Thursday, March 28, 2024

What Can I Feed My Dog Other Than Dog Food

Vet In Clear Lake Texas

How I Feed My Dog a Raw Food Diet | Way easier and cheaper than you think!

A well-balanced diet should take into consideration your dogs age, size and activity level. All dogs need protein, healthy fats, carbohydrates, and essential vitamins and minerals in their diet. Store-bought foods are prepared with these nutritional requirements in mind. However, if you are making your dog food at home, its wise to consult your veterinarian to ensure your dog is getting the specific nutrients they need.

As a veterinary hospital serving Clear Lake and Webster, Texas, we are passionate about pet health and wellness. While we dont encourage feeding dogs human food from the table, we are supportive of a healthy, homemade diet. If there is a food you are wondering about that is not on the list, give us a call at Nasa Pet Hospital and well be happy to let you know if it is safe for your pup.

Raw Or Undercooked Meat

Raw meat can contain Escherichia coli and Salmonella, which are types of bacteria that can cause food poisoning in dogs and humans. Cooking the meat properly kills the bacteria.

In recent years, certain manufacturers have promoted the benefits of raw meat for dogs, and some boutique products contain it.

It is important to understand that raw meat diets pose health risks to dogs and may not provide a complete nutritional balance.

Types Of People Food Treats For Your Puppy

Whats healthy for you is more likely to be healthy for your pets, too.

  • Lean meat: Small amounts of turkey, chicken, and lean beef are good, but avoid ham as it may be too rich for a puppys digestion. Be sure you do not give your dog any meat that contains cooked poultry bones or ham bones, which can splinter.
  • Vegetables: Cooked or raw veggies such as broccoli, carrots, and asparagus can be great treats. If guests want to treat your pet, suggest they start with the fresh veggie tray. Dips or sauces should be avoided.
  • Fruit: Remember to remove the seeds or pits in fruit that can be toxic or cause blockages. Oranges contain vitamin C and apples can help dental health when chewed. Banana, cantaloupe, and watermelon also are fine for puppy treats. Many dogs like peanut butter as a treat.
  • Starches: Potatoes, rice, and bread should be limited to small amounts as they are high in calories. Avoid giving sauces like gravy along with the starches as they can be too rich.
  • Milk: Puppies may love milk as a treat, but momma dog milk is different than the cows milk people drink. Puppies often cant easily digest milk and too much can cause diarrhea. Instead, try offering a bit of plain yogurt.

The Spruce / Charlotte Engelsen

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What Kind Of Human Foods Can Dogs Eat

We all feed our dogs a little human food from time to time. When those puppy dog eyes are looking up at you at the table or while youre cooking, its hard to resist. These kinds of scraps really arent the best treats for our dogs and should be limited. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of additives and other ingredients in these foods that arent good for our canines. And, overeating certain human foods can lead to obesity in our dogs.

On the other hand, a lot of owners have taken to feeding their furry companions homemade dog food. There are a number of reasons this can be a good option for your pet. If you are considering feeding your dog human food over traditional dog food, what foods does your dog need and what foods are unhealthy for him?

What Nutritional Requirements Exist For Dogs

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When choosing which food to buy, youll want to understand the nutritional needs of your dog and how they may differ from other dogs. If you have a new puppy youll need food specifically formulated for young, growing pups. Or if you have a dog on the small or large end of the spectrum there will be a specific formula more suited to your dogs needs.

To ensure that youre buying food that contains all of the vitamins and nutrients your dog needs, look on the label for the words complete and balanced. This is a term the FDA uses to regulate dog and cat food nutrient profiles established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials . The ability to feed your dog one food that contains all the vitamins and nutrients they need is an advantage over feeding your dog a raw diet, which may then require additional vitamin supplements.

One supplement you might want to include in your dogs daily diet regardless of the dog food you choose is omega-3 fatty acids. Just like in humans, your dog needs a balance of omega-3 and omega-6. The imbalance comes from a high amount of omega-6 which is found in most manufactured dog foods. If youre feeding your dog commercial food, you should consider adding an omega-3 supplement to correct the imbalance.

