You can feed your dog in one of two ways – ready-made industrial food or natural food. The first option is good for everyone - the dog receives a balanced diet, enriched with all the minerals and vitamins necessary for health. The owner saves time because there is no need to cook anything; just pour canned food or biscuits into a bowl. But the method has a very serious disadvantage - the price. It is expensive to feed a large dog this way. Do-it-yourself food will come to the rescue.
Why homemade food
As I already said, I prefer to give my pets natural food. Store-bought food is generally safe, but there are so many fakes out there! In addition, I want to prevent the dog from becoming too accustomed to dry kibble. That's why I often prepare homemade food using a simple recipe. There are definitely a lot of vitamins, vegetables, and substances that allow my dogs bones and joints to stay healthy.
This is very important for my dachshund, because the joints and back of this breed of dog are a weak point. Therefore, I hope that with such nutrition she will be healthy and active for a long time. You, too, can use this recipe to ensure that your pet eats healthy food with pleasure.
What nutritional guidelines should you follow?
While there are many benefits you can get from cooking your dog's food, that doesn't mean you just give him what you have at home.
And please don't even think about giving him leftover food, especially fried and fatty foods. This may increase the risk of health problems such as diarrhea and pancreatitis. Even worse, he may end up eating toxic food, such as onions.
Just like us, our dogs need a complete and balanced diet. This means that the homemade food you give your dog should meet all of his nutritional needs.
Below are general nutritional guidelines you should follow when feeding your dog:
- 50 percent of his diet should be vegetables.
- 40 percent should consist of animal proteins, eggs/dairy and seafood.
- 10 percent of carbohydrates should come from grains and beans.
However, this should not give you the impression that you will be feeding your dog the same food every day. Just like people, dogs want variety in their food.
But you may be wondering - what ingredients can I use in my dog food? Good sources of protein include shredded beef or small strips of beef. I also recommend turkey as it is very easy to digest. It is also widely available and cheap.
You can also give your dog chicken. As with the turkey, you shouldn't have any problems getting it. Lamb is another good source of protein. You can also feed beans and eggs, but in moderation.
When it comes to vegetables, safe choices include carrots, spinach, green beans, peas, celery, pumpkin and cucumber. Give them broccoli and cauliflower with caution as it can cause gas.
When it comes to carbohydrates, rice, boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes and oatmeal are good choices. You can also give him pasta without oil and salt.
Ingredients
In order to make healthy homemade food, we need:
Two-thirds of respondents believe that wealthy people are needed in Russia
Stylish, light and cozy: a couple made a two-tier residential house from an old barn
Designers competed for the best “oasis” in the desert: the best projects
- half a kilo of lean turkey (can be replaced with beef or veal, but it is better not to give chicken, many dogs are allergic to it);
- 2 cups peeled, diced sweet potatoes or carrots;
- 2 cups green beans (you can use frozen pods or canned ones without salt);
- 2 tablespoons ground turmeric;
- 2 tablespoons powdered vitamins or supplements (if desired);
- 2 teaspoons olive oil.
I would also like to explain why nutritional supplements are needed. For example, if your dog needs B vitamins to improve digestion or a dose of omega-3, then you can mix these into the food. If you only give your pet food that you have prepared, then it is best to give such supplements. I also regularly add turmeric to my dogs food.
It may sound strange, but thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties, turmeric is a great way to keep your joints healthy. This is a very inexpensive way to strengthen them before your pet gets older and starts to have arthritis problems.
Feeding puppies natural food
They begin giving food to babies as soon as their eyes open. Most often this happens a couple of weeks after they are born.
- At this time, the animal’s body begins to actively and rapidly grow - faster than at any other period of life.
- This means that it is important to feed the puppy correctly so that he grows up to be a full-fledged and healthy dog.
- At first, be sure to follow the recommendations of the breeder or veterinarian.
The baby’s diet should be balanced, and it is better to give food at a certain time, immediately developing a routine.
Until the puppy is three months old, you need to feed him five times a day. For the next three months he needs to be given food four times a day, and then food should be taken three times a day. This continues until he grows into a mature adult dog - feeding becomes twice a day.
How to prepare homemade dog food - step by step instructions
Now let's start preparing the food:
- Cook green beans and diced sweet potatoes/carrots until tender.
- Add two teaspoons of olive oil to a large frying pan. Place on medium heat.
- Add ground turkey meat (beef or veal). Simmer until it is no longer pink.
- Turn off the heat and add turmeric and nutritional supplements. Mix well and reserve.
- Once the vegetables are ready, add them to the pan with the shredded meat.
