Want To Know How to Make Homemade Dog Food? – We Reveal The Top 3 Things You Need To Know!
ByIf you want to know how to make homemade dog food, you are one of a growing number of loving owners who want to make sure their dog is fed only the best natural ingredients. The great news is that it’s really simple to get started – read on for the top three things you need to know!
1. You need to understand a dog’s natural diet, the one that his ancestors would have eaten before commercial dog foods came along. Unlike cats who are natural carnivores, dogs were scavengers with a more varied diet which included fruit and vegetables as well as meat. And remember, dogs were eating raw meat and bones long before we came along with our ovens! When eating animals in the wild, they also ate the semi-digested grains that these animals had consumed, so whole grains such as brown rice, oatmeal, barley etc should be included in their diets today. An occasional egg and fish would also have been something they would have eaten as part of their natural diet.
2. Living as part of a pack in the wild, puppies would have learnt from older dogs that some foods are to be avoided, a role that you need to take on for your dog today. As well as some ‘new’ foods that are a common part of a hum diet, there are good reasons why some foods should be avoided, even though they may have originally been part of a dogs natural diet.
So, here are some foods you should not feed your dog:
Onions – Contain sulfoxides and disulfides, which can damage red blood cells and cause anemia. Garlic is less toxic than onions.
Caffein/Chocolate – Caffeine, theobromine and theophylline can be toxic and affect the heart and nervous systems.
Raw Pork – This is due to the risk of infection from the parasites often found in raw pork.
Alcohol – Can cause intoxication, coma, and death.
Grapes/Raisins – Contain a toxin which can damage the kidneys.
Macadamia Nuts – Contain a toxin, which can affect the digestive and nervous systems and muscle.
Mushrooms – Can contain toxins, which may affect multiple systems in the body, cause shock, and result in death.
The danger these foods represent obviously depends upon the size of the dog in relation to the volume ingested
3. Finally, you need to understand that while it may work out cheaper, feeding your dog a natural diet of homemade dog food will take up more of your valuable time. In the early stages you will need to research and experiment with recipes, and try out different combinations until you find what is best suited to your dog. You also need to be prepared to introduce changes to your dogs diet slowly to minimise problems, and like with children, for some dogs you may need to be cunning in how you disguise those vegetables!
We recommend this site as an excellent recipe resource on how to make homemade dog food, packed full of tasty recipes and ideas.
