Making Your Own Dog Food, How to make dog food, Home made Dog Food

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Making your own dog food has never been easier…

We sincerely think that the best dog food recipe and most healthy are the homemade dog food recipes which are safe, healthy, natural, free from additives and preservatives and a recipe that your dog or puppy will love.

Why choose home made dog food?

As a dog owner and lover it is only natural to want the most healthy pet.

However, many people simply forget the importance of a puppy or dog’s diet.

We keep repeating this but it is very important that when making your own dog food you check with your Vet the kind of diet and recipe that would be most suitable for your Dog.

Some dog owners choose to make their own dog food from home for various reasons.

It maybe that they want the freedom to choose what their dog or puppy eats.

They may be worried about preservatives, additives or pet food recalls.

A dog owner may feel that they can feed their dog a healthier diet if they make the food themselves whether it is freeze dried, dry, moist or grain free – it is your choice but…

We can not stress this enough check with your Vet first -one simple reason for this is that many sites across the Internet mention feeding a dog or puppy Garlic in their diet – this is not correct – garlic is is part of the deadly nightshade family and is toxic to dogs in large quantities.

Here are some of the top reasons why dog owners choose to make their own dog food.

Pro’s for making your own dog food

• By making your own dog food you are able to avoid pet food recalls.

• You are in control of what goes into your dog food -this enables you to leave preservatives, additives and colorings out of your homemade dog food.

• It has been argued that some Vets feel home made dog food reduces bloating in dogs compared to bought dog food.

• You are able to choose a diet that fits your moralsand values i.e. a vegetarian diet – so that you don’t have to handle meat, see meat or even smell it.

• You are able to customize your dog’s diet. By makingyour own dog food you can cater for specific health concerns that yourdog or puppy may have.If you have a dog or puppy that has food allergies you can customize a diet to cater for this.

Con’s against making your own dog food

1. If you have a busy schedule and work long hours you may find it hard to make homemade dog food.

• If you are unable to buy the ingredients in bulk it can be quite expensive

• You need to be fully aware of your dog’s diet needs – so regular check ups with your vet maybe needed – so the cost may mount up.

• It is not always easy to assess whether your dog or puppy is getting the appropriate nutrients.

• If you are not educated in what is safe and not dangerous to your dog regarding the ingredients you may inadvertently feed your dog something that is dangerous to your dog or puppy’s health.

It is entirely up to you whether you decide to use the same recipe everyday for your dog or puppy.

Some dog owners do choose to mix and match so that it gives some variation to their dog.

However, some dog owners feel that if their dog is getting the required ingredients there is no need to keep changing their diet so they just keep it the same.

Either way it’s up to you!

Making Your Own Dog Food

Stage 1 – Choosing the Ingredients

We first need to choose some of the ingredients that you can use to make your own dog food.
Here is some of the meat that you can choose from:

1. Turkey
2. Chicken
3. Pork
4. Beef
5. Venison
6. Veal

Although you can use liver it can be problematic to your dog’s health so we advise you to leave this ingredient out.

You can also use organ meats sparingly with chicken and beef as they do have great nutrients – but again they can be harmful to your dog or puppy if too much is used.

We advise to not use more than 10% of the overall meat content if you choose to use organ meat.

Here is some of the vegetables that you can choose when making your own dog food:

1. Carrots
2. Tomatoes
3. Peas
4. Corn
5. Green Beans are a great way to fill your dog or puppy up – especially if they are overweight and tend to over eat.

Top Dog Safety Tips

Top Tip

When choosing your ingredients it maybe worth incorporating some starch food into the dog’s diet – you can use potatoes or rice.

We tend to use a base of chicken and rice when one of our dog’s has an upset stomach.

Top Diet Tip

Never feed your dog chocolate as it contains theobromine which is very toxic to dogs.

You should also never feed your dog garlic grapes or onions as they are part of the deadly nightshade group and also toxic to dogs and puppies.

Making Your Own Dog Food

Stage 2 – Time to Make the Dog Food.

Most home made diets are usually cooked although there are certain diets that are left raw or uncooked.

Most dog owners choose to cook their dog food – and if you are new to making your own dog food we recommend that you choose to cook the ingredients first especially if you are using meat.

The main reason that we recommend that you cook your meat is due to parasites such as salmonella that can multiply in raw uncooked meat.

You first need to remove all bones from the meat as cooked bones can splinter and cause serious problems to your dog or puppy.

Due to the safety issues we will teach you how to make dog food that uses cooked ingredients.

Cooking the Meat.

• Start by placing the meat on a clean surface – free from germs

• Cut the meat into small segments – 1 inch for large dogs, 1/2 inch for a medium sized dog and about a 1/3 of an inch for small dogs.

• Now place the meat into a small pan and cover with a small amount of water – just enough to cover the meat.

• Now place the food on a medium heat and wait until the meat is cooked through – keep stirring the meat until the water has gone.If the water doesn’t disappear then drain the meat through a colander.

Cooking the Vegetables

• This is pretty straight forward – place the vegetables in a pan of water – bring to the boil and the drain when tender.

• Do exactly the same with the starch food – cook potatoes until soft. Make sure that you cook the rice properly, it is much better to have overcooked soft rice than crunchy uncooked rice.Purchase a rice cooker if you feel that it would be beneficial.