Homemade Puppy Food
Once you make the decision to bring a puppy into your family there are numerous things about puppy care that are necessary to learn. Keeping up with all of the basic needs of a young puppy can be overwhelming, but feeding him can be easy and rewarding.
Chemicals, cheap fillers, preservatives, additives, and other unnecessary ingredients are all found in prepackaged puppy food, just like with many things you buy from a store. As a result, alternative forms of puppy food have recently begun to gain in popularity, such as homemade puppy food.
Homemade puppy food is the safest and healthiest way to feed your new pooch and it’s actually quite simple to make.
First, you should realize that a large factor in your puppy’s overall health is determined by the diet you choose from him. Poor ingredients in a diet can actually weaken a dog’s immune system making it difficult for them to fight off infection and disease as they age. In recent news, there have been many commercial pet food recalls which caused pets to suffer fatal kidney failures and other deadly reactions. This can be avoided if you know exactly what your puppy is digesting.
The commercial pet food companies market themselves as knowledgeable in what nutrients are needed to keep your puppy young, healthy, and strong. However, are you completely confident that the health of your dog is their number one priority? Pet owners are typically enticed into buying from big corporations that spend lots of money on advertising. Always keep in mind, no one will care for your puppy better than you will, so it is well worth the extra time invested in preparing homemade puppy food.
Not only will your pup be healthier with food that you have prepared yourself, but you may find that making homemade puppy food has cost benefits as well. Using ingredients from your own meal preparations will save you a fair amount of money by not having to purchase prepackaged dog food or special ingredients.
Be aware that even though homemade puppy food can be extremely beneficial to your pooch, some people food can be dangerous, or even deadly, to dogs. Some ingredients you should avoid while preparing your homemade puppy food are chocolate, caffeine, mushrooms, raw eggs, garlic, yeast, onions, avocados, grapes/raisins, mustard seeds, macadamia/walnuts, and even tomatoes.
Have you ever browsed the dog food aisle and noticed that there are different varieties of food for different sizes and ages of dogs? That same idea needs to be applied when developing your own homemade puppy food recipes. Just as young dogs require different nutriets than old dogs, the same applies to small versus large. A dog’s lifespan can be substantially increased when fed properly.
When cooking, a good rule of thumb is to make sure that every meal is at least 1/3 protein, 2/3 produce and some portion of grains. Most cooked meat like chicken, lamb, beef, eggs, bacon and liver will work fine when putting together your new puppy recipes. Produce that is acceptable are things such as peas, carrots, green beans, spinach and broccoli. As for grains you can use rice, wheat germ, oats, and corn meal. Don’t pass up the opportunity to make occasional treats as well using items like vanilla, butter, brown sugar, and fruit.
Also remember that canine senses are sharper than ours so you do not need to season your homemade puppy food. Salt can even be dangerous for your puppy. Bland and boring is better for your puppy.
While not all veterinarians will agree that homemade puppy food is best, it is still a good idea to discuss it with them. At the very least they can give you a good idea of serving size and how often a particular breed will need to eat and what sensitivities, if any, the dog may be predisposed to. In respect to a particular breed, they may be able to fill in the missing details that you will need in order to properly formulate your very own homemade puppy food recipe.
Now that people are more sensitive to obesity rates and healthy eating, it is only natural to consider more organic substitutes for our pets as well. Natural food can help your dog stay fit as he ages as well as reduce the likeliness of allergies.
Making homemade puppy food for the newest edition to your family will not only save you money, but it will also reward you with the confidence that you are doing the very best job possible caring for your puppy.
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