Your dog needs omega-3 for a variety of reasons including:

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Advantages Of Homemade Dinners

Making dog food at home can be an economical option in comparison to other high-quality diets, especially when seeking to feed a dog with special dietary needs. Meals typically consist of chicken breast, ground beef, or fish with rice, sweet potato, green beans, carrots, and the occasional liver or organ meat. Dogs that are picky eaters rarely turn down a home-cooked meal. If allergies are an issue, a homemade diet can eliminate any risk of cross-contamination from foods that may be processed in facilities where other allergens are present. For dogs with special needs, such as poor dentition or jaw problems, homemade food may be necessary to meet the needs of these pups.

Why Dog Food Matters

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Make no mistake, food is the most important factor in your dog’s life. Through diet, he has to get everything his body needs: from the energy needed to keep chasing those balls to the incredible array of nutrients that form every tissue and keep every cellular process going, it must all be delivered through his diet. Too much or too little of any one nutrient can quickly cause upsets and if something gets into your dog’s diet that shouldn’t be there, you can be sure that problems won’t be far away. From weaning right through to old age, it is diet more than any other factor that will determine the quality and the length of your dog’s life.

You owe it to your dog to get his food right but don’t fret, we’re here to help all the way!

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Serve Small Portions Of Easy To Digest Foods

When your dog has been sick and theyve had a short fast, you want to slowly reintroduce them to solid food. For small dogs, 2 3 tablespoons per serving is probably all they can handle. You could double that for a larger dog. A small snack every few hours will be easier on your dogs stomach than one or two large meals.

The go-to recipe for dogs who are sick is the classic boiled chicken and rice. Its gentle on the stomach, easy to digest and gluten-free, which make it a great choice for dogs who have been throwing up. If you dont feel like cooking, a gentle canned food, like the Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken, can be a good alternative.

Unfortunately, for dogs dogs with allergies, chicken and rice may not always be a great choice.

How To Cook Sweet Potatoes For My Dog

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As we have seen in the previous section, raw sweet potatoes pack quite a punch and there is nothing wrong with feeding them to your dogs raw.

Raw vegetables are harder for your dog to digest than cooked vegetables but you can get around this by cutting them into smaller chunks.

Feeding raw vegetables is easier, faster and with less mess than cooking them.

But, if you still want to feed them to your dog cooked, what is the best way?

Although Im a keen fan of roasted sweet potatoes or sweet potato chips myself my dogs dont get to them in this form.

This is because by roasting them you are destroying more of the nutrients and you are cooking them in a bit of oil, which you dont really want into your dogs diet.

My dog friendly approach is to steam them.

This is a very gentle way- it makes them softer and therefore easier to digest but they retain most of their vitamin and mineral goodness!

I steam my sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes but they are cut into 2 cm chunks.

In terms of texture, Im looking for a bit of softness in the potato but I dont want to steam it for so long that it is coming apart.

Soft enough to just poke the end of a knife in with little resistance.

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Lemons And Limes: Cant Eat

Lemons and limes can be toxic to your dog.

This is because the skins of lemons and limes contain a substance called psoralen, which can cause dogs to have gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea .

If very large amounts of psoralen are consumed by dogs, more severe symptoms, such as muscle tremors, difficulty walking, liver failure and death, can result.

What Human Food Can Dogs Eat

Dogs are carnivores, but theyre not true carnivores like cats. In the wild, dogs commonly eat scavenged vegetables and fruits in addition to their usual diet. This means that dogs are actually quite open to a variety of different foods. Heres what human food dogs can eat:

  • Plain, non-processed meats
  • Vegetables
  • Fruits

However, just because your dog CAN eat many of the foods that fall into these categories, not all of them will be a particularly healthy choice. We have to take into account the differing metabolism of our dog and the overall health benefits of every ingredient. That said, while it requires a lot of forethought, its certainly possible to develop a balanced diet of healthy human food for dogs.

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How To Shop For The Best Food For Dogs

One of the most important steps in figuring out the best dog food is through the ingredient list, said Freeman, noting the first three are the most critical. This will help you determine if the formula is vegetable-based with things like corn and rice or meat-based with chicken, fish, or lamb, said Freeman. While each dog is different, they generally do best on a protein-rich, meat-based diet, she added.

Next, analyze what type of meat is within. Look for brands that specifically name the type of meat, like beef, chicken, or lamb, said Morgan. She noted that meat, bone meal or meat byproducts could come from any animal. Similarly, poultry meal signals any bird, she said.

