Ultimate Guide of Homemade Dog Food

 

Preparing homemade dog food comes with more benefits to both of you and your dog. You could be able to identify what’s your dog eat the most. Some dogs are picky; thus, homemade dog food gives you control over your dog’s favorite meals. On the other hand, some have allergies as well as sensitive stomachs. Therefore, making your food guarantees you no wastage and that you have adequate food on hand to prepare your pet’s meals. For his or her own safety, you should also purchase cat insurance. Visit Bivvy‘s website to learn more about this.

Well, homemade dog food is very much easy to prepare. But they some of these things you should consider when making it. These would rest assured that your pet gets a healthy bowl of the meal always. Your dog is also a part of your family, and it also needs balanced food as you do. So in this post, I will detail everything you should know about homemade dog food, including easy recipes you could try out.

Recommended homemade dog recipes

Before looking at some of the things you must consider on your dog’s meal, let me take you through vet-approved recipes. You can even prepare these homemade dog food recipes for small dogs.

Recipe 1: Rice and Chicken

Chicken and rice are provided with proteins and carbohydrates. They are easy to digest, especially when the stomach of your dog is upset. You only need white rice, chicken, water, pot, and measuring cups. Here’s how to prepare it:

• Purchase high grade of chicken, preferably boneless chicken.
• Use short or long grain rice. Both work well, as long it’s white rice because brown rice is unpalatable.
• Prepare to cook a chicken by cutting it into smaller pieces of you want to feed puppies and dogs that are missing teeth. But for large breeds, just cut medium pieces.

Cooking your ingredients

• Boil the chicken in a full covered water
• Cook it for 20 – 30 minutes
• Make sure it fully cooked, failure to that your dog will vomit or have diarrhea
• Cool the chicken and pull out bones, if any.
• While the chicken is cooling, prepare your rice.
• Wash the rice before cooking it to avoid more starch.
• When the rice is cooked, cool it too.

Serving Your Dog

• Mix rice and chicken, and blend with a fork
• 3 cups of rice should be mixed with a cup of chicken
• This recipe mustn’t be consumed daily.

Recipe 2: Hamburger and Liver

Unlike the first recipe, this one requires more ingredients. Here’s the list to prepare this homemade dog meal.

Ingredients

• Thoroughly cook meat, vegetables, and grains.
• Blend blueberries into s fruit paste.
• Cook hamburger, liver, oats, and rice.
• Cool the cooked ingredients
• Afterward, combine all the ingredients.

Serving Your Dog

• When all ingredients combined, roll into small balls and serve your dog.
• This recipe must be consumed fresh, twice a day.
• If there are any leftovers while serving, refrigerate them less than three days

Essential nutrients to add in your homemade dog food.

• Liquid

When preparing homemade dog food, making sure that it’s high in moisture. This would help the digestive system of your pet.

• Proteins

Proteins supply energy to your dog. You can add eggs, beans, and lentils to your dog’s food, especially on the pregnant dog, lactating female, and babies.

• Fat

Fats promote a healthy system for your pet. You can get fat from plant-based oils and low mercury fish. This is because too much fat can lead to pancreatitis issues.

• Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates provide energy to dogs. But you must add a small amount of carbs in your ingredients. Carbohydrates you must add should consist of vegetables and grains.

• Vitamins

Vitamins should be supplemented in homemade dog food. If your dog doesn’t get enough vitamins, it can be easily affected by skin disease, eyesight, and bones. You can get vitamins in vegetables to prepare healthy meals for your dog.

• Minerals

Adding ingredients that contain minerals to the food of your dog is pivotal. Minerals are essential nutrients for the healing process in your pet whenever it gets wound. Foods you could add include those that contain calcium.

Importance of adequate nutrients in homemade dog food

As mentioned above, the proper nutrients are essential when feeding your dog. Like humans, a dog needs a certain amount of vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, liquid, mineral, and fats to stay healthy. Therefore mixing a variety of ingredients for homemade dog food provides with everything your dog needs every day.

When a dog gets adequate nutrients, this helps to control some common dog diseases. And the digestive system of your dog improves when it gets enough nutrients. If we look at the statistics, many dogs suffer from the digestion process. And the cause is of lacking enough nutrients in their system.

Foods to avoid when preparing homemade dog food

After figuring out the importance of nutritious food for your dog, it’s also crucial to avoid certain ingredients when preparing homemade dog meal. Dogs can become sick or allergic to some specific foods, just like humans, when given toxic foods. Here’s the list to avoid

• Alcohol

Any food that contains alcohol must be avoided when preparing dog food. They can cause difficulty in breathing. Studies also show that alcohol can even lead to sudden death to your pet.

• Chocolates

Chocolates are toxic to dogs, especially dark ones, as they have the highest level of caffeine. This can cause seizures, abnormal heartbeat, and death to your pet. When feeding your pet, kids may try to spoil the dogs with a mixture of chocolate. But you must inform them about the toxicity of chocolate.

• Onion and Garlic

Don’t give dogs food that has cooked or uncooked onions and garlic. Dogs don’t have enough enzymes that can break down the properties in these edible bulbs. Whenever dogs consume anything contains onions, they face a severe digestive disorder. And onions can weaken the blood cells of your pet.

• Salty foods

As you aim for better health for your pet, also avoid too salty foods. These include processed meats, cheese, crisp, and many more. Excessive salt can dehydrate the dog, leading to liver, heart, and kidney failure.

FAQs

1)How to prepare homemade food for picky dogs?

Mix a smaller portion of different types of ingredients with something your dog loves. If they eat, then you could continue to give them.

2)Can I make dog food with sweet potatoes?

You can add sweet potatoes to your ingredients whenever you make homemade food. You can either boil, bake, or steam them to your dog.

Final Verdict

In conclusion, what I’m advising you if you’re not sure about some types of foods you want to give to your dog, try to consult your veterinarian. They can guide you will in whatever question you could have. Not only that, but they can also make the blood test to your pet to identify the nutrients that could be lacking in your dog.

Also, keep in mind that the quantity and quality of food you give your dog are based on your dog’s breed. In short, the type of your is one that determines homemade dog food serving size. And it’s not that all food that can be exhausted by humans is beneficial to your dog. Some may cause pancreatitis disease, especially daily products. Overall, make it a priority to get adequate information before preparing homemade dog food.