Go Greener Tips

Probably you know about the pet food recall which happened recently. That massive pet food recall was carried out because of pet poisoning. Some known pet food brands were found to contain cheap components from China that were poisonous. Because of this, many companion animal owners have been on the lookout for alternatives to commercially manufactured pet foods. Many of these pet owners have resorted to making their own homemade pet food.

Maybe you have thought about learning to make your own homemade dog food but just do not know how to get started. I will attempt to give you some valuable tips on how to make homemade dry dog food.

Commercial pet foods can come in two varieties: wet and dry. As an alternative, it is easy to make your own wet or dry dog food with ingredients which you can easily locate in your own kitchen. To make homemade pet food can be just a matter of mixing ingredients together which are essential to a dog’s diet. Dogs require meat, some plant matter – vegetables and fruit, and a balanced amount of grains. Here are some ideas on how to make your own homemade pet food.

1. Mix brown rice, ground meat, water, and vegetables and cook them together. The amount of water will depend on whether you want the food to be wet or dry. If you want the pet food to be dry, then you may put only a small amount of water, and also add a little flour.

2. You can prepare a large quantity, sufficient for a number of days, and either keep it in the refrigerator or freeze it. However, never keep homemade dog food in the refrigerator longer than three days.

3. Do not include tea, chocolate, and coffee in the ingredients of your homemade dog food. These ingredients can cause seizures to the dog.

4. Carbohydrate can be used sparingly, and rice is the best source.

5. You can also include flour in your homemade pet food ingredients.

6. Garlic can also be included in the ingredients. Garlic helps dogs fight infection and keeping intestinal worms and fleas to a minimum. However, do not put too much of it as it can cause illness in your dog when ingested in large amounts.

7. You can experiment with adding small amounts of codliver oil or flaxseed oil to the ingredients of the homemade dog food. Codliver oil and flaxseed oil both contain omega 3 which is good for your dog’s skin and coat.

8. Keep some variety in your dog’s daily diet. You can do this by preparing different kinds of homemade food and using different ingredients every day or every other day.

9. You can give your dog raw meat or cooked meat, but never give partially cooked meat which can be a serious source of bacteria.

10. Never think of including raisins, grapes, onions, macadamia nuts, and nutmeg in the ingredients for your homemade dog food. These can cause problems to dogs.

See – making your own pet food is not that hard. You only need to learn the essential foods that can give your dog the nutrients it needs. Your vet may be able to provide you with some guidance on nutrition, but be aware that many vets recommend some type of commercial dog food, because they don’t learn nutrition in vet school and mostly obtain their information from the commercial pet food manufacturers.