The Ingredient Choices

Choosing the right ingredients for your dog food is where you need to start. The best quality dog food starts with the proper food choices. While you do not need to feed your dog ribeye, you certainly cannot feed her meat by products either. You will want to find a quality meat that is easy on the wallet. Going to the local butcher is your best bet. You can get meat for a discount cost that is great. For your dog’s energy source and to help them digest, you will want to choose a tasty grain such as rice, pasta, or oatmeal. This adds a source of carbohydrate. Make sure to add in some vegetables for fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Tie it all together with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and you have a well balanced diet for your dog that he will love.

Why Fresh Is Best

Fresh is always best in almost everything, your dog food is no exception. The best quality dog food is the kind that is fresh. Additives and preservatives are not good for our dogs. They can cause allergies that can not only be costly, but make our beloved dog feel horrible. Most commercial dog foods also do not have all the best ingredients. In order to stay fresh and be cost effective, they are full of fillers, meat byproducts, and dried vegetables. Being able to pick and choose what is in your dog’s food is a benefit to both you and him. You can make sure to avoid any ingredients he may be allergic to or that your dog just does not care for.

Staying Cost Effective

The best quality dog food should not cost you an arm and a leg. It should be cost effective and full of everything your dog needs. Just because you use fresh ingredients does not mean you have to spend more money than you do on a high quality commercial dog chow. The way to stay cost effective is to make sure that you buy eat from a butcher. If you ask for meat ends they will give you an even better deal. Vegetables can be bought frozen so that they are still high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, but last longer. Frozen prepackaged vegetables are much more cost efficient than fresh.

Brad Weston writes dog food related articles for the Good Dog Food Recipes website at http://www.gooddogfoodrecipes.com

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Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can’t prepare a nutritious meal for your dog either. After all, with the exception of a few types of meat that really don’t wind up in dog food much anymore, dog food makers actually use the same type of foods that we do. If you don’t believe it, read the label on a can of dog food.

Why would anyone want to go through the extra work to prepare food for his or her dog at home rather than purchasing it in the supermarket or at the pet store? For one thing, you get to control what goes into your dog’s food and therefore, you can pay special attention to his nutritional needs.

Secondly, it may actually be cheaper to prepare homemade dog food rather than purchasing it in a can at the store. Even if you buy it in bulk or on sale, canned dog food can be costly, especially if your dog is a finicky eater and prefers the better and more expensive brands.

Thirdly, your dog might just like the taste of it better than the canned variety. Some canned varieties have added fillers, artificial flavorings, or animal by products. The taste may not be as natural or as flavorful as the kind that you will be making.

Fourth, the time that you take to prepare it can be additional bonding time for the two of you. One of you can work in the kitchen preparing the food, while the other is watching the one that’s working. Your dog will probably be doing more than watching though, because he’ll probably be drooling as well, as the aroma of the food begins to waft over to his nostrils to kick start his salivary glands.

At any rate, preparing homemade dog food is simpler than you think. One of the easiest meats to prepare for this venture is ground meat. In fact, ground turkey has less fat and is easier to digest than ground beef, so I suggest that you use that. Ground veal is another good option. However, it is usually more expensive, plus it may not be available in your supermarket.

Avoid adding salt or oil since you probably don’t need it. The extra salt will make your dog thirsty and it really isn’t good for him. Cook the meat on slow, stirring or turning it constantly to allow the juices to remain inside the meat. Once the juices have turned clear, the meat is fully cooked.

If necessary, you can use a bit of soy bean oil to keep the meat from sticking to the pan. Additionally, you can add some beef or chicken broth to the pan while cooking the meat.

If you plan on adding vegetables, you can add precooked vegetables when the meat appears to be almost finished cooking. Additionally, you can add raw vegetables in the beginning of the cooking stage provided you have diced them into small pieces.

When selecting the vegetables that you will add, attempt to use some that have the most nutritional value for your dog in regard to vitamin content. Ideally, green vegetables are always a good option. Once your dog has finished eating his homemade brand of dog food, look to see exactly which vegetables he left in his dish if any. Whatever he left, he isn’t going to eat, so don’t include it with the next batch that you make.