The ingredients will also highlight some of what you want to avoid. Freeman suggested avoiding dog food that includes: dyes , sugar and high salt , as well as other solvents and preservatives like propylene glycol, BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin.

Dry Dog Food Versus Wet Or Canned Dog Food

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Freeman argued the amount of water in wet food might make it an unwise investment, and instead recommended you go with dry food. One benefit to dry food , she noted, is that the friction of chewing it can help keep your dogs teeth and gums healthy. Its also less messy. Morgan added that bags of dry food also tend to be more affordable compared to the other options.

However, Morgan noted that kibble typically includes less meat and often includes some sort of grain, legume, or potato. If you go with kibble, Morgan suggested topping the dry food with a bit of canned food, meat from home, or other toppers.

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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.

Human Food For Dogs That Will Not Harm

Have you been wondering Is human food bad for dogs? Although we humans try to keep our dogs on their canine diets, we sometimes just cant resist slipping them an occasional human morsel. If youve been wondering what human food is safe for dogs, you certainly do not want to miss this article.

Lets explore the best human food for dogs that are safe and healthy for our canine friends.

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What Do The Experts Say About Vegan Dog Food

Professor Andrew Knight, who conducts research on vegan dog food, said: Dogs, cats and other species have requirements for nutrients, they dont need meat or any other particular ingredient.

They need the set of nutrients, and provided those are supplied to them in a diet thats sufficiently tasty that theyre motivated to eat it, and digestible, wed expect to see them thrive. And thats what the evidence seems to indicate.2

Opponents claim that to feed your dog right on a vegan diet, youd have to work with a veterinary specialist. But the truth is, most vets are not well educated in this area.

Thats why vegan dog foods are usually created with veterinary experts who understand dogs nutritional needs.

Its also worth highlighting that dogs are not just docile wolves. Because dogs were domesticated, they evolved to be able to digest a variety of foods because they survived on food scraps.

As a result, their digestive systems can handle plant foods as well as meat and eggs they are omnivores3.

It doesnt mean they can eat anything and be healthy, they still have specific needs, but it means they dont have to eat meat as long as they receive the right combination of nutrients.

Human Food Safety For Dogs

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Almonds:No, dogs shouldnt eat almonds. Almonds may not necessarily be toxic to dogs like macadamia nuts are, but they can block the esophagus or even tear the windpipe if not chewed completely. Salted almonds are especially dangerous because they can increase water retention, which is potentially fatal to dogs prone to heart disease.

Bread: Yes, dogs can eat bread. Small amounts of plain bread wont hurt your dog, but it also wont provide any health benefits either. It has no nutritional value and can really pack on the carbohydrates and calories, just like in people. Homemade breads are a better option than store-bought, as bread from the grocery store typically contains unnecessary preservatives, but its best to avoid it altogether.

Cashews: Yes, dogs can eat cashews. Cashews are OK for dogs, but only a few at a time. Theyve got calcium, magnesium, antioxidants, and proteins, but while these nuts contain less fat than others, too many can lead to weight gain and other fat-related conditions. A few cashews make a nice treat, but only if theyre unsalted.

Cheese: Yes, dogs can eat cheese in small to moderate quantities. As long as your dog isnt lactose intolerant, which is rare, but still possible in canines, cheese can be a great treat. Many kinds of cheese can be high in fat, so go for lower-fat varieties like cottage cheese or mozzarella. Many dogs enjoy their very own dog-specific Himalayan dog chew made of dried cheese .

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How Often Should I Feed My Dog Human Food

An example may be that a 15-pound dog should have a 1 kilogram weight requirement. 5 cups of food, 1 cup of liquid. You should take 5 out of your pets number of meals into account. Most dogs should be fed two meals per day so you should set a feeding size of 34 cups per meal for this type of dog.

Is It Ok To Only Feed Your Dog Human Food

Dogs that are regularly eating human food cannot obtain the appropriate balance of nutrients. Accordingly, you should think twice about feeding a completely human food diet to your dog. It should be taken slowly. When you eat dinner with your dog that is used to eating kibble, leaving a plate full of leftovers in his food bowl can cause him upset stomach within seconds.

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