Dog Masking Their Own Scent
It made perfect sense for dogs to roll in poo to hide their tracks, so to speak. The animals that wild dogs would typically tend to feed on – namely rabbits, rats and possums – all have highly attuned senses of smell something which most prey animals tend to have, precisely to avoid being eaten by animals like dogs.
Something strong-smelling such as fox poo might well be less likely noticed, therefore, than if a dog were to stalk up to its prey without having rolled in poo, beforehand. Some people have questioned why dogs tend to roll in fox poo, in particular – why foxes and not some other animal?
Store Dry Food Properly
There is a lot to be said for buying dry food in bulk or in large bags, as this almost always works out more economical than buying lots of smaller bags. But as with any other foodstuff, once opened, a bag of dry kibble will go stale, and once this has happened, it will lose a lot of the taste and aroma that makes it appealing to your dog. None of us enjoy eating stale food either, after all!
If you do buy large bags of dog food, it is important that once they are opened, you store them in airtight containers, and use a range of smaller containers to hold the food so that the bulk of the bag, which you might not use for some time, remains fresh.
Making Homemade Wet Dog Food Recipes
These are just a few good homemade wet dog food recipes you can use to make your own homemade dog food. With these recipes, it’s simple to make one batch that will last you quite some time depending on your pets size and nutrition needs. Food can only be stored in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. If you need your food to last longer, store in the freezer and reheat individual portions later.
Remember to always check with your vet before making changes to your dogs diet. For more tips on serving sizes, making well-balanced homemade dog food meals and adding supplements to make sure it’s nutritious, read/watch Samantha’s guides below:
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What Nutrition Guidelines Should You Follow
While there are many benefits that you can get from preparing your dogs food, this doesnt mean that you just give him whatever food that you have at home.
And please, dont even think of giving him table scraps particularly oily and fatty foods. Doing so can increase his risks of health problems like diarrhea and pancreatitis. Worse, he might end up eating toxic foods like onions.
Just like us, our dogs need to have a complete and balanced diet. This means that the food you give to your dogs must meet all of his nutritional needs.
The following is a general nutritional guideline you should follow in feeding your dog:
- 50 percent of his diet should consist of vegetables
- 40 percent should consist of protein from animal meat, eggs/dairy and seafood
- 10 percent should carbohydrates composed of grains and beans
Yet this should not give you the impression that you would feed your dog with the same meal every day. Like people, dogs want variation in their food.
But you may wonderwhat are the ingredients that I can use in making dog food?
For protein, good sources are ground or small strips of beef. I also recommend turkey as it is very easy to digest. It is also widely available and cheap.
You can also give your dog with chicken. Just like turkey, you should have no problems getting it. Lamb is another good source of protein. You may also give beans and eggs, although in moderation.
Try Adding Dog Food Toppers
Your dog might just need a little incentive to eat. Adding Toppers to their meals often gives them some added flavor and makes the food seem special.
A topper also gives you a number of options to incentivize a dog to eat. You could try adding fruits, vegetables, or yogurt to ensure the topper is both healthy and delicious.
You can also find healthy toppers that give your dog recipes specially designed for them such as:
Dry Dog Food Toppers:
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Your Dogs Preferred Diet
Normally, senior dogs that struggle to eat food are happy as clams to eat up soften dog food. However, some dogs are always super picky and refuse to eat anything unless it meets their exact stipulations. If your dog happens to be a food snob, you want to consider that when selecting a softening method.
Some softening methods dont add any additional flavor to the food. Warm water, for instance, will soften the kibble and bring out its natural aroma, but it wont add anything new. However, softening the food with broth, milk, or canned food will add much more depth and flavor.
How To Cook Sweet Potatoes For Dogs
When feeding sweet potatoes to your dog, always make sure theyre fully cooked and the skin is removed for easier digestion. This is especially important if your dog tends to eat quickly, as cooked sweet potatoes become less of a choking hazard when softened.
Safe snack options for dogs include boiled, baked, steamed, or dehydrated sweet potatoes. It may take some trial and error to find your dogs favorite style of sweet potato, but there are plenty of options out there. For example, you can give Fido a piece of dried sweet potato as a treat, or mix steamed or boiled sweet potato into his bowl of kibble for added flavor and nutrition.
You can also opt for PetHonestys 10-for-1 Multivitamin, which contains a healthy base blend of carrot, sweet potato, and krill oil among other natural ingredients and superfoods.