How much food you cook depends on several things. It depends on the size of your dog, your dog’s appetite, and the number of meals that you want to be able to store for the week. If you like cooking, then simply prepare your dog’s meal when you prepare your own. If you don’t like to cook, then prepare several meals at a time and refrigerate the leftovers for 3 to 4 days.

Several additional options that you have for meal time is to include a bit of rice or cubed fortified bread to your pet’s dinner entree. If your pet is a bit under the weather, consider crushing some dog vitamins to add to his food.

Whatever you do, always introduce a change in your dog’s diet gradually. This will avoid digestion and elimination problems. Simply add a bit of the homemade dog food to his existing food, gradually increasing the amount and decreasing the amount of his old food until you have him on 100% homemade dog food.

Author Ian White is founder of pet-sitters.biz Dog Sitters and Walkers Directory

Dogs are happier in their own environment. Try this Pet friendly alternative to boarding your dog.

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Dental Health: Feeding raw is one of the best things you can do for your dogs teeth. Dogs floss and brush while they eat and all the ripping, tearing, and chewing associated with raw feeding really gets the job done! It’s so much better than having to feed your dog, then having to remember to give them another product to help clean their teeth.

Helps with Allergies: Some dogs are naturally more prone to sensitive skin than others. We found that feeding raw really reduces breakouts for our dogs that have sensitive skin. Most dogs react to the “unnatural” stuff in processed dog food. Since switching to raw, we’ve been very happy about the condition of our dog’s coat and skin,

They smell better: I had read that raw fed dogs have less “doggy odor” but didn’t really believe it until after we had been feeding raw for about a month. Our dogs really did smell much better. Where before we had to give them a bath once a week to stem the strong “doggy” smell. Our dogs can now go much longer without smelling like they need a bath. And no it’s not neglectful to bathe them less than once a week. In fact one popular dog training site says that unless your dog is rolling around in mud or poo, once a month is enough. That’s about where we’re at now, and even then, it’s not like, “Ew, you stink. You need a bath” like it was before. We just get to the point that we feel it’s time for a bath simply because of the time since their last bath, not really because they “need a bath.”

“Better” waste: Many dog foods claim to lessen the waste eliminated from a dog, but raw feeding has done this far better than any other dog food we’ve ever tried (and we’ve tried some pretty costly premium stuff). Seriously, we have nearly 80+lb dogs with “piles” you can easily pick up with one hand (using a plastic bag of course). Before where we used to have 4-5 landmine sized piles a day (at least). Now all we have is 1 pile of a few non-squishy nuggets. Then there’s the smell. The only thing better or as good as less waste is less smell accompanying that waste. Seriously, having multiple dogs can get smelly very quickly. So can having a litter. You’ll be amazed at a raw fed dog’s waste. I know, not the most pleasant conversational piece, but really, anyone who has dogs can appreciate waste with far less smell. One of our friends said that was their decision maker to switch to raw. They came by our house one day and there was “no smell.” Another one of our friends was also surprised at the lack of smell when they came by our house for the first time. They new we had more than one dog and were thinking that there would be quite a strong “dog” smell, but they were pleasantly surprised at how little dog smell there was on our property.

They Love It: Last, but not least, the dogs love it! How many times have you spent good money on dog food hoping it would be the one that makes your dog look great only to have your dog eat it for a few days, then lose interest? Every time I hear a dog owner talking about how picky their dog is with food, I think, “Try raw.” Our dogs absolutely love it! It’s true some dogs may have to get used to it when first switching over, but we didn’t have that experience at all.

Believe it or not there are actually more reasons why we love feeding raw, but in order to really get a good idea of what it’s like you really have to try it. However, I highly suggest learning as much as possible about feeding raw before making the switch.

One popular online resource is the e-book called “Real Dogs Don’t Eat Kibble.”

by Stacie Mahoe

Learn more about feeding raw (including our favorite resources) at http://hubpages.com/hub/rawfeddogs

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