Homemade Diets for Your Dog’s Health – Holistic Dog
Feeding your canine or feline friend a balanced diet does not need to be that difficult, and contrary to popular belief, the ideal dog or cat food diet does not necessarily come from either a bag or a can. You can prepare a healthy diet for your pets just as you do for the rest of your family and your pets will thrive. That said, there is not one diet the is right for all animals. Raw vs. cooked; chicken vs beef; our animals are very different both inside and out and just because a particular diet is fabulous for your neighbors dog, does not mean that it will be right for yours. For example, an energetically “damp” animal would not be expected to do well on raw food. An allergic animal may not be able to process turkey or corn. Your veterinarian may be able to give you some pointers of where to start and which foods to avoid but ultimately, you will figure out by trial and observation what is best for your pet. Some supplements are necessary to balance any diet, and you should always work from a diet framework to be sure that you are aware of the differing needs of dogs and cats systems.
I believe that variety is key to any healthy diet. This is very different from what many veterinarians believe, I realize. Often a single food is advocated to be fed exclusively. And this may be needed for a diet trial or a very sensitive animal who can not tolerate a variety of foods, but I do not see this as the norm. There are theories that state that varying foods will contribute to your cat or dog becoming picky eater. This, however, makes no logical sense to me and the reality is that there are dogs and cats who are picky eaters who have always been fed the same food and have just never eaten well and others who receive a varied diet and develop picky eating habits. Lets step back for a moment and think about feeding anyone or anything. If you sit your child down to a dinner of chicken, broccoli, brown rice and cantaloupe, you should pat yourself on the back for providing a well balanced nutritious meal. If, however, you feed this same meal three times a day throughout your child’s life, you would obviously expect problems. First, deficiencies are likely to become evident. Beyond this, no one would be surprised to hear that the child is tiring of this meal. We readily recognize that the key to healthy eating is variety for ourselves.
To encourage your pets to develop and maintain good eating habits, I believe that you need to introduce a variety of different foods over time. Favorites can certainly be used repeatedly, but don’t be afraid of change. At the same time, and again, like with your child, if you provide a meal that is generally considered acceptable, you should expect it to be eaten. Bending over backwards to let your pet dictate the favorite and only acceptable meal of the moment will encourage picky habits. If you have a picky eater, skipping or not eating a particular meal well, may not necessarily be a major problem. This is of course assuming that the animal otherwise seems healthy and happy. On the other hand, you must be very careful with animals who are very young or very small as their bodies may not be able to handle missing a feeding. Furthermore, cats in particular should not be allowed to skip multiple meals as they can develop a particular and potentially deadly problem with their livers. This is especially a problem for overweight felines.
To continue with the controversy, the next question that often arises is whether or not to cook home prepared food or feed it raw. As with any change in your pets routine, consult your veterinarian for specific recommendations about your particular pet. There are many veterinarians who are very uncomfortable with raw feeding, and I will not say that all of their fears are unfounded, but I also recognize that there are risks with any food you feed. Aside from the many recent recalls, I have seen a dog choke and almost die from inhaling a piece of kibble that got lodged in his trachea. And that is not to say that kibble kills dogs, but to recognize that things can happen regardless of your diet choices.
With raw food, there are some realities. The first concern is feeding whole bones. If you are feeding chicken wings, necks, or other unground bone as a calcium source, you need to be sure that your animal is chewing the bones well before swallowing. “Gulpers” should never be offered whole bones.The second big concern with raw feeding is contaminated meat- salmonella or other bacteria which would normally be killed when cooking the food. You should know that there aredifferent ways to prepare your meat to minimize these risks and research is definitely in order if you are inexperienced in raw food preparation to minimize your risks. Many of my clients like the idea of raw feeding but are uncomfortable with the actual feeding practice. A great solution can be to get one of the balanced frozen raw foods on the market. The bones are ground and the diet is frozen immediately after processing to minimize chance of bacterial growth. Finally, and obviously, with any raw food, all surfaces must be washed to avoid the spread of bacteria. This includes the dog bowl. Please be especially aware of this if you have children in the house.