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A Quick Note About Calories
Remember that the addition of toppers to your dogsâ food requires that you reduce the amount of kibble or other food you offer them along with it. General guidelines may not result in the best regimen for your particular dog, so check the appropriate caloric intake by consulting with your veterinarian before making signiï¬cant dietary changes.
Provide Extra Nutrition With Fruits And Vegetables
Adding vegetables like green beans, soft carrots, spinach, or kale can make a world of difference in your pets appetite. These nutrient-rich foods also add extra vitamins and minerals that your puppy might be lacking.
Pumpkin a squash is another option. Canned pumpkin is easy to store, high in fiber, helps in digestion, and tastes good for dogs. Ensure that its not pumpkin pie filling, as they contain sugar and spices that can negatively affect your pup.
Fruits are another option. In the wild, canines often munch on berries and other fruits. Bananas, apples, blueberries, and strawberries are all fine for your dog in moderation. They contain vitamins and offer different flavors and textures that might encourage your dog to chow down.
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Feed Raw Meaty Parts Of Poultry
The bones of young turkey and chicken are soft and pliable enough to be eaten whole, including wings, necks, and backs. Raw bones provide calcium and other minerals in the proper ratios, as well as proteins, fats, and many other valuable nutrients.
Puppies especially benefit from both the added nutrition and the healthy chewing outlet. A chewing puppy is a happy puppy! Start by trying our ROAR ground chicken backs and legs, whole and ground turkey necks.
Turkey And Vegetable Dinner
This is a dish that should give your dog the protein and vitamins that he needs. Turkey, if you havent known by now, is rich in protein. It also has less fat than beef, so this is a good recipe to follow for pet owners who have dogs that can afford to lose a few pounds.
The vegetables in this food carrots and green beanswill provide your dog with the vitamins and minerals he needs.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of brown rice
- 1 cup of chopped carrots
- 1 cup of chopped green beans
- 1 tablespoon of fish oil
You should not use heavy oil for this as it can lead to your dog having an upset stomach.
Step by step guide
- In a non-stick skillet placed over medium heat, cook the ground turkey. It should take around 5 minutes for the meat to get cooked.
- Add the brown rice and water to a large pot. Bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat and cook for an extra 5 to 10 minutes or until the rice has become soft and tender.
- Add the carrots and green beans. Cook for 5 to 10 more minutes or until the vegetables have become tender.
- Add the carrots and green beans. Cook for 5 to 10 more minutes or until the vegetables have become tender.
- Cool before serving.
This recipe should last for 4-5 days.
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Slows Down Dinner Time
Eating speed is a very influential factor in the health of your pet because if it is too fast, in consequence, your dog will develop several health issues, especially if it is a large breed like Dobermann or English Mastiff.
Evidence suggests that large breed dogs are more likely to develop a Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus if they ate fast, which is a life-threatening condition that progresses at a fast rate.
We are sure that now you understand the importance of slowing down dinnertime, in consequence, all you must do is to add water to dry dog food.
What’s Wrong With Additives In Dog Food
Serving no actual nutritional benefit to dogs, artificial flavours and colours have been linked to distressing effects, including hyperactivity in children, and many have been taken off the shelf because of carcinogenic activity .
No conclusive evidence has been found to date for any additives currently on the market, but several scientific studies have shown proof enough for caution.
What we have to ask ourselves is: why are we fighting so hard to defend something unnecessary, when there are healthful ingredient alternatives?
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Dog Not Eating Maybe Your Pet Food Smells Or Tastes Bad
Some say dogs will eat anything, but that isn’t always the case. Even worse, it can be expensive trying out different dog food brands before figuring out what your “picky eater” likes. Well, it may not be as complicated as you think.
While many dogs will readily accept new foods, your dog may have certain preferences to consider. Often this comes down to three simple things the taste, texture, and smell of the dog food.
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- Carefully-sourced ingredients from North American suppliers
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Cons
- The price of this dog food is on the higher end, but customers report that because the nutritional value of this food is so concentrated with no fillers, youll need to use less food overall
- Doesnt offer canned/wet foods
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Get The Latest Recipes Right In Your Inbox:
Keep your dog healthy and fit with this easy peasy homemade recipe its cheaper than store-bought and chockfull of fresh veggies!
I never thought I would be one of those dog owners who made homemade human food for their pups. Not in a million years.
But when Butters recently fell sick with an upset stomach, our vet advised us to feed him a bland diet chicken and rice without any kind of seasoning. So thats what we did we poached a chicken, shredded it in a food processor, and mixed in some white rice and fed him this bland diet for 3 days.
