The recent massive pet food recall, which begin in March of 2007 and included over one hundred brands of pet food, exposed some massive problems with the commercial pet food industry. An accurate death toll and true scope of how many were affected may never be truly known, but hopefully there will be one good thing that will come out of this ordeal – and that is for people to pay closer attention to what it is they are feeding their pets.
People should now be paying very close attention to not only the ingredient list on their dog’s food, but also they should be finding out where these ingredients come from (since all the contaminated ingredients from the recall originated overseas). Many people are even taking the next step and preparing nutritious homemade meals for their pets.
Cooking for your dog really isn’t all that crazy. Especially when you think about the fact that the commercial pet food industry has been around less than one hundred years and was in fact created as a way for food companies to sell something made out of low-grade food that had failed USDA inspections. So these food companies started making “pet food” and somehow convinced us to start feeding it to our pets even though it had been deemed unfit for human consumption. For centuries before this our four-legged friends thrived on table scraps.
While nothing beats a tasty home-cooked meal, that doesn’t mean you should start empting your leftovers into your pooch’s bowl. The food we eat today is all too often processed and loaded with sugar and preservatives (not good for dogs or people). Plus some of the foods we eat can be deadly for dogs to eat (onions, grapes, raisins and chocolate are just some of the common human foods that dogs should never eat).
If your thinking of making strictly homemade meals for your dogs, think hard about the pros and cons and do your homework. You’ll need to figure out the right balance of meat, veggies and grains and it is very important to ensure your dog is getting the proper vitamin content as too much or too little of certain vitamins and minerals over long periods of time can cause serious health problems.
The research I did for this article has so far been my dog Yogi’s favorite. Yogi was more than happy to help me test out various recipes, gobbling them down with great enthusiasm. I’m not ready to do the home-cooked meals full time for Yogi, so instead I feed a high quality dry kibble made from human-grade ingredients, and then I supplement it with home cooked meals. This has been a great way to take advantage of the convenience of dry dog food while also giving him the nutritional and health benefits from eating fresh food.
There are two books I’d recommend to anyone interested in learning more about home cooking. The first is Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (Rodale Books, August 2005). Dr. Pitcairn is a highly respected veterinarian who specializes in homeopathy and nutrition. This book has a wealth of valuable information on canine nutrition and lots of recipes.
Another fun doggie cookbook is Real Food for Dogs: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Canine Gastronome (Storey Publishing, October 2001). It’s a quick read filled with lots of fun recipe ideas and the occasional tidbits on canine nutrition. So far “Howlin’ Good Stew” and the “Doggy Vittles” have been Yogi’s favorite recipes from this book, though is hard to judge as he seems elated to devour whatever I offer him.
Bon Appetite!