- Stir gently again.
- Cool to room temperature.
This homemade dog food can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. But it must be used within a week.
First steps
Place rice in a large saucepan and add liquid.
Boil raw meat in a separate container; the cooking time depends on the type of meat chosen:
- Beef - 40-60 minutes, old meat requires longer heat treatment, it can last up to 3 hours.
- Chicken – 20-30 minutes.
- Turkey – 35-40 minutes.
You can cut into pieces before or after cooking.
Boil the rice until half cooked; read the cooking time on the package. It depends on the variety. As a rule, brown rice is boiled for half an hour, but in some varieties this time increases to 45 minutes.
A Brazilian travels 36 km by bike every day to take his loved one home.
"Dad is offended." Agata Muceniece about her relationship with Priluchny after the divorce
Why French children behave well: eight ways to raise them
Feed preparation options
Instead of regular meat, you can take offal, for example, liver. It's even better for dachshunds. Instead of beans and potatoes, you can take ready-made oatmeal mixed with cooked brown rice. You can also grate a fresh apple and add some blueberries. My dachshund doesn't eat all of this fresh, so I have to resort to tricks.
Keep in mind that when creating a menu for your pet, you should take into account its characteristics. For example, small breeds need to be given more nutritious food than large breeds. After all, they have a faster metabolism than their larger counterparts. And if the dog is aging, then its menu should be rich in fiber, as it improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Found a violation? Report content
What does natural food include?
Most veterinarians treat this feeding diet kindly and advise feeding the dog this way.
It is important for the owner to understand that when switching to such a diet, he will have to constantly monitor the animal, notice changes, both good and not so good. This will help adjust the diet if, for example, he has any allergies. And, of course, you will need to spend money on buying better products.
Among the food that the dog will consume, there must be:
- Meat and its by-products;
- Cottage cheese;
- Fermented milk products;
- Vegetables;
- Fruits;
- Cereals (rice, buckwheat and millet);
- Sea fish.
Everything is additionally discussed with the veterinarian and a menu is drawn up, which will subsequently need to be followed.
But here are the foods that you should never give, so as not to harm your four-legged friend:
- Sweets and baked goods;
- Smoked and fried;
- Spoiled food;
- Canned food for human nutrition;
- Various seasonings and spices;
- Tubular bones.
Experts say that it is important to remember the required amount of all microelements and vitamins for the normal growth and development of a dog, maintaining its health and mood. So you need to use all the products that are allowed to be given to your pet.
Boot food recipe
Take a pair of leather boots, a can of used motor oil and a scoop of sawdust.
Let's put all the ingredients in a blender and, despite the absurdity of the recipe, mix them thoroughly. Until a homogeneous mass is obtained, as they say on culinary sites. Now we send this mixture to a food laboratory for analysis. We get the results and are surprised. It turns out that in numbers the explosive mixture of waste looks like this:
- Protein 32% (from boots);
- Fat 18% (from oil);
- Fiber 3% (from sawdust).
The ratio of elements is at the level of good dog food. But no owner would want to feed their dog this.
The conclusion from our crazy experiment is simple: don't buy dog food just because it has good protein content. First, find out what dog food is made from and where all these proteins come from.
Preparation and extrusion
This is the main process in making dry food. The dough is processed at high temperature under high pressure and then pressed. At this stage, it is extremely important to control the temperature and cooking time to ensure 100% safety of the finished product, but at the same time retain the maximum of nutrients.
As a result of processing in the extruder, the taste and digestibility of the feed mixture are improved, any toxins, mold spores, and pathogenic bacteria are destroyed.
The device itself externally resembles a huge meat grinder, which has a receiving hopper, a screw rod inside and a shaped matrix at the output. In the final part of the process, the dough is pressed through this matrix, as a result of which it takes on the familiar form of dry food in the form of pieces and granules. At this moment, the pressure and temperature drop sharply, due to which excess moisture evaporates (up to 12–18%). In this case, a kind of explosion occurs, due to which the product becomes porous and slightly increases in volume.
Probiotics and prebiotics
Some foods contain probiotics and prebiotics. Probiotics are live microorganisms that improve digestion, normalize intestinal microflora and strengthen the immune system.
Prebiotics are food for beneficial bacteria: not digested in the stomach and upper intestine, they enter the lower intestine and contribute to the development of a balanced microflora. Prebiotics include fiber found in grains and vegetables, as well as inulin.
Using probiotics in dry food is not an easy task, as many microorganisms are unable to survive at extrusion temperatures, but there are also resistant strains. These, for example, include Bacillus subtilis (bacillus hay) and Bacillus licheniformis, which are common in soil.
