Making homemade puppy food
Proper nutrition is essential for all puppies. It can be overwhelming to choose the right diet for your puppy. It’s not hard to see how buying pre-made puppy food is easier than making it yourself. It is easy to pour some kibble into a bowl or open a can. Many pet owners are now making their dog food after recalling commercial dog food.
You can save money by making homemade puppy food, and you can customize the diet to suit your puppy’s specific needs. It takes some effort to prepare homemade food for your puppy. You must make sure that you can cook the food correctly and consistently. Before you can feed your dog a healthy, homemade diet, there are many things you should know.
Are Homemade Foods Healthy for Puppies?
Dogs, like humans, have specific caloric needs and require certain vitamins and minerals to be healthy. To grow and thrive, puppies have additional needs. Your puppy needs balanced and complete food. It should also support growth.
When feeding their pets home-prepared meals, one of the biggest mistakes they make is not following the correct recipes. It is more than just about providing enough calories for your puppy. It should contain enough calories, protein, and fat for a puppy’s growth.
You should ensure your puppy is getting the right nutrition when you start to prepare a home-cooked diet. This will help keep your dog healthy and growing. Consult your veterinarian to help you do this. A referral to a veterinarian nutritionist might be a good idea.
Together with your vet, you can create a diet that suits all your puppy’s nutritional requirements.
How To Make Homemade Puppy Food
Puppies require twice the amount of calories daily as their adult counterparts. The Committee on Nutrient Requirements of Cats and Dogs of the National Academy of Science states that a 10-pound puppy should consume approximately 990 calories per day if he or she is to reach adulthood.2 Puppies also require more protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals than adult dogs.
A homemade dog diet should include the right amount of:
- Proteins, such as chicken and turkey, fish, and lean beef
- Carbohydrates, like rice, pasta, potatoes
- Vegetables such as carrots, green beans, peas, and green beans
- Fat, usually in the form of vegetable oil
- Vitamin/mineral supplement (purchased from a reputable company)
After you’ve chosen a recipe, it is time to prepare it. Owners often prepare home-prepared meals, setting aside time each week or month to prepare the food and portion it. You can prepare the food in bulk and then portion it into containers. This makes it easy to have one container for each meal. The food can be frozen for up to 5 days or kept in the refrigerator for 6 months. It’s time for a fresh batch of meals when the stock of prepared meals is low. You can make multiple batches if you want to serve various food.
As your puppy grows, you should adjust the amount of food you give to him. To ensure that your puppy is getting the right calories, it’s a good idea to weigh him every week.
The difference between cooked and raw Raw diets for puppies
While it is clear that puppies can benefit from a home-cooked diet, there are some issues with raw food. Raw food for dogs is a subject of much debate. Raw pet food can be dangerous for dogs, as the AVMA and other agencies warn. Other experts believe raw food can be beneficial for adult dogs. Puppies are a different story. Raw food can contain pathogens that could cause illness in humans and dogs.
Talk to your vet about introducing raw food to your dog as your puppy grows older. To test the waters, you may offer your puppy a mix of raw and cooked foods at first.
Dogs who contact immunocompromised people should not be given raw diets. Raw diets should not be given to dogs with compromised immune systems.
