Dog Food Recipes For Your Dog

The prevailing notion that dogs cannot survive without packaged dog food has only been with us for about a hundred years or so, with many owners believing that we should only be feeding our dogs "quality" canned or packaged food. They contend that it would actually be harmful to give dogs scraps from our own home-cooked meals. But dogs have lived off scraps from our dining tables for thousands of years, and therefore their digestive systems have adapted to this kind of diet.

Many conscientious dog owners are becoming increasingly concerned about the dangers of preservatives and additives found in canned and dry "kibble" dog food. Most people would never consider serving their family canned or processed fast foods for every meal, every day of every week of their lives. So why do that to our dogs?

Some vets attribute many modern-day pet illnesses to the highly processed diets they receive from packaged dog food. Granted, there are a few pet food companies who do provide good-quality food for pets, but unfortunately most manufacturers are content with dishing out poor, substandard meals that contain ingredients you would never put on your plate.

There is no animal on Earth that naturally eats a diet of cooked food. That is why so many home-made dog food recipes call for raw food. They are veterinarian-approved and are prepared from human-grade foods. What's more, many dog food recipes are easy to follow and prepare.

Dogs, like us, love variety, and that is why they are thrilled with home-made dog food recipes. So what should you be giving the faithful hound in your life?

Natural, home-made dog food recipes should contain some fat and oil, with low quantities of sugar. Whenever possible, substitute the processed sugar in a recipe with a little honey or molasses.

In addition to the benefits of providing your dog with a diet full of nutrients such as essential proteins, you also get to know exactly what you are feeding it. Pet food companies can change up to fifteen percent of their pet food recipes without having to alter the ingredient labels on their bags. So you can never be really sure what your dog is eating.

Many times the ingredient panel of a dog food bag has four to five different forms of one type of grain listed. This may sound harmless to you, but it really isn't. If pet food companies had to list their ingredients as corn or wheat instead of registering them individually (as corn grits, whole corn, corn middlings, corn bran, or corn gluten meal) you would see that the sum total of corn might form a higher percentage of ingredients than the meat components. While this is perfectly legal, there are many people who contest that the practice is misleading for consumers.

So when you discover that giving your dog a healthy, home-made meal is truly easier for you and better for them, you can start experimenting with dog food recipes you'd like to try to make. After all, if you wouldn't give processed foods to your children, why are you forcing your dog to live on them?