Cooking Homemade Meals for Dogs

When I first got Joshie I was feeding him one of the brand named dog foods.  At the time I was also subscribe to this list of people who make homemade meals for their dogs.  That is where I learned about the preservative Ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT.  It is illegal to put the Ethoxyquin in human foods, but perfectly legally to use as a preservative in dog foods.  Ethoxyquin is alleged to cause cancer and other diseases.  I started searching out dog foods and came across a very interesting site as I'll list below.  This site list just about every dog food out their and its ingredients.  It goes into detail about grains, the difference between  meal or by products etc.  The site is very worth visiting if you want to know what's in the dog food your feeding your dog.  

One disgusting thing I've learned along the way with our dog food company's is this.  They sometimes use dead animals and yes dead cats or dogs with flea collars still on and grind them up into dog food.  Our dog food industry has a long way to go.  

As for me I never could decided at the time exactly which dog food to pick.  So I came across a book by Dr. Pitcarian.  I am not promoting his book in anyway, it is just a book that I choose to follow.  Although he believes in raw meat for dogs I do cook my meat.  I just don't trust the meat source's around my area to feed raw.  But it does say in the book that the meat looses its content by cooking.  Their are a lot of people who totally believe only in raw meat for their dogs.  Even with soup bones.  Do you ever give you pup a delicious soup bone with the marrow in it as a treat.  Even with that some people believe only in raw.  I again cook mine.  Granted I do give my dogs a taste of raw beef on occasion.  Although cooked bones are certainly dangerous to give to dogs especially chicken, turkey and pork bones for example.  Even with a soup bone I found that once my dog got the marrow out I found sharp bone fragments inside.  So now what I do is cook the bone and give the marrow as a treat on their dinner.  I then check the bone over and if it meets my approval I give it to them to naw on.  Sometimes I pack the bone with peanut butter to keep them occupied for a while as a treat in the evenings. 

If your thinking of making strictly homemade meals for your dogs, think hard.  You have to watch to make sure of the proper vitamins your dog is getting, its just not that simple.  Homemade meals are a lot of work but after awhile it becomes a way of life.  At least in our house it has.  When I chose to toss away the brand name dog food, I just picked up the book and followed a recipe.  I learned a lot along the way. With help from others, books and vets.  Some people use regular kibble and toss a few scrapes on top.  

In our house I just can't see going back to bagged dog food after cooking for mine the last 5 years.  But if you are thinking of cooking for your dogs, please do your research.  It is important to get the proper vitamin content.   

I talked about Eqoxyquin above as possibly being dangerous.  My Shiba Inu needs a extra multi vitamin that she gets.  And what's the preservative....Equoxyquin.  It is just a hard preservative to get away from in dog foods. 

Earl Wolfe's site is......http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wolfepack/foodcht4.html

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