Pet Articles
Quickstart Guide to Making Your Own Pet Food at Home
Author: Bridget Mwape
As a pet owner, no doubt you want to give your dog or cat the
best care possible. And caring for your pet means feeding him
the best diet you can. By making your own pet foods, you'll be
saving money, up to 80%. And to top it off, it's easy; making
pet food at home is probably a lot less time-consuming than you
may have thought. With hundreds of websites offering free pet
food recipes online, it's now easier than ever to make your own
pet food.
To prepare healthy and nutritious food for your pet you should
study your pet's natural habitat and food sources, and then
prepare foods that most closely resemble their own natural or
original diet.
Animals, because they are color blind, choose their foods by
smell. Most dogs like gamey flavors best, as well as liver, fat,
garlic, onions, horsemeat, lamb, beef, cheese and fish. Cats
enjoy chicken, liver, fish, turkey, lamb, and yeast, and prefer
fresh to aged flavors.
Cats are fussy eaters and it is not wise to continually feed
them their favorite foods. Soon they will refuse to eat anything
else; it is your job to see your cat has a balanced diet.
Animals do not need salt added to their diet as the natural salt
in the food is enough for them.
Dogs may eat any vegetable they want, but cats should not have
any starchy veggies, like peas and corn. Some dogs and cats even
enjoy fruits!
It's a good idea to always add a grain, such as Kibble, wheat
germ, cooked oatmeal or whole wheat bread to meat dinners. For
dogs use 75% carbohydrate foods (grains and vegetables) to 25%
meat; for cats use half carbohydrate foods to half meat.
You will find, once you begin making your own pet foods, that it
is really relatively simple and you will save some money as
well. Remember that all pet foods should be served at room
temperature; don't serve food cold from the refrigerator nor hot
from the stove.
Homemade pet food should take a ridiculously small amount of
your time. As a general guide meats should be raw and vegetables
must be finely chopped in a food processor or by a hand grater.
When it comes time for feeding, it is important that you let
your dogs and cats eat as much as they want at the time of
feeding. Once their body becomes nutritionally satiated, they
will cut their food intake, sometimes by half the amount, and go
on a maintenance diet. Incidentally, you should know that cats
should be fed three times a day, while an adult dog needs only
one meal a day.
To get started, find a good book with pet food recipes and use
it to start preparing simple meals. You can also get free
recipes from many websites online. If preparing your own pet
food is not an option for you visit the website below for some
healthy pet
food: http://www.pet-ca
re-supplies.co.uk/food/
About the author:
Copyright © 2005. Bridget Mwape of Pet Care Supplies
UK:
http://www.pet-care-supplies.co.uk/ which offers thousands
of products to help you care for your pets. This article may be
reprinted as long as all the above links are active and
clickable and this author box (byline) is not edited.
