Dog and Puppy Nutrition: Carbohydrates

Learn more about the carbohydrate requirements for you puppy or dog. Learn about the right kinds of carbs and their place in a good dog food diet.

Find out how Eukanuba uses the right type of carbs blended in proper ways to help your dog get the most out of life. More on www.eukanuba.com

Dog and Puppy Nutrition: Fiber

Learn more about the importance of fiber in your puppy and dogs diet.

Eukanuba uses beet pulp as a fiber source for their dog foods. Learn about Eukanuba’s special fiber source that’s scientifically proven to aid in proper digestion for your dog.

Beef Stew Dog Food Recipe

You can use chicken, lamb, fish or liver in place of the beef.

Beef Stew Dog Food Recipe

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 pounds lean beef

2 cups cabbage, chopped

18 ounces canned sweet potatoes — drained and chopped

14 1/2 ounces canned tomato wedges — undrained

1 1/2 cups tomato juice

3/4 cup apple juice

1 teaspoon ginger root, grated

2 cups green beans, frozen, cut crosswise

1/3 cup peanut butter

6 cups cooked brown rice

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Cook Beef, Add the cabbage and garlic; cook, stirring, until the cabbage is tender-crisp, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tomato juice, apple juice, ginger.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low; cover. Simmer until hot and bubbling, about 6 minutes.
5. Stir in the green beans and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
6. Stir in the peanut butter until well-blended and hot, about 1 minute. Spoon over rice.

Chow Chow Chicken and Rice

2 chicken thighs, or white meat
1 stalk celery, sliced thick
3 carrots, peeled and halved
2 small potato, peeled and cubed
2 cups rice, uncooked

1. Place chicken pieces in large pot. Cover with cold water (5 -6 cups).
   Add carrots, celery, and potatoes to water.
2. Cover and simmer on low heat about 2 hours until the chicken becomes tender.
3. Add the rice, cover and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.
4. Remove soup from heat. Pull the chicken meat off the bone (it will practically fall off), discard bones.
5. Return shredded pieces to pot. Stir well. Let cool. Store in the refrigerator or freeze.

Choosing A Healthy Commercial Dog Food

Have you ever taken a look at the ingredients listed on a bag or can of commercial dog food? If so, depending on which brand you looked at, chances are you wondered how it could be healthy. Sadly, the truth is that most commercial dog foods are no healthier for your pet than a bag of potato chips is for you. So, before you allow your dog to take another bite of that chow you have been giving them, you should read this article on choosing a healthy commercial dog food.

Research the Dog Food
Commercial dog foods are a great convenience but what you are gaining in convenience, you might be losing in the health of your pet. Luckily, there are some commercial foods that are nutritious too. When push comes to shove, you should make sure the food you are feeding your dog is the best out there. This will require you to do your research on the subject. Not only should you familiarize yourself with the ingredients, but you should also familiarize yourself with the brands that are available.

Nutritional Ratios
The first thing you need to do is understand what the best ratio of food components is for your dogs diet. For example, it should be about fifty percent meat, ten percent grain and about forty percent fruits and vegetables. When you choose a pet food that is close to this ratio, then you have probably chosen a food that will meet your dogs nutritional needs.

Meat
As you are looking at the ingredients, you should make sure that meat meal protein sources are at the top of the line. Basically, meal is meat that has been pre-cooked. When you are looking at low quality foods, you will generally find a meat ingredient first. That meat ingredient will be followed by a number of fillers and by-products. Yes, meat has been listed as the first ingredient, but there are more fillers and that changes the ratio, so you want to avoid anything that has a lot of by products or fillers listed.

Preservatives
When choosing a commercial dog food, preservatives are necessary in order to keep the dog food from going stale. However, those preservatives should not be artificial chemicals. Did you know artificial chemicals could cause cancers? In fact, you should avoid any foods that have chemical preservatives such as BHT, BHA and Ethoxyquin.

Cost
Typically, healthy commercial dog foods are going to be more expensive, but your dog may actually eat less of them since they are not loaded with fillers that have no nutritional value and, therefore, it takes less food to meet his nutritional needs. You want to look for foods that are natural and/or organic as these will be free from toxins. Feeding a healthy commercial food to your dog may cost a bit more, but you will be paid back with lower vet bills and a healthy dog that lives a long life.

Fish Oil Benefits For Dogs – Healthy Dog Food Recipe with Salmon and Vegetables

Fish oil provides many benefits for dogs as well as people. A healthy dog food diet will provide two to three servings of beneficial cold-water fish weekly. The healthy dog food recipe below uses salmon to provide omega-3 fatty acids to dogs and includes vegetables for additional vitamins and nutrients.

Benefits of Fish Oil for Dogs

For many years veterinarians have recommended feeding fish oil to treat canine allergies and skin conditions. New research is showing that omega-3 fatty acids in the form of fish oil are good for preventing and treating a wide variety of canine diseases.

Older dogs suffering from arthritis will especially benefit from the healing properties of fish oils. The anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for treating the itching and inflammation associated with allergy-related skin conditions.

Supplementing Your Dogs Diet with Fish Oil

You can purchase fish oil supplements for animals, but why not just add cold water fish to your dogs diet? When fish is fed as part of the normal canine diet, there is no need to worry about proper dosing for your dogs size. Dogs will naturally get the proper amount as part of their normal dietary requirements.

Salmon and other cold water fish are high in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Feeding two servings a week of a high quality homemade dog food containing salmon as a protein source should be sufficient for most dogs. If your dog is suffering from arthritis, kidney failure, skin diseases or other inflammatory diseases, add a fish oil supplement to your dogs daily supplements.

See Benefits in Six to Eight Weeks

As with most nutritional therapies, it will take a while to notice changes in your pets health. Allow at least six to eight weeks of regular omega-3 therapy to evaluate the benefits for your pet.

