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Healthy diet shouldn’t be a must just for you. A more natural diet can be very beneficial for you doggo as well. If done correctly, home cooking for your dog is more:
- environmentally friendly
- nutritionally balanced
- better for Fido’s dental and digestive health.
In order to make a healthy and nutritious home-cooked diet, the food you feed your pooch should provide the following 4 essentials:
- Energy
- Proteins and other minor nutrients
- Fats, including essential fatty acids
- Vitamins, minerals, and essential micro-nutrients
Variety Is Key For Balanced Diet
Should you opt for raw diet, you must make sure all the micronutrients your pet needs are there. Here’s the list of 13 things every pet owner should know before putting your four-legged friend on a raw, home-cooked diet:
- Variety is key, so make sure you home-cooked diet contains all the ingredients necessary for a well-rounded and nutritious diet.
- Don‘t feed your pooch only one type of meat. A balanced diet requires rotating meats, but also feeding offal and ensuring your pet is getting a variety of vegetables as well.
- Avoid meats that contain sulphur preservatives as they lead to thiamine deficiency and have been linked to allergies.
- Minced meat should not be fed raw.
- Hard beef shin bones are dangerous as they can fracture your dog’s teeth. Ideally, your dog should be eating the meat off the bone.
- Also, don’t cook the bones.
- Fiber should also be included in your dog’s diet. Feeding your canine friend predominantly meat and bones can lead to constipation.
- Don’t add salt to your dog’s food. Canines don’t have taste buds developed for salty food, so salt is off the table (sorry for the pun).
- Avoid onions, garlic and stock powders.
- If your dog has a vitamin deficiency, consider adding multivitamin.
- Find out if your dog is tolerant to high-fat diets. If not, it can result in pancreatitis.
- Don’t forget about food safety and hygiene. Washing your hands before making Fido a dinner is mandatory!
- *Optional: make sure your doggo is there with you while you are making his home-cooked meal. It can be a rather lovely bonding experience for both of you.