All Natural Dog Food Recipes
Proper nutrition is an essential factor that you need to be informed about, as it is important to maintaining good health for your dog. Dogs are like humans in that they require a well-balanced diet that includes key nutrients to ensure proper growth and tissue restoration from injuries.
Lack of proper nutrients can hinder growth and healing as well as shorten life expectancy.
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Help your dog to live a longer, active, healthier life by feeding it homemade meals rather than brand name dog foods that boast good nutrition. There are plenty of homemade dog food recipes that will help you provide your dog with proper nutrition, but understanding some of the basic elements of dog nutrition will also help you realize your dog’s needs.
Proteins, fats and carbohydrates are the key nutrients a dog’s body requires. Proteins are among the most important nutritional elements in a dog's diet as it assists with immune system functioning and in proper growth and development. Proteins are also burned as calories and can be converted and stored as fat.
Fats are a nutritional element often thought of as being detrimental to the health. As for humans, there are good fats that are helpful to the body for dogs. For a dog, fats are converted to energy. Fats also contribute to a healthy coat and skin. Fats also contribute to healthy kidney function for dogs. Carbohydrates are key nutritional elements as they help give the dog energy as well.
Some of the reasons people prepare their dogs homemade meals over store-bought dog food are health reasons or because their dog competes in shows. Brand name dog food companies often mislead or omit nutritional facts about their products in order to get consumers to believe that their product offers the best nutritional value.
The fact is that the protein levels printed on dog food labels do not reflect what is actually digestible to your dog. Statistically, high quality foods are approximately 70 to 80 percent digestible and lesser quality foods can fall to 60 percent digestible. Reading the labels of your dog’s food will give you a clue as to the quality of its nutritional value. For instance, labels that contain chicken or meat by-products are not high quality but are a much better nutrient value than ingredients such as meat or bone meal. The less your dog digests, the fewer nutrients it receives and the more waste it produces that you will need to clean up from your yard or around the neighborhood.
When you prepare homemade meals for your dog, you can control the nutrients provided as well as the portion sizes for your breed. By using wholesome, natural ingredients, you will eliminate unnecessary preservatives, food dyes and artificial flavor from your dog’s diet. Many dog food recipes call for flavorful, delicious and nutritious foods such as peanut butter, honey, pumpkin, bananas, vegetables and fruits. Meats like turkey, chicken and fish are also included in homemade dog food recipes.