Consult your veterinarian about your dogs specific needs and dosage. You vet can best advise you about your dogs special nutrient needs.

Salmon and Vegetable Meal Recipe

This Salmon and Rice Meal recipe is balanced to provide protein, vegetables and starches. Use the fish with the bones and juices included. The bones are pressure cooked during the canning process and are soft enough that dogs can eat them with no problem. The bones contain calcium and additional nutrients.

1 large can salmon, bones and juices included
2 large potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 cup mixed vegetables, cooked and minced or processed
Seasonings to taste

Mix all together. Moisten with additional broth or water if needed. Since all the ingredients are cooked, no additional cooking is required.

Store the leftovers as individual portions in the freezer. Additional moisture may be needed after thawing.

Foods You Should NEVER Feed Your Dog

Everyone loves to feed their dog table scraps and well meaning guests often can be seen feeding your pet all kinds of things, but did you realize that some foods that are perfectly fine for humans can make your dog sick?

Even though we think of them as part of the family, dogs digest and react to foods differently than we do, so you must be very careful what you feed your dog as some “human” foods can be fatal to canines.

Here’s a list of some of the foods you should never feed your dog:

Chocolate – this is a great treat for us and it stands to reason that you might want to share it with your pet, however I urge you to never feed your dog chocolate because it can be fatal! Chocolate contains a substance that can be toxic to your dog when eaten in certain amounts.

Coffee – Never feed your pet anything with caffeine, including coffee as it can adversely affect your dogs heart and nervous system.

Cooked bones – Every dog loves a bone, right? It’s true, but you have to be very careful what types of bones you feed your dog. Never feed them any cooked bones as they can splinter very easily which can really wreak havoc inside your dog and can even be fatal. The same goes for chicken bones.

Grapes – Grapes, as well as raisins can damage your pets kidneys, so please refrain from feeding them these as well as grape seed oil (or any essential oil).

Onions and garlic – Onions and garlic in any form contain sulfoxides and disulfides which can cause anemia by damaging red blood cells.

Walnuts and Macadamia nuts – These contain some toxin (as yet unknown) which affects the muscles, digestive system and nervous system.

Mushrooms – Some mushrooms can be fatal for your dog, so it’s best to avoid them at all costs.

Avocado – Avocados contain persin which is toxic to dogs and can cause difficulty breathing, fluid buildup in the chest and abdomen and an enlarged abdomen.

Fat trimmings from your dinner – While the fat you trimmed off your prime rib seems like the perfect thing to dump into Fidos dish, it really isn’t good for them. Fat can cause pancreatitis in dogs and the extra calories can lead to obesity.

In addition to the foods above, you should never feed your pet fruit pits or the leaves or stems from vegetables like tomatoes and potatoes. Also, don’t feed your dog desserts or spoiled food as they obviously are not good for them. Being careful about what you feed your pet is important so, in addition to making sure you don’t feed him these foods also keep an eye on what others are putting into Fido’s mouth and you’ll be assured that you won’t have to worry about any food related illnesses.

Simple Home Made Dog Food Recipe – Chicken and Rice

This is a easy to make home made dog food recipe that our dog loves. I use brown rice to increase the fiber and nutrition. You can also add chopped garlic to this recipe.

Home Made Chicken and Rice Dog Food Recipe

2 lbs chicken

2 stalks celery, sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 small potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cups rice, uncooked (use brown rice for more nutrition)

Place chicken pieces in large pot. Cover with cold water (5 -6 cups or more). Add carrots, celery, and potatoes to water. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat down to low. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chicken becomes tender.

Add the rice, cover and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. It will take about 40 minutes for brown rice. You should have enough liquid, but add more water if needed.

Remove soup from heat. Pull the chicken meat off the bone (it will practically fall off), discard bones. Return shredded pieces to pot. Stir well. Let cool. Store in the refrigerator or freeze.

Are You Feeding Your Puppy The Right Type Of Food?

Go into any supermarket or pet store and you will see aisles of dog food both in cans and bags.  One would think it would be easy to choose which food to feed your dog and for adult dogs there are many options, but puppies require different nutrients than adult dogs and, therefore, should be fed different food.

It simply won’t do to feed your new puppy an adult food, so you must choose a food specially formulated for puppies.  Your best bet is to actually use the food that he was being fed before you brought him home, at least at first.  That’s because puppies digestive systems are very delicate and changing the food abruptly can cause a lot of stress and digestive problems.

If you don’t like the brand of dog food your puppy was being fed, you can gradually change to your preferred brand.  Remember that you get what you pay for so don’t go with the cheapest kind.  Your growing puppy needs lots of nutrients and good proteins in order to be healthy – feeding a puppy poor quality food can result in a lot of illness later in life.  Also, good quality food is more nutritious so your dog will actually eat less and he will have fewer stools and they will be less smelly so even though you are paying more for the food to begin with, you will have to buy less of it.

Now, if you are changing your puppy to a new food you want to do it slowly.  Replace only about 10% of his old food with new for the first couple of days.  Then move to 20% for the next few days, then 30%  and so on.  If your dog vomits or has diarrhea, then back off on the percentage of new food until his system adjusts.

Getting your puppy on a feeding schedule is important.  Remember that younger dogs will need to eat more often, but probably by the time your pup is old enough for you to take him home, you should be able to feed 3 times a day.  After your puppy reaches 6 months, you can taper off to twice a day.

Your puppy can switch to eating adult food when he reaches his full height which is usually around a year for most breeds.  Again, you want to gradually switch the foods so that there is no digestive problems.

Feeding your puppy the right foods will help him grow properly and help him look healthy and feel great.  Proper nutrition in the beginning will help with your dogs health his whole life and result in a healthy long lived pet.