Homemade Dog Food Recipes
Homemade dog food recipes, just like any recipe, should provide the best possible protein, fat, carbohydrate mix for proper nutrition. One very good reason to prepare homemade dog food is to insure that your dog is getting the proper nutrition. Many commercial brands of dog food use filler items that provide little if any nutrition.
Homemade Dog Food with the proper nutritional ingredients can
keep your dog healthy and happy.
Minimum nutritional requirements for commercial dry dog food is 18% protein and 5% fat. The rest is filler and may have little if any food value. Not to mention the artificial flavors, color, and by products. Check the label of your favorite dog food for both ingredients and nutrition.
Wet or canned dog food minimums may have as little as 8% protein and
3% fat. If you look at the label, up to 82% of the food is water. You think that’s a healthy meal for your dog?
It may taste good, even fill their stomach, but provide low
amounts of nutrition.
How much protein and fat is appropriate for a healthy diet for your dog? If you look at any zoo’s feeding requirements for wolves it’s over 50% protein and 40% fat.
Now that's based on a rigorous physical lifestyle but the
difference somewhat startling.
A
good way to start out or just supplement your favorite (and
maybe your dog's favorite) dry dog food is to provide the
missing protein and fat. A simple and easy to provide recipe
for adding protein and fat with homemade dog food is below.
Ingredients
3
pounds (6 cups) of chopped or ground raw Turkey
2½ tablespoons of bone meal
¼ cup of vegetable oil
4 large eggs
Mix
the eggs, oil, bone meal together then combine with the
turkey. You can take this mixture and break it up into 6 one
cup servings for freezing. Mix a half of cup with every cup of
the dry dog food at meal time.
This
will bring the protein and fat up to a more acceptable level
for your dog. Depending on the dry food's ingredients, this
should add an additional 15% protein, 10% fat, and 20%
carbohydrates. This is a much more nutritious meal and easy to
prepare and store.
If
you want to totally replace the dry dog food you need to add
the following to the ingredients of the recipe above.
Extra
Ingredients
5
cups of raw rolled oats (11 cups cooked)
1 cup of cooked vegetables
2 cups of brewers yeast
¼ cup of kelp powder
4 large egg shells ground up
Bring
about 10 cups of water to a boil, add the oats, remove from
heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Then mix in the
remaining items. This recipe should make about 20 cups of
food. You should feed small dogs (20lbs) 3-4 cups per
day, medium dogs (45lbs) 6-7 cups per day.
Some
of the ingredients in the above homemade dog food recipes can
be changed to provide for some variety in your dogs diet.
Whole wheat, cornmeal, bulgar with the oats and chicken, lean
ground beef, and canned salmon for the turkey.
You
can easily double or triple the recipe and freeze in the
appropriate daily rations. Tripling it gives you about 10 days
of food for a medium (40lbs) dog. It only takes about 30-40
minutes from start to finish and costs near the same as
commercial food.
You
can also get some daily dog vitamins at PetsMart or other pet
stores if you want to insure that your dog gets all the vitamins
and minerals they need. That wouldn't be a bad idea regardless
of what food you feed your dog and something to add to any
Homemade Dog food you might prepare.
You
can easily prepare these homemade dog food recipes while you
fix your own meal. Homemade Dog Food is easy and quick to
prepare when you do it at the same time you make a family
meal. And don't forget that fresh water and lots
of exercise is necessary for a healthy dog too. Don't forget
to check out
our healthy free dog treat recipes on our resources page.
