What Kind Of Snacks Can I Feed My Dog With Kidney Disease
Our dogs walk a bit on the wild side when it comes to snacks as they love thin apple slices, banana chunks, carrots, whole unsalted peanuts in the husks, and dehydrated sweet potatoes! Dog’s with kidney disease should avoid meat based chews/treats that are high in phosphorus, so you may find that you need to explore doing friendly fruit and veggies for treats like we have. We still on occasion will offer Hooch bully sticks or a jerky treat, but it is better for him if we limit his intake due to the levels of phosphorous that those treats contain.
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.
What Are The Benefits Of Homemade Dog Food
Homemade dog food can benefit your canine companion in a number of ways especially if you have a pet who suffers from allergies, skin problems, or gastrointestinal sensitivity.
Highly-processed foods also tend to lose nutritional value, whereas making dog food from scratch maintains more of the vital nutrients during the cooking process. With fresh food, you know exactly what your dog is getting versus reading the label and being confused by all the included additives and preservatives.
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Unseasoned Broth Or Stock
Unsalted and unseasoned broth or stock is a great way to make dry food more appetizing. Bone broths also contain collagen which helps support joint health for your canine companion. You can use any meat broth that doesnt contain any seasoning, or cook your own for an extra labor of love.
Just be sure that homemade broths dont contain any bone or bone splinters before serving to your sweetheart.
How To Make Homemade Dog Food
- Food Processor: Before I start cooking a batch of homemade dog food, I blend up all the vegetables in my food processor. This Cuisinart food processor is my go-to. Its a bit smaller than traditional food processors but works just as well as a larger model. Blending up the veggies nice and fine will speed up the cooking process.
- Dutch Oven: I make the entire batch in my large Le Creuset round Dutch oven. I love using a Dutch oven because I can ground the meat first, and then finish off the batch right in the same pot. The process is very similar to making chili except for dogs. Ya know Dog Chili.
- Measuring Cups: Rascal has his own set of measuring cups now because it makes measuring out food ingredients and the finished batch WAY easier.
- Meal Prep Containers: This is basically meal prepping for your dog, so you will need some great Tupperware. I love using these stainless steal Tupperware bins made just for pups.
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Homemade Food Will Probably Be Pricier
The cost of homemade chow depends on many factors, including how much your dog eats, the ingredients you use, and whether you opt to use organic or free-range meat.
Regardless, since youre buying fresh ingredients, youre almost guaranteed to spend more than you would on bagged food. A 15-pound bag of Charlies old kibble cost $35, and lasted for about six weeks. But eight days worth of Charlies chicken, oatmeal, and veggie food costs around $23.
So once you have an idea of what you plan to feed your dog, run the numbers and see how it fits into your budget. If the homemade recipe you had in mind ends up costing more than you want to spend, you might be able to make adjustments to bring the cost down. For instance, choosing less expensive protein , or tweaking the ratio of protein to carbs.
Choosing The Right Diet For Your Pet
The diet that you ultimately decide on for your pet will, of course, depend largely on your pet , your budget, and your schedule.
There are meals that can help with diabetes, healthy coats, arthritis, allergies, weight loss, and diarrhea.
There are also recipes specific to puppies or senior dogs.
Here are a few resources:
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How To Prepare Homemade Puppy Food
In general, puppies need about twice as many calories per day than their adult counterparts. According to the Committee on Nutrient Requirements of Cats and Dogs of the National Academy of Science, a 10-pound puppy that is expected to weigh 33 pounds at adulthood needs to eat about 990 calories per day. In addition, puppies need more protein, fat, vitamins and minerals than adult dogs.
A homemade puppy diet should contain the proper balance of:
- Protein, such as chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef
- Carbohydrates, like rice, pasta, potatoes
- Vegetables, such as peas, green beans, carrots
- Fat, often in the form of vegetable oil
- Vitamin/mineral supplements
Once you have chosen a recipe, it’s time to prepare it for your dog. Many owners who feed home-prepared diets set up a regular schedule, setting aside time weekly or monthly to prepare and portion the diet. The food can be prepared in bulk and portioned into containers . You can keep meals frozen for several months or refrigerated for about 5 days. When the supply of pre-prepared meals runs low, it’s time to make a new batch. If you like to feed a variety of foods, you can make multiple batches and color code by ingredients, rotating out the different meals.
