water
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Step by step guide:
- Start by cooking the sweet potato in the microwave. It should take around 5 to 8 minutes for the potato to become firm and tender. Once it is done, set it aside.
- Slice the beef stew meat into smaller pieces. Then cook them in a tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. You would want the meat to be well done. This should take around 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove the beef from the pan. Reserve the drippings.
- Heat the drippings over medium-low heat before adding flour and water. Whisk the ingredients until a thick gravy has been created.
- Dice the sweet potato. Add this to the gravy along with the meat, carrots, and green beans. Stir to coat.
- Cook for 10 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
- Let it cool before serving. You can store the remaining stew in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Ingredients Needed For This Homemade Dog Food Recipe:
This DIY dog food made at home is filled with rich protein, vegetables, and healthy grains. Heres what youll need:
- Coconut oil provides a variety of health benefits for dogs, such as improving the skin and coat, increasing energy, aiding digestion, and reducing allergic reactions, just to name a few. And just like us, your dog needs healthy fats in their diet.
- Ground turkey will add necessary protein to your dogs diet, as well as important vitamins and minerals.
- Veggies this homemade dog food recipe uses a mix of zucchini, spinach and carrots. All are safe for dogs and will provide your baby with a variety of nutrients.
- Turmeric a dog-safe seasoning that also provides antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.
- Egg for extra protein and nutrients.
- Rice a complex carb that provides energy and aids in gastrointestinal function.
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Add The Right Supplements
Even the best recipes often dont provide enough of certain nutrients, such as calcium. Your pup needs supplements if youre feeding them from scratch. Which ones depend on which nutrients are missing from their meals. A good recipe should include specific supplement instructions. If you’re unsure, talk to a pet nutritionist.
Cheap Homemade Dog Food That Will Blow Your Mind
Homemade dog foods are great to add lots offresh and quality nutrients to your dogs diet.
But it can become expensive at times.
Dog food recipes with chicken are mostly inexpensive. But we have covered that earlier.
This list of dog food recipes are easy tomake and will not cost too much.
I have a German Shepherd and a PitBull dog at home. My German Shepherd dog eats a wide range of food from commercial to the ones I listed here.
I only feed commercial dog foods to my Pitbull. Probably he likes that food more than the homemade ones.
So, without wasting time, lets get down to the recipes.
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A Important Note About Calcium
By and large making your own dog food is easy and there is room for error, but you must understand the importance of calcium. Feeding meat only without calcium will eventually cause the body to pull calcium from your dogs bones.
- If you are combining kibble and fresh foods, supplement with calcium if more than 1/4 of the diet is fresh, and balance the fresh foods phosphorous.
- Do not add calcium to complete-and-balanced commercial diets.
- Do not over supplement puppies under 6 months old.
- High calcium foods like yogurt only balance themselves out, they will not supplement your dogs fresh food diet.
- Be wary of doggy multivitamins and supplements as many of them are designed for dogs that are already getting calcium in their diet.
- Ground eggshells are an okay source of calcium. Add 1/2 teaspoon ground eggshell, per pound of fresh food. But really bones are better.
Final Considerations For Home
Many veterinarians, while acknowledging that pet food recalls and the poor quality of some pet foods are causes for concern, still feel that homemade diets, when fed exclusively, may result in nutritional imbalances and vitamin/mineral deficiencies that may pose threats to your dogâs health. Therefore, if you choose to feed your dog a homemade diet, it is important that you understand and provide what your dog needs to stay healthy veterinary nutritionists can assist in developing suitable homemade diets.
While caution was taken to give safe recommendations and accurate instructions in this article, it is impossible to predict an individual dogâs reaction to any food or ingredient. Readers should consult their vets and use personal judgment when applying this information to their own dogsâ diets.
*The cost of feeding homemade will vary according to the size, activity level and health of your dog. Dogs who are pregnant or lactating, growing pups, and those who participate in endurance activities require much more nutrition and have other special nutritional needs.
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Meeting Your Dogs Nutritional Requirements
The first step towards solving any problem is understanding it, and you need to understand what your dog needs to eat to stay healthy if you want to cook for your dog.
Dogs, just like humans, are omnivores they require a balanced diet thats focused on protein, carbohydrates and fats. Many people think that dogs need only protein, but thats false. If your dog ate exclusively protein, it would lack important vitamins and minerals, which could lead to many deficiencies and cause thyroid problems . However, if your dog doesnt receive enough protein, it could suffer from poor immune function, muscle deterioration and blood disorders. Having a balanced diet is absolutely essential.
Many vets recommend a ratio of 40 percent protein, 50 percent vegetables and 10 percent starch.
So, when it comes to food you should feed your dog, lets separate it into categories!
Protein:
- corn digestion problems
Home Cooking For Dogs Allows You To Have Complete Control Over The Details
Many dogs are picky eaters. They dont like everything that you serve them. And as a matter of fact, they dont like precooked foods. Most dog foods available at the supermarket may not be the best for your dog. Some may have more salt. Others might have more proteins.