The biggest concern raised by veterinarians in regards to home cooking is whether or not the diet is balanced. You do need to supplement, meat is not a complete diet in and of its self, but it is not that difficult to balance your pets meals. And then comes the cardinal rule when feeding real food to dogs and cats. NEVER FEED COOKED BONES OF ANY SORT. These are sharp and will splinter when eaten. They are very dangerous. Be mindful that you also need to avoid onions, grapes and raisins, and limit consumption of garlic. Fried and spicy foods are not appropriate either.
If you do embark on either raw feeding or home cooking, do your homework, and discuss your plans with your veterinarian before beginning. If your veterinarian is unable to support your choices, it may be worth searching out another vet with whom you can discuss diet options. Good nutrition is a cornerstone of health and it is important that you can have open and honest discussions about this with your chosen veterinarian. I believe it is one of the most overlooked aspects of veterinary medicine. Once you begin feeding “real” foods to your pets, you may be amazed at the changes that you see in your pet.
[...] provides pet owners with Holistic health care solutions for pet and answers many alternative pet health care questions that go unanswered by many pet doctors. The holistic pet care advices on Vetlord.org are [...]
[...] provides pet owners with Holistic health care solutions for pet and answers many alternative pet health care questions that go unanswered by many pet doctors. The holistic pet care advices on Vetlord.org are [...]
[...] provides pet owners with Holistic health care solutions for pet and answers many alternative pet health care questions that go unanswered by many pet doctors. The holistic pet care advices on Vetlord.org are [...]
[...] provides pet owners with Holistic health care solutions for pet and answers many alternative pet health care questions that go unanswered by many pet doctors. The holistic pet care advices on Vetlord.org are [...]
I have done a lot of research on this subject, and I still research everyday to be sure that I am supplying a good diet to my puppy. I have an 18 week old Norfork Terrier. The breeder started him on Eukanuba Petite Small breed. After I discovered what was actually in it and I learned to read the label, I made the decision to change him over to people food. I am not comfortable with raw diets for my puppy. Bones and such I don’t want him to have unless it is a bone marrow to just chew on and he walks away from them and really could care less if it’s there or not. I chose to do home cooking for him, and I did let my vet know, and was told that was good and to just make sure he is getting supplements. I still have some concerns because I am very new at this. I have prepared different recipes and then researched, and thrown out what I had prepared and gone back to the drawing board a few times. I feed variety. I use very lean muscle meat, because I don’t like cheap meat. I cook with scrambled ground round, ground turkey, ground chicken, skinless, boneless chicken tenders, organ meat, liver, heart, kidney. I simmer meat in purified water and add the water to the recipe. I do not mix meats together. I scale it by the lb.
5 oz muscle meat (beef, turkey, chicken and chunk chicken)
1 hard boiled egg chopped
2 oz of dairy (plain non fat yogurt or cottage cheese)
–added later
I also add 8 oz of other foods. I include 1 oz of grains (brown rice, oatmeat, barley)
lentals
4 oz of veggies (I use pureed baby food – stage 2 or 3) and I mix up the veggies, I feed him brocoli, peas, green beans, alittle spinach, carrots)
I add in 2 oz of carbs (mashed potato, sweet potato, winter squash)
and 1 oz of fruit- (bananna, mango, berries, unsweetened applesauce etc.)
I sometimes give him canned pure pumpkin. sometimes I add an 1/8 organic minced garlic, honey, wheatgerm, apple cider vinegar, molasses, ginger, parsley, no salt salt, cranberry sauce, ground pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds (I don’t add all of these at once, but I do use them sparingly so he gets different things) I also give him beef broth, and chicken broth.
