- Should You Feed A Homemade Diet?
- A Well-Balanced Diet
- Finding The Best Ingredients and Easy Homemade Dog Food Recipes
From brown rice to turkey to broccoli to fruits like apples, there is a world of ingredients that we can take advantage of when creating an optimal homemade diet for our dogs.
Should You Feed A Homemade Diet?
Between giving your dog an optimal diet that supports the foundation of their health to saving money by avoiding poor-quality commercial foods, if you can feed your dog a homemade diet, you should!
However, in the past, that wasn't always easiest for most pet owners. When trying to do everything yourself, it's easy to make a mistake when ensuring their meals are always perfectly complete and balanced .
But today, that issue is truly a thing of the past thanks to ChefPaw™️, the handy home food maker that does all the prepping, cooking, and nutrient analysis for you! ChefPaw™️ takes your dog's weight and energy level, so you're never feeding them too little or too many calories!
A Well-Balanced Diet
When looking to give your dog a well-balanced and complete fresh food diet created right at home, it can be helpful to learn the basics of nutrition. Now, ChefPaw™️ does all the work for you, so don't feel you need to learn everything at once or need a deep understanding of pet nutrition.
There are only 2 main groups of nutrition you need to learn about! The macronutrients: protein, fats, and carbohydrates, and the vitamins and minerals they provide.
Proteins
Nutrient-dense and packed full of 10 essential amino acids your dog's body can't produce, high-quality protein from meats should be a staple in your dog's diet. And that's a problem because many commercial foods aren't providing enough or use nasty sources like slaughterhouse waste.
Chicken and turkey are the best sources of protein, along with eggs, when making your dog's food at home. Lean cuts of beef and fish such as salmon, whitefish, and herring are excellent options as well. Pork can also be used in limited amounts, but should be uncured and lean.
Fats and Fatty Acids
Fats and fatty acids are essential for hormone production and regulation and can give your dog a gorgeous slinky coat bouncing with health.
A gram of fat has more than twice as many calories as protein and carbohydrates. As such, because fats often tag along with protein sources, it's very easy to get enough fats into a homemade diet
However, it is important to ensure your dog is getting enough omega essential fatty acids, which you can use fish oil like Alaskan Salmon Hemp Oil to achieve.
Carbohydrates
While many of us think of bread when we hear the word carbohydrates, everything from leafy greens to sugary fruits to grains, starches, and fiber are all carbohydrates. And that’s one of the reasons they will make up a large part of your dog’s diet.
Pumpkin and sweet potatoes are great sources of fiber and vitamin A that taste great. Dark leafy greens such as green beans and broccoli help with fiber as well, while being wonderful sources of vitamins like B and C and minerals such as calcium.
Vitamins
There are several vitamins and minerals our dogs require for their health. And this is often an area where making your dog’s food at home wasn’t always the easiest before ChefPaw. Let’s take a look at some of those vitamins and minerals and our favorite ingredients that are rich in them.
Vitamin A: Carrots and pumpkin
B vitamins (biotin, folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin B-6, and vitamin B-12): Green vegetables, liver, and whole grains
Vitamin C: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and bell peppers (all colors are fine, red peppers have the highest nutritional value)
Vitamin D: Beef, fish, and liver
Vitamin E: Leafy greens, peanuts, and sunflower oil
Vitamin K: Leafy greens and fish
Choline: Fish, egg yolks, and various meats
Minerals
There are 12 essential minerals dogs need to give them a complete diet.
Calcium: Green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower
Chloride: Various fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
Copper: Whole grains, seeds, and fish
Iodine: Seafood and dairy (keep dairy, even yogurt to a minimum)
Iron: Poultry and beef
Magnesium: Various fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
Phosphorus: Eggs and various meats
Potassium: Various fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
Selenium: Brown rice, seafood, and various meats and vegetables
Sodium: Various fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
Sulfur: Various meats and fish
Zinc: Eggs, liver, lamb, and brewer’s yeast
Nutritional Supplements
From hemp products like CBD to mobility and heart-supporting supplements like fish oil, daily wellness aids just aren’t for people anymore.
When making your dog’s food at home, you can now avoid the pain of trying to get your dog to take their supplements by simply mixing it into their meals.
Thanks to ChefPaw’s gentle cooking nature, many supplements can be thrown right in the mixing bowl. And with the ChefPaw app, you can save supplements and their nutritional value in any of the recipes.
Finding The Best Ingredients and Easy Homemade Dog Food Recipes
With the ChefPaw app, you’re given a set of pre-programmed vet-formulated and approved recipes. These recipes are a great place to start and customize as you see fit. The range of recipes is great for getting an idea of which ingredients are popular to use when creating homemade meals for your dog. They will help you get an idea of optimal ratios of protein, fats, and carbohydrates as well.
ChefPaw nutrient analyzer will allow you to compare nutrient values when you’d like to switch out one ingredient for another. This is perfect for those that aren’t wizards about pet nutrition but would still like to create budget-friendly recipes on the fly. Found an awesome deal on a dog-friendly ingredient and want to incorporate it into their meals? That’s no problem for ChefPaw.
With its ability to connect you to a veterinary nutritionist for recipes perfectly personalized to your dog’s needs, dog owners whose dogs have special dietary needs will be delighted to hear that even they can break free from expensive specialty commercial foods.