Some brands might add one particular ingredient in each of their packaged foods that your dog really hates. And you are tired of finding and searching for good dog foods.
Well, in that case, home cooking for dogs is just your thing. With home cooking, you can customize every meal your dog eats.
You can experiment with what your dog likes and what it doesnt. And this way, you can ensure that whatever you are putting on his plate, he will eat all of it.
So there would be no dog food waste anymore.
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An Alternative To Home Cooking
Cooking for your pet is a process thats demanding on your time, labor, space, and finances, says Dr. Larsen.
Home cooking is not for everyone, though, and it doesnt have to be. Another option to provide your dog with whole ingredients is to get carefully prepared ready-made meals.
There are commercial foods that can be purchased that contain whole ingredients that are pre-cooked. Which is very close to cooking, notes Dr. Bartges.
So, while you might think that cooking for your dog is better for their health, it can be just as beneficial to purchase pre-prepared food thats made with the same principles in mind. Whichever method you choose, just to make sure you are always catering to your dogs individual health and nutrition needs.
Common Mistakes When Cooking For Your Dog
Not Using Trusted Sources
There are many inadequate, and sometimes dangerous recipes, available to owners, says Dr. Larsen. There are now many studies demonstrating that most of these are not balanced.
Some of these may cause deficiencies in your dogs diet, while others may lead to an excess of certain nutrients. To avoid encountering unhealthy or dangerous options Dr. Larsen and Dr. Bartges recommend avoiding generic recipes from books or online sources. Some so-called nutrition experts are without proper training, and may do more harm than good.
Larsen and Bartges also suggest consulting BalanceIT.com, a site run by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, to help create a semi-individualized diet.
Not Preparing Balanced Meals
When you dont prepare balanced meals that are individualized to your pets needs, it can come at a cost. Nutrition deficiency can lead to diseases, such as malnutrition or obesity, and can ultimately be fatal.
Each of the ~40 essential nutrients required by dogs has a specific role in the body. When they are provided in inadequate concentrations, the function is not optimal and suffering may result, explains Dr. Larsen. Similarly, nutrient excesses can also cause illness. While the impact of an unbalanced diet may be mild and not even noticed or attributed to the diet by the owner, these problems can also be very severe, and pets do not always survive.
Relying On Multiple Diets To Create Balance
Using Unsafe/Unhealthy Ingredients
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Bam Kick Your Dog’s Food Up A Notch
While some people feed their dogs only home-cooked food, it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Unless your dog has to eat homemade food for a specific health reason, you can feed your pet a mixture of store-bought food and food that you prepare in your kitchen.
Even if you don’t cook for your dog full time, you can still cook on occasion to provide a healthy alternative to their regular diet. Just be sure to discuss the diet with your veterinarian and get accurate information on appropriate supplements to add for a truly balanced meal.
Easy Homemade Dog Food Crock Pot Recipe With Ground Chicken
Chicken, kidney beans, butternut squash, and green beans served over a bed of white rice? Not only is this recipe super simple to make, this is basically a regular stay-at-home dinner for humans. Why not?
Chicken livers also work great in this recipe, though we understand if you are now less keen to take a bite. Make extra servings so you can store plenty of leftovers in the freezer.
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Cost Of Feeding My Weimaraners A Raw Food Diet
Short version Cost per dog per month raw versus kibble
Now heres where it gets interesting! I have a great chicken supplier where I can purchase quality fresh chicken backs by the case for $.90 cents a pound. I remove the extra fat and skin so my cost is actually $1.25 per pound.
My dog food co-ops other meat stuff can range from $3 to $5 per pound, closer to $5. Tripe is delivered to my door and I have to pay for overnight service so it ends up being about $4 per pound.
So, 2 pounds of backs = $2.50, plus 1/4 pound of some other raw meat at $4 per pound = $1, plus $1 for tripe, for a grand total of $4.50 per day or $135 per month!
I did the calculations on a few different bags of dry dog food, and it ranged from $66 per month to $145 per month.
Hit me up if you wanna see my spreadsheet!
How To Make Easy Homemade Dog Food In An Instant Pot
Published: July 23, 2019· Updated: March 29, 2020 by Kari · · This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
Homemade Dog Food is a great way to spoil your dog and feel good about doing it. Made in your Instant Pot, it is a quick, cheap, and easy way to give your dog a nutritious meal that they will think is a treat.
If you are anything like we are, spoiling your dog is a natural part of everyday life. Our border collie, Melly, is 11 years young and is full of energy and love. She is treated like a queen, and although she will eat almost anything, her nutrition is important to me.
I made Melly a batch of homemade food for the first time about a year ago and have been making it for her ever since. It is cheap, easy, and she loves it. I love knowing everything going into it so I know she isn’t eating mystery meat. Our vet compliments her constantly for her weight, teeth, and energy level – she’s 11ish but acts like she’s still a puppy.
This recipe is for making homemade dog food with an Instant Pot – if you are looking for my stovetop directions, .
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