Homemade Dog Food: Variety is the key in making your dog's homemade food.

There is no particular diet that is best for all dogs. Some can tolerate wheat, corn, or beef while others have more sensitive stomachs and really have problems with these products. For our Westies, it is necessary to feed a diet that is free of wheat, corn, and beef. The recipes you will find on our pages will therefore be free from these products. Most Westies are sensitive to these products.

Variety is the key
For example, we started off using approximately 40 – 50% meat, 25 – 30% veggies, and then finish it off with 15 – 20% grains. You do not have to feed a perfectly balanced meal every time. Do you eat a perfectly balanced meal each time? But, within a two week period, you need to be sure they have the needed minerals, vitamins, etc. So, if you use carrots and brown rice for a couple of meals, you will want to use sweet potatoes, spinach, or oatmeal next. Or add in yogurt, cottage cheese, and healthy leftovers. Dogs do not require carbohydrates, but do need a little for energy. Just make sure your dog gets everything he needs over a week or two, not at every meal.
Remember this
While fresh foods are healthier than processed foods, a good commercial diet is better than a poorly designed homemade diet. If you don’t feel comfortable preparing a diet yourself, you can still improve the commercial diet you feed by adding fresh foods. Just be sure your commercial food diet is wheat, corn, and beef free. If you must use a commercial food, consider Flint River Ranch. It is natural, free of preservatives, a little pricey, but delivered to your door. The store brands are filled with preservatives to maintain that 12 – 14 month shelf life.

I will provide recipes, but remember, variety is the key and you know what your dog needs. So, these recipes will simply be a guide to a healthier diet for your dog.

Types of foods
It is essential, when feeding a homemade diet, that different types of foods be fed. Meat, eggs, dairy and other animal products should make up at least half of the diet. The diet needs to include organ meats as well as muscle meat.

Liver and kidney should make up around 5 percent of the total diet It’s better to feed small amounts a couple of times weekly, rather than large amounts at one time. Too much can lead to loose stools in some dogs.

Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition. They can be soft-boiled, hard-boiled, gently scrambled, or fed raw, if your dog likes them that way. You can feed as many eggs as you want, as long as you still feed lots of variety.

Dairy products, such as yogurt and cottage cheese, are well tolerated by most dogs and offer good nutritional value. Yogurt provides beneficial bacteria (probiotics). These products should be added after the food is cooked.

Muscle meat from a variety of sources such as lamb, chicken, and turkey should make up most of the rest of the diet. It can be fed ground or in chunks. You can also feed canned fish, such as jack mackerel, pink salmon, and sardines, one or two meals (out of 14) a week.

Vegetables provide many benefits. Leafy greens are among the healthiest veggies to feed; other good veggies include broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, turnips, rutabaga, celery, cucumber, bell peppers, zucchini and other summer squashes, carrots, and more.

Steaming is the best way to cook vegetables, as it removes fewer nutrients than boiling. You can add the water used to steam or boil veggies to the meal, as it will contain the minerals that were leached out during cooking (add leftover meat drippings, gravy, soups, sauces, etc., to make a savory broth). Some vegetables may cause gas if fed in large portions.

Grains that can be fed to dogs include brown rice, oatmeal, barley, etc. Just as with other foods, feeding a variety of different grains and carbs is better than always feeding the same kind. Remember that grains contribute to weight gain and sometimes other health problems. If your dog is overweight or suffers from allergies, arthritis, seizures, urinary incontinence, chronic ear infections, IBD, or other digestive disorders, you may want to try feeding a diet without grains or starchy carbs to see if your dog improves.

Fruits can be added to the diet in small amounts. Overripe fruits are easier to digest. Don’t feed grapes or raisins, which cause kidney damage to some dogs if too many are eaten. Good fruits to feed include apples, bananas, papayas, mangoes, and melon.

Remember that you can also include healthy leftovers (foods you would eat yourself) from your own meals in the diet you feed your dog.

<<Home>> <<Go to Part 4>>

Down South Enterprises

Hit Counter