Remember to increase portions appropriately as your puppy grows. It’s best to weigh your puppy every week or two to make sure you are feeding the proper amount of calories
The Spruce / Phoebe Cheong
If Youre Obsessed With Your Crockpot
The crockpot is actually one kitchen tool I know how to use and kind of enjoy using. Theres a crockpot recipe for pup, too. Its a simple beef-and-rice combo.
Heres what you need:
- 2.5 pounds of ground beef
- 1.5 cups of brown rice
- 1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1.5 cups of chopped butternut squash
- 1.5 cups of chopped carrots
- ½ cup of frozen peas
The grand total is about $16.95, and youll get about 11 cups out of this, so thats about $1.50 per cup.
Find the full recipe at Canine Journal.
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One Of Many Treats Inside: Chicken And Sweet Potato Treats
Makes about 30 treats / Prep Time: 60 minutes / Cook Time: 90 minutes
Chicken and sweet potato treats are a tasty way to keep your dog satiated. With protein and carbs, these treats will help fuel long hikes. They taste great and theyâre easy to carry.
Directions:
Ingredients:
You Must Provide A Nutritionally Balanced Diet
Dogs nutritional needs are different from our own, so its important to provide a diet that is balanced with the appropriate nutrients needed to optimize your dogs health.
These nutrients include calories to maintain weight or encourage weight gain or loss protein fat vitamins and minerals. Not enough or too many of any given nutrient can lead to diseases, malnutrition, obesity, and even death.
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Blood Tests Don’t Lieand Hooch’s Numbers Shifted Drastically In Just The First 6 Weeks We Made These Diet And Lifestyle Changes
He noticeably had more energy, was suffering less from inflammation, was shedding less with a more luxurious coat, and for the first time EVER he had zero bloating! NO GAS for the first time in his entire life! The best news though, was that those stage 4 kidney disease blood levels he had at his yearly checkup had climbed back up to to midrange stage 1 kidney disease blood levels! The extra time and energy invested in making his food and the other small changes we made to his lifestyle have given us more quality time with our beloved Hooch which is more than we could have ever hoped for!
If youve made our Easy Homemade Dog Food for your pup I would be so grateful if you would rate the recipe and let me know what you think in the comments below! I just love hearing from you and your reviews and comments really help others that visit This Mess is Ours. Want to be a part of our online community outside of the blog? Its easy!! All you have to do is follow @THISMESSISOURS on , , , , or to see cooking demos, and peeks into our day to day life.
Home Made Dog Food recipe for the Holidays
Pumpkin and Yogurt Bowl for Dogs Recipe
Homemade Dog Food Seasoning Blend recipe
Diy Homemade Dog Food With Chicken
If you think about a dogs closest modern relative, the grey wolf, Pendelton AL, et al. . Comparison of village dog and wolf genomes highlights the role of the neural crest in dog domestication. DOI: 10.1186/s12915-018-0535-2 it makes sense that a canines diet should incorporate at least some produce perhaps a few greens in the belly of whatever omnivorous animal the wolf hunted down .
To that end, this recipe includes some of the other ingredients youve seen already, plus a few cups of spinach. Dogs dont need much in each serving a little greenery goes a long way.
Pro tip: You can also sub in ground turkey for this recipe.
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What Kind Of Snacks Can I Feed A Dog With Kidney Disease
Our dogs seriously LOVE snack time, but snack time has had to seriously change! Dogs with kidney disease should avoid meat based chews/treats that are high in phosphorus, so you may find that you need to explore new types of treats for your dog instead. My probiotic rich Pumpkin & Yogurt Bowlsare our dog’s favorite treat these days! They also really enjoy thin apple slices, blueberries, and fresh banana chunks. When it comes to crunchy chews they both are SUPER into dehydrated banana chips, pumpkin, and sweet potato. I swear, our dog’s drool for them like they are the jerky chews we used to treat them with!
