Pet Food: Feed Your Pet The Most Nutritious Food Possible

One method to be certain of what your dog is consuming is to make his pet food yourself. Considering the recent issues with packaged food recalls, this is becoming an attractive option. It is important to remember that a drastic change is not the proper way to proceed. Consult with your animal's health care professional, get a list of ingredients which cover all nutritional needs, and slowly change them over. One nice thing about making your animal's food is that they can have a bit more variety introduced into their daily routine.

Most vets will tell you that you should not feed your dog bones. The thought is that they could get caught somewhere in your dog's stomach or intestines. Chicken bones are the worse to feed your dog because of their splintering ability. Some vets on the other hand will tell you that you can and should safely give you dog other types of bones. Some vets prefer them cooked and some prefer them raw. It is felt that wild dogs eat bones and do just fine, but the bones that they eat are usually attached to hair and skin and therefore are a bit protected. There are other foods that are dangerous for your dog, some of which are, chocolate, garlic, onions, raisins, grapes, mushrooms and macadamia nuts.

Being aware of the recent pet food recall, various pet owners have started looking for nutritional guidelines for homemade dog food. Beliefs related to natural balance dog food keep on changing. In ancient times, it was believed that canines were carnivores but after a number of dogs suffered illness by eating an all-meat diet, it's been decided that they are actually omnivores, that is, they require both meat and plant-based foods. However, cats are different, since they are true carnivores as they eat only meat.

Did you know that commercial pet food is a $15 billion dollar industry today? Most people don't even know that the optimal diet for dogs may NOT be commercially prepared dog foods! Canine nutritional requirements actually don't have much research to support one type of diet over another. Of course the pet food execs want you to believe that nothing but their products is healthy - they are out for profits, after all.

Various "experts" claim a wide variety of dog food diets are best, including corn-based kibble, canned dog food, and homemade diets. Recommended diets range from raw to premium meat-based kibble, as well as vegetarian and vegan options. In actuality, the best measure of your dog's diet is his health. As long as your dog gets a good veterinarian health report, shows good energy, and stays at a sufficient weight with a shiny coat and bright eyes, his dog food is most likely fine.

The protein component in dog food should essentially contain ten amino acids. Corn as base is very popular in most brands of commercially manufactured dog food. This, no doubt, is protein but it contains just four out of the required ten amino acids. What has really caught on these days is a meat based diet which supplies good quality protein in the form of egg white, beef, lamb or white meat, that is, chicken and fish. This is further fortified with some carbohydrate like wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, or soy and also includes vegetables that supply the energy, vitamins, minerals and fats.

You can look for these ingredients in premium commercial foods. You can also make the food yourself at home using quality human food. If you decide to prepare homemade dog food, make sure to vary the recipes so that your dog gets all of the necessary nutrients. Search homemade dog food recipes online to find collections of healthy recipes.