If you’re a pet lover like us, you know your dog deserves the best. Rather than giving them scrap pieces under the table, you may want to prepare them a fresh, home-cooked meal.
However, it’s vital that you serve them a balanced and nutritious meal, not just what you’re having. This guide will cover the benefits of cooking meals for your dog at home.
1. Take Control of Your Pet’s Diet
Many dog owners are skeptical of the ingredients in commercial dog foods. Many are vague about the contents, and some have even had recalls over safety concerns. Making pre-made dog food can give you peace of mind, knowing that you control every ingredient.
We develop a strong connection with our pets. Let’s say you have an emotional support animal. It’s essential to keep them happy with great-tasting food so that they can help you to alleviate your symptoms of distress. According to ESAResistration, your responsibility is to keep them healthy and feeling their best to help support your needs, assuming you’ve already completed the registration process.
By preparing food from scratch, you can assess the quality and avoid additives or foods that cause inflammation.
2. No Additives
Dog food can last for a very long time in storage, meaning it’s filled with preservatives that are bad for your pet’s health. Cooking homemade meals prevents them from consuming harmful chemicals that are toxic to their body. Many of these filler ingredients don’t offer any nutritious value to your pet.
Many dog food manufacturers make processed pet foods cooked at high temperatures to kill pathogens and bacteria. However, it also negates the ingredient’s natural vitamins and minerals. A balanced homemade diet can offer many more vitamins and minerals, which means less supplementation.
3. Avoid Allergens
Finding the perfect dog food brand can be tricky if your dog has a food allergy or a sensitive stomach. Even if the allergy isn’t listed, it might be in the factory where the food was packaged or produced.
Preparing your food at home makes avoiding ingredients that cause a reaction easy. It gives you confidence that you won’t make your dog sick. Discuss the safe ingredients with your vet to ensure you cook their meals with the necessary nutrients.
4. Boost Their Energy
A diet with real vegetables and human-grade meats can increase your pet’s energy. If you’ve noticed your pup feeling lethargic, it may be time to add more nutritious foods to its diet.
Incorporating starchy vegetables and wholegrain can deliver a tremendous amount of energy. For example, adding quinoa, brown rice, or legumes is an excellent choice for their diet.
Ensure you’re feeding them a balanced diet so that they receive all the necessary food nutrients. Typically, the minimum protein requirement for dogs is 18% dry matter for a growing dog and 8% for an adult dog.
5. Satisfy Picky Eaters
Whether it’s the texture or the taste, many pups don’t like eating commercial dog food. Trying to satisfy their taste buds can be frustrating, and throwing away their barely-touched food can make you feel like you’re throwing money away.
Instead, you can offer dog-safe foods such as plain cooked chicken, cooked rice, carrots, and banana. Take the time to determine what your pet is happy to eat. Once you know what they like and don’t like, it’s easy to plan meals around their preferences.
6. Improve Your Dog’s Eyesight
There are many ingredients to help your dog live a healthy life. For example, targeted ingredients such as carrots, broccoli, and pumpkin contain plenty of Vitamin A, which is vital to maintaining and improving their eyesight.
As your dog ages, it’s essential to feed them a proper diet to keep all its eyes functioning properly. Scientific studies have shown that blueberries can reduce retinal inflammation, eye fatigue, and oxidative stress. Fish such as tuna and salmon contain Omega-3 fatty acids that can prevent age-related vision loss.
7. Tools Make Preparing Meals Fast
Believe it or not, cooking meals for your pet doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. Of course, it won’t be as fast as pouring kibble into their bowl. But with chef-grade tools like electric pressure cookers, crockpots, and food processors, you’ll have your delicious meal ready in minutes. It’ll be more precise, and they’ll receive myriad health benefits from eating a balanced whole foods diet.
8. Save You Money
If you’re feeding your pup generic kibble from the grocery store, it might be hard to beat what you’re spending on dog food. However, if you typically spend a pretty penny on premium kibble or freshly home-delivered meal solutions, chances are you could be saving a lot more money.
Cooking homemade meals for your dog can be more affordable, just like cooking at home is more affordable than eating out. You can buy fresh whole foods at the grocery store in bulk that easily cost less than expensive dog food brands.
9. More Bonding Time with Your Dog
Along with all the potential health benefits of homemade dog food, there’s the joy of watching your pet enjoy the food you’ve made for them. Similar to sharing a freshly-cooked meal with your family, there’s satisfaction in cooking meals for your dog.
Of course, that means you can also have your meals together. It’s more convenient to have their feeding times the same as yours. Also, many dogs can’t self-regulate, so it eliminates the need to always leave food out for your pet throughout the day.
10. Increase Variety in Their Diet
Feeding the conventional commercial dog food diet can lead to the same variety of kibble for months at a time. Typically, a 30 lbs of kibble bag last for a month. This lack of variation can be boring for your dog and limits the amount of nutritional value obtained from varied food sources.
Homemade dog food recipes let you vary their meals to give them a wider range of nutrients. Like humans, the more varied the nutrients they receive from their diet, the healthier they’ll be.
Final Thoughts
Of course, please consult your vet to ensure it’s safe to cook for your dog. They can also provide guidelines on the most suitable types of ingredients or foods specific to their needs.
Cooking your pup’s food at home can be beneficial to your pet’s health when done responsibly. They’ll feel happier and healthier with the proper nutritious diet to fuel their fluffy bodies.