Make Sure The Diets Working
After your dogs been dining on your kitchen creations for 2 to 3 weeks, take them to the vet to make sure they are not gaining or losing too much weight. If their weight is changing, check it again in a couple of weeks.
Take your pooch for a checkup twice a year. The vet can look at their skin, coat, body condition, and any type of problems that might be happening as the result of the diet, Larsen says.
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Cooking Our Way To A Healthier Dog Diet
Ever since I started raising my own dogs, Id always wanted to make their food at home but thought it would be too expensive or too time consuming, or that they wouldnt get the nutrition they needed.
During the month of Bugs doggy depression, I vowed to make her precious life as comfortable as possible.
Both of my pugs had a range of health issues growing up, which I unfortunately found out were common for the breed.
My older one had persistent hot spots and itchiness that no commercial dog food could cure .
Bug was overweight for a while when she was younger, even though she ate the recommended amount of food for her target weight. Eventually, I settled on Wellness kibbles and they did well with that brand.
But, I wanted to explore other options. I wanted to give them real food fresh, nutritious ingredients that I recognized and could even eat myself.
Ive mentioned in my post on homemade whole grain chicken feed that the entire household all share the same whole grains and seeds that we buy in bulk, as well as the bounty that comes from our edible garden.
Everything our animals eat, we can eat.
When it comes to homemade feed for our laying hens, we stick to a tried-and-true formula that works for every layer: 16 to 17 percent protein , vitamins, minerals, and amino acids from a wide variety of grains and seeds, and free range of a pasture for weeds, greens, and insects.
Dogs, on the other hand, arent bred for a standard function the way chickens are.
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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You Need To Find A Verified And Reliable Recipe Source
Again, it is important for your dogs health to provide nutrients in the correct amounts to avoid excess or deficiency. So, while you can find recipes for generic homemade dog food online, in books, or in magazines, not all recipes have been checked to make sure they are nutritionally balanced.
Consult with a veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist to make sure that the recipe or recipes you use are balanced to meet your dogs nutritional needs.
An alternative option is to use the online consulting service called BalanceIT, a site operated by a veterinary nutritionist, to formulate a basic, nutritionally balanced recipe.
Guidelines To Creating Balanced Homemade Dog Food Recipes
Following are guidelines for feeding a raw or cooked home-prepared diet to healthy dogs. No single type of food, such as chicken, should ever make up more than half the diet.
Except where specified, homemade food for dogs can be fed either raw or cooked. Leftovers from your table can be included as long as theyre foods you would eat yourself, not fatty scraps.
Meat and Other Animal Products: Should always make up at least half of the diet. A raw diet for dogs can be excessively high in fat, which can lead to obesity. Another potential hazard of diets containing too much fat: If an owner restricts the amount fed too much, the dog may suffer deficiencies of other required nutrients.
Unless your dog gets regular, intense exercise, use lean meats , remove skin from poultry, and cut off separable fat. Its better to feed dark meat poultry than breast, however, unless your dog requires a very low-fat diet.
Raw Meaty Bones : If you choose to feed them, RMBs should make up one third to one half of the total diet. Use the lower end of the range if you feed bony parts such as chicken necks and backs, but you can feed more if youre using primarily meatier parts such as chicken thighs. Never feed cooked bones. Read a full report on raw meaty bones here.
Boneless Meat: Include both poultry and red meat. Heart is a good choice, as it is lean and often less expensive than other muscle meats.
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Chicken And Bean Dog Food
Heres another incredibly easy Crock-Pot recipe that you could eat for dinner yourself! This delicious-sounding dog food recipe features chicken, kidney beans, butternut squash, and peas. Plus, Katie Crenshaw of A Forks Tale offers great suggestions for supplements and substitutions! Did you know that you could add eggshells or chicken livers to your dogs food?