A Diet for Your Dog's Eating Pleasure

Switching to a raw food diet for dogs would actually be a good idea. This diet actually works by feeding your dog raw, unprocessed and uncooked food – just like they did before your pet’s breed and make became domesticated.

People may not even be aware of this movement until the March 2007 recall of commercially made and store bought pet food products experienced a massive recall. It was done so due to several brands of pet food and kibble that reportedly made some pets contract renal failure (which was eventually traced to a consumption of wet pet food made with wheat gluten – a substance which can actually be debilitating and which led to eventual animal death due to kidney failure. Over 3,500 pet foods have been recalled. Eventually, it was found out that the source of contamination was melamine, and that some of the pet food products were made in China (or produced by a Chinese company).

That recall made more pet owners aware of the need to bring dogs and cats back to eating “alternative”, organic raw food. Enzymes, nutrients and proteins found in raw meats are found to be more beneficial to a dog’s digestive system.

It’s not really difficult to prepare (and store – as long as your fridge’s freezer has enough space to store the food in). You can try one recipe my friend makes. It produces about a cup of dog food, and she does it during the weekends so it wouldn’t be much of a hassle to prepare during weekdays.

75% of the food must consist of 6 ounces (or ¾ cup) coarsely ground or chopped meat, preferable raw so as to retain the essential vitamins and nutrients. This could be some or all of the following: Beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, rabbit, venison, salmon (without the skin), sardines, and other whole fish.

The remaining 25% is 2 ounces (or ¼ cup) of ground, mixed or shredded vegetables. You can combine some or all of the vegetables in one meal for variety. Asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, green beans, okra, pumpkin, Brussels sprouts, squash, sweet potatoes, celery, peas, parsnips, turnips or yams are just some of the hundreds of vegetable varieties.

You may even add whole eggs (some include the shell, but for me, I prefer not to), raw and uncooked bone (cooked and boiled bone will become brittle, resulting in splintering and will be dangerous for your dog), some fruits like apples, pears and bananas, nuts like almonds or walnuts and sunflower seeds. A little fish oil that has omega 3 is a good supplement that can be added to the food mix as well.

The raw food diet does not intend to make your dog or cat slim. Rather, it is a means to keep him vital, more alive and healthy. Though there are not much scientific evidences to back-up the claims, more people are now turning to what can be a most important change in their lives. Reverting back to their original food will help a lot in improving the quality of your dog’s life.