Homemade Dog Food Provides Better Dog Nutrition

When I was growing up, my mother made her own homemade dog food for our dogs. My mother prepared food for us, and the pets enjoyed some of it too. What did dogs eat before there was commercial dry dog food, before kibble and before canned dog food?

Mia is a Fox Terrier

Feeding Dogs the Old Fashioned Way

Well back then, my mother explained to me that dogs usually worked for their keep. Mostly they were farm dogs or hunting dogs and they had a job to do. Most people did not have pet dogs.

My mother's family had a dog for a pet, a little fox terrier called Bing ( from the days of Bing Crosby. Yes, it was that long ago! ). Bing the dog, lived to be 20 years of age according to my mother. My mother would tell me stories about Bing and what he liked to eat.

My grandmother would get Bing extra stuff from the butcher when she went there to buy meat. He got the leftovers from butchering, the offal and viscera, which is the entrails, heads, brains, internal organs, glands and green tripe.

These things would be called by-products today. Sounds yukky but trust me, dogs love that. More importantly, this is what dogs would be eating in the wild, if they were free to do so. This real whole food makes dogs healthy and is part of their natural canine ancestral diet.

So my mother always made sure that she gave our dogs some of those ' live ' foods too. The dogs never got commercial dog treats. These raw leftovers from supper preparation were the treats.

They would get some of the cooked leftovers too. Or maybe a raw egg or a boiled egg. My mum would also throw them small pieces of fruit and vegetables, as she was preparing our dinner. Another favorite treat would be some fish. Dogs love sardines. If my mother caught a fish while fishing at our summer cottage, guess who got the fish? Yup, the dog! Well actually, he shared a little with the cat.

These Homemade Dog Food Ingredients are Necessary for Balance

My mother's home made dog food blend consisted mostly of meat and vegetables from our dinner. The dogs got the same food we were eating that day. She would throw in a couple of raw meaty bones a few times a week, a few eggs and a little bit of fish, and we always had healthy, happy dogs that lived a long time.

So, if you are lucky enough to live close to a butcher shop or an abattoir you can easily get the raw dog food ingredients that I talk about on this page. An abattoir is a meat processing plant, by the way. If you don't have that kind of access, you can still get raw meaty bones, beef and pork liver, chicken livers, hearts and gizzards and beef hearts, beef kidney and tongue at the grocery store. Just ask behind the counter.

Obviously the dogs from the time my mother was growing up lived a very long time. So did the dogs we had at home when I was growing up. Their homemade dog food consisted of these dog food ingredients.

meat and fat
raw meaty bones
offal ( organs )
vegetables ( very small amounts )
fruits ( very small amounts )
eggs
fish

Easy Homemade Dog Food Recipes

On the next page you'll find two of my favorite, easy, home made dog food recipes using cooked ingredients and raw ingredients. Home made bone broth is included in this category too.

Making your own dog food

That's what a healthy, homemade dog food diet consists of. These foods are easy to source and prepare, and are very nutritious. My mother knew that!

So start feeding your dog fresh homemade dog food today. This is definitely an upgrade from feeding dry kibble. Even if you just gave your dog some home prepared food a couple of times a week. That's all you have to do. You'll never look back and your dog will benefit from better dog nutrition using fresh whole foods.

Here's Something to Keep in Mind When Cooking for Your Dog

If you intend to make your own dog food, be aware that it will be necessary to supplement because heat destroys nutrients and enzymes. That's why dog food manufacturers must add vitamins and minerals to commercial dog food. This is not a problem though, because you can make up the loss with easy nutritional health supplements.

Your vet won't thank you though, because you will be making less visits to the office. Oh well, too bad, so sad!

While you're at it, consider giving your dog some DYI healthy dog treats.

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