I add in 1/2 tsp. ground eggshell for calcium for every pound of food – (14 oz. and dairy before serving) I heat the food back up on the stove (not microwave)
I also allow him to have a raw egg yolk every 10 days (he is only 10 pounds)
he gets fish 2 of 14 meals a week, and he has organ meat once a week. Between 1/2 and 1 oz a week.
He gets purified water to drink, and I add in a splash of milk.
He gets 1000 mg fish oil every other day.
he gets 200 IU vitamin E every 3 days
1 Pet Pro multi vitamin every day for puppies
1 probiotic every day.
In the morning he gets 1 oz added after heating yogurt and in the evening he gets 1 0z cottage cheese.
Is there anything I could be doing different or better ? He seems to doing well on this. he has solid stool, no more soupy poop. I also brush his teeth 3 or 4 times a week.
I have concerns about the muscle meat, should I be feeding him a more fatty diet?
I also have concerns about the grains, as dogs don’t need grains and they are hard to digest. my vet doesn’t know alot about nutrition, and really doesn’t seem concerned about what I feed him, as long as it is balanced. Does this diet sound relatively balanced or do I need to make some changes ? There is so much opinion out there as to what is right, wrong, good, bad, I am just trying to get a feel for this, am I headed in the right direction with this?
Please respond, especially if I am doing something you know will harm my baby.
[...] provides pet owners with Holistic health care solutions for pet and answers many alternative pet health care questions that go unanswered by many pet doctors. The holistic pet care advices on Vetlord.org are [...]
[...] provides pet owners with Holistic health care solutions for pet and answers many alternative pet health care questions that go unanswered by many pet doctors. The holistic pet care advices on Vetlord.org are [...]
There is a lot of confusion about a species appropriate diet for dogs.
The “why” is that we have crossed the line between science and prolific
industry propaganda. Since the 1950s vast sums of money have been
poured into shaping public perception because the profits are enormous.
Not to mention that “we the people” have a tendency towards
anthropomorphism, and convenience is a driving force.
For unbiased scientific information see the “Ol’ Shep’s Plight: Diet”
article at: http://achinook.squarespace.com/
There is also a “lighter” fabricated “Dr. P. Kibble Interview”
)
My best to you and yours,
Lee C
The Ol’ Shep articles I mentioned have been superseded by a book, which is much more comprehensive, and more thoroughly researched, referenced, and reviewed.
The author Euan Fingal has offered up a free ebook (pdf) to try to help us understand how we might improve our well-being and that of our domestic animals in general, but especially that of our canine companions. The book brings together ample unbiased natural sciences evidence, and the experiences of many naturally oriented caregivers, to clear a convincing swath through the propaganda surrounding well-being, and the misguided understandings it fosters.
To learn more about the book, and to download it, see the journal entry:
http://www.achinook.com/journal/2009/6/18/ol-sheps-well-being-a-natural-perspective.html
Relative to the topic of this blog (diet, which is only part of all the book addresses): What it all comes down to is that to deny that a natural species appropriate diet is a necessary component for natural, optimal well-being, is to deny nature—i.e. the evolution of a species, and its optimal, natural diet [in the true scientific sense].
My best to you and yours,
Lee C
healthy diets…
Your topic One Week Diet was interesting when I found it on Friday searching for healthy diets…
Hi I am very new at this, I have 4 children so I am very busy and have very little time to prepare a complicated diet to my 6 large breed dogs( I have 2 dobermans, 2 Huskys and 2 boxers) I also can not afford expensive dog foods as I have a very limited budget, I have been starting to feed them oatmeal and brown whole grain rice with a little veggies along with the dog food that I buy, It is O’l Roy Maximum for all life stages and all breeds, it lists animal fat as the first ingredient along with vitamins and so on, it is the cheapest I can afford 24 dollars for an 18 kg bag, sometimes I give them chicken fat mixed in the dog food and olive oil.
I need to know if this is good and if not what is the healthiest and cheapest way to feed 6 large dogs with a busy schedule, I love my dogs and want the best for them but I also have children and can’t afford to feed them a better diet than my kids.