These microorganisms are especially useful for urban animals, especially cats that never leave the apartment.
Sources of carbohydrates
Unfortunately, it is not possible to make dry food from pure meat without additives. In order for the components to bind to each other, sources of carbohydrates are needed. In the early days of dry food production, wheat or corn was used almost exclusively, but later other sources of carbohydrates appeared in dry food - rice, barley, potatoes or legumes.
Cereals serve as a source of carbohydrates and plant protein and, in some cases, when it comes to whole grains such as brown rice, fiber. Most often, grains are added to feed in the form of flour.
The use of potatoes and legumes is a relatively recent trend associated with changes in people's dietary guidelines, with gluten-free products and avoidance of grains becoming increasingly popular. According to some experts, grain-free foods are no better than regular foods, but if your pet is allergic to wheat or corn, they may be a good substitute.
However, according to scientists, the risk of developing an allergy to cereals is lower than to dairy and meat products. According to research, the most common allergens for dogs are beef, dairy, chicken and wheat. For cats, these are beef, fish and chicken.
Grinding and mixing components
The main ingredients of the feed are crushed and mixed in the required proportions. This is an important process, the quality of which determines the uniform distribution of nutrients in the feed. The scientific process of mixing until completely homogeneous is called homogenization.
Most manufacturers also additionally moisten the raw materials at this stage. No water is added to Akana and Orijen feeds, because they are produced primarily from fresh ingredients containing natural moisture. This increases the taste of the final product and its attractiveness to animals.
Features of dry food production
An important step in the production of dry food was the widespread use of such a technical innovation as an extruder. In fact, the principle of extrusion has been known for a very long time, and its simplest version is an ordinary household meat grinder. But naturally, modern extruders used in the food industry are complex multifunctional machines.
When producing dry food, the nutrient mixture in the form of minced meat is heated to a temperature of 90–150°C and passed through molding holes under high pressure. The result is the same kind of strands that you see when you pass meat through a meat grinder.
Then these bundles are cut, shaped and dried - this is how everyone gets familiar light granules, usually in the form of balls. True, sometimes they are given an attractive color or a funny shape, but this is done solely for the joy of the owners - the animals do not care at all what what they eat looks like.
The main role for them is played by smell, and above all the aroma of meat, because let’s not forget that cats and dogs are predators, and domestication has not changed this fact.
Zoopolian
Korm_dlja_sobak_svoimi_rukami
Owners of dogs and cats are increasingly buying ready-made food for their pets. It is certainly convenient, can be stored for a long time, and animals love it and eat it with pleasure. However, not everything is so rosy and good; there is no secret that even for people the quality of the products leaves much to be desired. By turning over any package of a finished or semi-finished product, anyone can be convinced that in addition to the main product, the composition contains a huge number of various additives. The question arises: is this really not the case in the production of animal feed? Of course, there is a manufacturer who naturally will not add anything frankly harmful; it will turn out to be a scandal if animals begin to die en masse. But add some chemicals to make the product last longer, some flavoring additives that your dog or cat will readily accept, that’s for sure. DIY CAT FOOD And the price, especially for imported food, is quite high! Nothing is completely known about the consequences of regular feeding with ready-made food, however, pets began to get sick more and more often, and allergies became the same companion of life for dogs as for many people. So let's try to make dry dog food at home with our own hands .
DIY dog food
There is nothing complicated, everything is based on meat, and it doesn’t have to be tenderloin, turkey giblets, some parts of inexpensive lamb or chicken will do. As for pork, it’s better not to eat it, the meat is too fatty. In addition, you can use this technology to prepare the same dish with sea fish; any frozen inexpensive fish will do, but you need to take into account that you should not give fish in large quantities, which means the amount for the total mass should be made less, diluting it with vegetables. We will also need rolled oats flakes, any greens and a chicken egg. As you can see, the ingredients are simple and not expensive, with a guarantee that the resulting product will be very healthy. Instead of rolled oats, you can use bran, which is sold on the market, a very useful product. We take the meat and put it through a meat grinder, you can add just a little salt, although they say that salt is harmful to animals, this is at your discretion, you can immediately pass the greens along with the meat. Then add 2-2.5 cups of rolled oats to the minced meat, break the egg and mix everything in a blender until a homogeneous mass is formed. During cooking, you can add the same fish oil, a little garlic, or anything that you think will be beneficial for your pet. You can add everything from green peas to carrots and, of course, boiled beets. When the pasta is ready, put it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, you can lightly grease it with sunflower oil, and into the oven. The oven must first be preheated to a hundred degrees; we do not need to bake this mass, but to dry it, so open the door slightly and leave for twenty-five thirty minutes. Then take it out, cut the cake into pieces and put it back in the oven to dry for about another hour. That's all, after everything is ready and cooled down, all that remains is to put it in a jar and put it in the refrigerator.
