Pet Food: Feed Your Pet The Most Nutritious Food Possible

If you want to be sure of the ingredients in your pet's meals, you should be the one to prepare them. Given the pet food product recall not too long ago, many pets' masters are in fact doing that. While there are those who say that making meals at home is to be preferred, still others assert that the proper approach is to speak with your dog's physician, since individual canines have specific nutritional needs. Adjustments to a dietary regimen should be implemented slowly to keep from upsetting an animal's digestive system. You should also alternate ingredients to achieve balanced nourishment.

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.

The aftermath of the recent pet food recall is that many people are searching for healthful recipes and dietary guidelines necessary to make their own homemade dog food. Thinking toward natural balance dog food is continually evolving. Commonly accepted thought is that meat should be the main staple of dogs, but after all-meat diets proved to be less than healthy for many canines, the common consensus now is that dogs need a mix of meat and plant-based foods. Cats, on the contrary, do just fine with an all-meat diet.

Pet food companies formulated what they asserted was the perfect nutritional balance and turned it into a $15 billion dollar industry. However, there is much controversy on the optimal diet for our dogs. It seems there is a minimum of research in canine nutritional requirements and a maximum of profiteering, in the sense that the main, or only, objective of most pet food manufacturers is profit and nothing else.

There are so-called experts out there who recommend just about any kind of dietary regimen you can imagine: vegan, vegetarian, all meat, raw foods, top level meat kibble, inexpensive corn kibble, canned products, or collections of homemade recipes. You may want to go by your own pet's health. If the veterinarian says all is well, your pet has lots of energy, his weight is appropriate, and he has a shiny coat and clear eyes, then it's likely he's getting the proper nourishment.

Dogs require protein containing ten amino acids. Many commercial dog foods have a corn base which, even though it is protein, contains only four of these amino acids. The most popular diet, at present, seems to be one that is meat based and supplies a good quality protein such as egg white, chicken, beef, lamb, or fish with some carbohydrate such as wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, or soy, including vegetables for energy, and 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.

The only way to really know what is in your pet's food is to make it yourself. It is easy to make pet food. Dogs have certain needs that have to be met for their health to be maintained. Most vets will tell you that you should not feed your dog bones. Thinking toward natural balance dog food is continually evolving. 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. Search the Internet and you will find numerous recipes for homemade dog food.

-Melinda Smith