Healthiest Dog Food

 Important Information on Heathiest Dog Food Recipes

When considering the health of your dog, one of the most important issues that needs to be addressed is nutrition.  To help your dog live a long, active and happy life without the common health problems associated with today’s dog foods, you should be feeding your dog home-made meals every day.

The same as humans, dogs need a balanced diet that includes the proper nutrients for continuous growth and tissue repair.  Any lack of these nutrients in your dog’s diet can cause stunted growth, poor healing after an injury, and a shorter lifespan compared to dogs who receive optimum nutrition.

One of the most important nutrients in a dog’s diet are proteins.  Proteins are necessary for all aspects of growth and development.  They are also very important in the structural make up and the immune system of your dog.  Additionally, proteins are burned as calories and can be converted to and stored as fat.

The intake of fat in our diet is generally looked upon negatively, but it is a very important nutritional requirement in a dog’s diet.  Fats are actually concentrated forms of energy.  Fat is necessary for your dog’s normal kidney function, as well as to help maintain a healthy coat and skin.  Carbohydrates are needed in your dog’s diet, in addition to the proteins and fats.  Because dogs are generally active, they need a clean source of carbohydrates that can easily be used for energy.

Pet food companies are fooling pet owners into thinking that the nutrients for dogs in their brand of food are the best.  Many commercial dog food manufacturers don’t want the public to know what ingredients are in their dog food recipes.  In fact, the listing of the protein level on bags of dog food does not correctly list the percent of digestible protein.  The digestibility in quality of foods is between 70 and 80 percent.  That digestibility could drop to 60 percent or less in lesser quality foods.  Many dog foods are made with chicken by-products and other meat by-products, but those by-products are not high in quality.  Additionally, the meat and bone meal used in dog food is a poorer quality of meat and therefore not as digestible.  When grains are listed on the label, the grains used are not good digestible sources of protein either.  They are contributing toward the carbohydrate load, however.

One way to monitor the nutrients you are giving your dog is to feed your dog a healthy, home-made meal.  Additionally, you can control the correct portion size for your dog’s breed.  With home-made dog food, you can make sure your dog doesn’t have preservatives, additives and artificial flavorings in his food that can harm your dog.

Many home-made dog food recipes contain healthy foods like bananas, honey, peanut butter, vegetables, apples and pumpkins in addition to nutritious meats such as fresh beef, chicken, turkey and fish.  There are two main reasons people choose to feed their dogs home-made meals.  One is because their dogs require a special diet, have a health condition, or are in competition training.  The other reason is because people know that manufactured dog food is nothing more than low-quality processed food sprayed with fat to make it more appetizing for dogs.