I think it will be interesting to read about how professional breeders feed their dogs in the article WHAT TO FEED A DOG Bon appetit to your pets!!!
While training your pet, or just when you want to pamper your beloved dog with a treat, read how easy and cheap it is to prepare a wonderful DOG TREAT WITH YOUR OWN HANDS
Formation of the top layer
Fats and fat-soluble vitamins are sprayed onto the dried granules using a special machine - a coating machine. It is a rotating drum equipped with a sprayer for uniform distribution of additives.
Some manufacturers also add flavorings to the finished food. If these are hydrolysates of liver and other raw materials, they are not dangerous for animals. However, it is important to understand that in this way the manufacturer often tries to make food that is poor in composition more attractive.
Akana and Orijen products contain up to 75 and 85% animal components, respectively, and have a natural meat smell, which makes it possible to do without additional “improvers” in the form of flavorings.
Current State of the Animal Feed Industry
Over the past 20 years, the animal feed industry has become increasingly closer to the food industry both in technology and in the quality of ingredients used. Manufacturers are required to publish the true composition of each product, the percentage of main components and their sources; raw materials undergo mandatory quality and safety checks.
Owners are increasingly placing the same high demands on food for their dogs and cats as they do on their own food. Thanks to this, manufacturers are developing new technologies to produce higher quality feed, increasing the percentage of meat in their diets, and using natural preservatives.
At the same time, it is important to remember that the body of dogs and cats is different from the human body, and this must be taken into account when choosing what to feed your pet.
Packing and packing
Packaging plays a huge role in maintaining the freshness and quality of the product. You can read about all its varieties in this article. The packaging must indicate the composition of the diet, guaranteed feed value, expiration date, and the address of the manufacturer.
In the production of Akana and Orijen feeds, high-strength foil bags are used that ensure complete moisture and breathability. In addition, before sealing, air is additionally pumped out of them using a special system.
Minimizing exposure to air helps prevent fat oxidation and premature spoilage of the product.
In conclusion, I would like to note one more point: the production of Akana and Orijen dry food is carried out only at Champion Petfoods’ own factories and is never outsourced. The entire production cycle, from the development of recipes to the shipment of finished products, is controlled by Champion Petfoods employees who share its mission and values.
Preservatives
The shelf life of dry pet food is usually 12-18 months. How is it possible to preserve the product for such a long time? On the one hand, temperature treatment of food is already a kind of sterilization; moreover, the development of most bacteria requires a humid environment, and there is very little moisture in dry food - about 8%.
But on the other hand, animal feed contains a large amount of fat, and this is the main problem - over time, as they say in everyday life, fats go rancid, but in scientific terms, they oxidize.
In order to stop the oxidation process, antioxidants are added to the feed - substances that protect fats from the harmful effects of oxygen. Twenty years ago, special chemical compounds were mainly used as antioxidants, but since the early 1990s, natural antioxidants have become increasingly popular.
These include vitamin E (another name for mixed tocopherols) and plant extracts, such as rosemary extract. The effectiveness and safety of these additives has been proven: for example, according to studies, tocopherol mixtures can withstand temperatures of up to 150°C and have a shelf life of about 2 years.
Purchase and delivery of raw materials
At this stage, raw materials are purchased from the supplier and delivered to the plant, where they are sent for storage or immediately processed. Already here the significant differences between Acana and Orijen feeds from their analogues begin. Most of the components of our feeds enter production fresh and are processed in a short time. This format of work is made possible due to the fact that raw materials are purchased from local farmers and fishermen.
The usual situation is that the fish is processed on the same day it was caught. Of course, this somewhat complicates transport logistics, but it’s worth it. After all, it is fresh ingredients that make it possible to provide animals with nutrition close to what it would be in nature.
Most other manufacturing companies, especially in the economy segment, use mainly dry raw materials for the production of dry food: meat flour, grain, dehydrated meat. Storage and transportation of such products is much simpler and cheaper, because they do not require refrigerated vehicles and large refrigeration chambers. The bad thing is that such raw materials enter production having already been processed once, and then undergo repeated processing, which destroys a significant part of the beneficial substances.
When fresh raw materials are used, they undergo only one-time processing, which allows them to fully preserve their biological value. Also, fat is necessarily added to the feed, which is supplied to the plant in sealed barrels.