Thats when I started to do some research on homemade dog food, and I have been so amazed as to how many different kinds of vegetables dogs can have. And with the help of Balance IT, you can create so many different recipes for your pup!
Now the best part about making homemade dog food just like making anything at home is that you know exactly what is going into the dog bowl, and not any of that questionable gelatinous gunk from the canned food.
But its important to note that dogs have different nutrient requirements than humans for their proportional body size, such as:
Now this recipe here has a balance of 50% protein, 25% veggies and 25% grains, but the ratios can easily be adjusted to suit your pups breed and/or needs.
For Puppies Being Weaned Off Milk
If you want to help their transition from milk to solid food, then adding some water will help tremendously. Because their teeth arent developed yet, therefore turning dry dog food into wet will allow them to chew it easily and digest it properly.
We recommend you to use warm water and turn it into a kind of gruel, just like baby food. We guarantee you that your puppy will love it. That is why in an encounter of dry dog food versus wet, the latter will win most of the time because puppies are fussy eaters and they prefer a moist texture and richer aroma.
However, when to stop soaking puppy food? There is no definitive answer, but 8 to 12 weeks seems to be the ideal range. You have to test and see how your puppy reacts.
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Stop Feeding Too Many Treats & Table Food
Dogs spoiled with table scraps and treats are unlikely to find kibble very appealing. If they can have a piece of steak or a slice of cheese, why would they opt for dry dog food? Too many treats and table scraps can reduce appetite and lead to obesity in dogs. And dogs that are obese are more prone to health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, and musculoskeletal problems.
Pay attention to your dog. If hes constantly begging for food during your mealtime and you give in, he knows that he can get what he wants. Stop feeding your dog extra food scraps and treats throughout the day, and see if his eating behaviors change.
How Do I Make My Dogs Dry Food More Appealing
Dogs love dry food. Its formulated for crunch, and coated in flavors meant to tempt your dog into licking its bowl clean. If thats just what your dog is doing, you dont need to add anything to its bowl to spruce it up unless you want to add some supplements or healthy veggies.
In the article The Chemistry of Kibble by Mary Roach on Popular Science, the author describes her visit to AFB International, a company that makes liquid or powdered palatant coatings designed to make kibble taste delicious. Palatant can include proteins, yeast and antioxidants. Roachs article notes that the main ingredients in AFBs dog food palatants are liver mixed with other viscera.
AFB designs powdered flavor coatings for the edible extruded shapes, Roach writes. She explains that kibble on its own doesnt have much taste. The flavor comes almost entire from the sauceby design.
This enables pet food companies to produce one type of kibble and coat it in a variety of flavors, ready for retail. Kibble is designed to appeal to dogs and gets taste tested by hundreds of dogs at facilities like AFB International before it hits store shelves.
So, what gives? Why do some dogs refuse kibble? Is it the dog, or are owners looking for ways to get their dog more diverse nutrients when they decide to improve on kibble?
Either way, its easy to add some pizazz to kibble and make it more appealing.
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How To Get Rid Of The Smell Of Fox Poo
Frustratingly, not only is fox poo one of the smelliest substances your dog can roll in, its also one of the most difficult to remove the smell of. Unless you want your whole house to start smelling of fox then you need to wash and clean your dogs coat as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.
To clean your dogs coat properly will take more than just a quick splash of warm water, however, and will require a specialist dog shampoo to really get to work on that smell. There are lots of different, good dog shampoos out there – but here are some of the ones we recommend most: first is Faith in Natures dog shampoo, which is great for dogs with more naturally sensitive skin. Or, if youre looking to go for something completely natural whilst swapping the pungent smell of fox poo out for great fragrance, then the Little soap company is a good go to.
Why Do Dogs Sniff Their Food
Its not because hes finicky. Sniffing gives him a better taste of whats in the bowl.
As we know, a dogs taste buds are weaker receptors for flavor than ours. But the canine sense of smell more than makes up for that at mealtime.
- A dogs sense of smell is anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 times more powerful than a humans.
- Dogs possess 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses versus the 6 million in a humans.
- The region of the brain dedicated to processing and analyzing scent is 40 times greater in dogs compared to humans.
This powerful little tool means the nose plays a prominent role at mealtime. Dogs rely on scent to gather information about their environment and that includes the kibble you poured into his bowl. Their decision to eat something comes down to whether the scent is tempting to him or whether theres something off that makes him turn up his nose.
Be patient with your dog next time you sit down to your delicious meal of steaks from the grill. The tempting aroma of charred meat is thousands of times more intense for him than it is for you. Thats enough to distract him from focusing on minding his manners.
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