Dogs have been around for a very long time… long before there was Purina or IAMS, and they enjoyed a healthy happy well fed life thousands of years ago without these companies and the dog food that they make. So how were the canines of the past fed? They were fed with homemade dog food recipes. Homemade dog food came from the human table.

The last 100 years is when we as humans have been conditioned to believe that dogs are not to eat human food. We have been “brainwashed” that human food is actually harmful to dogs. There is a reason that even today your dog is close to the dinner table when you are eating. They are waiting for their serving of home cooked food.

The best way to keep your dog happy and healthy is by making homemade dog food. Just as you take the time to prepare healthy, home cooked meals for your family you can do the same for your furry four legged family member.

I am sure that you are like me, and you are concerned with what foods go into your dog. But if you were honest, you would admit that even you don’t have the faintest idea of what is really going in the commercial dog food. Did you know that most commercial dog foods are made with harmful and unhealthy chemicals. This has been proven by independent research of my own and research articles that have been published by numerous doctors and veterinarians.

Once you find suitable recipes that will help you make homemade dog food, you may want to consider changing your dogs diet slowly. Try different recipes to see what your dog likes and what your dog does not like. Just like with your family, not everyone likes peas and carrots. Below is a sample recipe for you to try your hand at creating your very first dog food recipe.

Apple Crunch Pup Cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup dried apple chips
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten slightly
• 4 tablespoons honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray muffin tin with cooling spray. Mix all wet ingredients thoroughly. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Add wet to dry slowly , scraping well to make sure no dry mixture is left. Pour into muffin tins. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out dry. Store in a sealed container. Makes around 12-14 pupcakes.

Tags: commercial dog food, homemade dog food, dog, dog health, holistic dog food, dogs, pets, dog food

It has been over a year since the massive recall on many different commercial pet foods. Since then what has changed? The sad truth is, not much… since the recalls there have only been a few new safety measures implemented.

Don’t get me wrong, there is legislation being discussed and passed and the commercial pet food industry is making recommendations on how quality and safety can be improved. However, many critics say that even once they new legislation is fully implemented it may not do much good.

Here is why, the federal legislation is going to rely on commercial dog food manufacturers to recall contaminated pet food on their own. The fact that recalls will be voluntary raises concerns that there will be breaches. Advocates of the legislation point out that there are going to be breaches regardless of whether the recalls are voluntary or regulated. Regulated recalls however would be stricter.

Unfortunately we do not currently have a national tracking system that monitors pet deaths. So we do not have a exact number on how many cats and dogs were killed when they consumed the pet food that had been made with the ingredients that were imported from China and tainted with melamine.

The FDA received more then 14000 complaints about pet food in the 30 days that followed the historic pet food recall. The FDA failed to report more then the initial 14 deaths. Of those 14 pet deaths, nine of them were lab animals from a commercial pet food manufacturer.

Where does this leave us? Right now the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians is running an ongoing study and to date they have found approximately 220 certified deaths of pets that lost their life due to the contaminated food. The current belief is that there were thousands of deaths due to the contaminated pet food and that there are approximately tens of thousands more that were affected by contaminated food.

The upside of the massive recall last year is that the commercial pet food industry is becoming more aware of what they need to do to ensure that the proper safety measures are being implemented and that they are being followed.

The Pet Food Institute, the National Pet Food Commission, the FDA and retailers are working together to develop more efficient ways to get recalled food off the store shelves, and a better way to inform pet owners. The FDA Amendments Act of 2007 made it so that the FDA must set up an early warning system that will not only identify contaminated food outbreaks, but it will also pick up illness outbreaks that are associated with commercial pet foods.

The FDA is also working with veterinarians and industry reps to come up with standards for pet food ingredients as well as definitions, updated labeling requirements and processing standards. The FDA has one year from September 2007 to have the early warning system implemented and two years from that date to have the needed standards and definitions in place.

All the legislation is a good start. However many pet owners remain skeptical. This skepticism has led to an increase demand for organic pet products and an interest in learning how to make homemade dog food. There are currently about 20 different companies that are now promoting organic, human grade, natural food products. This isn’t a new trend in the pet food industry, it was simple given a big push after the recalls last year.

There are many pet owners that remain skeptical over how safe commercial dog foods are. The skepticism is understood. After all, your dog is more then just a dog, he or she is a part of your family.

The Pooch Place is dedicated to providing you information on how to keep your pet safe. There you will find information on how to make your own homemade dog food to orthopedic dog beds. Visit The Pooch Place today.

Tags: dogs, homemade dog food, holistic dog food, pets, dog food, pet, dog health, dog nutrition

If you are one of the many dog owners that are taking charge of what their four legged family member is eating, then making homemade dog food is the ideal activity to learn. Believe it or not preparing homemade dog food is not as difficult as many people think it is. As a matter of fact the ingredients you’ll need to prepare natural holistic dog food recipes are the very same ingredients you use to prepare your own meals.

Here we are going to give you a simple breakdown of what goes into homemade dog food. You are going to use ground beef or ground turkey; these are available in the meat section at any grocery store. Naturally you are going to want to choose the meat that is most economical for you, but meat that is also going to give your dog the protein that they need.

Also, just as you wouldn’t serve your family ground beef everyday, your dog isn’t going to want ground beef everyday. So consider getting both ground beef and ground turkey so your pet has variety, and so they get use to digesting both types of meat.

Naturally you aren’t going to only feed your pup just ground meat. You’re going to want to add other ingredients, just as you would for yourself. Making sure that you add green veggies is advisable. The choice is yours as to whether you add raw veggies to raw meat or if you add cooked veggies to cooked meat. Figuring out which vegetables your pet likes won’t take long. Whatever vegetables are left in the bowl… those would be the vegetables they don’t like.

There are a number of homemade dog food recipes that also call for adding rice. Rice is good filler and it is perfectly safe for you dog to eat. You might want to cut up some bread and add it to the meat mixture. If you are giving your dog supplements you might also want to grind those up and mix those in the homemade dog food.

Just as when you are trying to new recipes for yourself, experiment and try different recipes for your dog. This will help you figure out the foods that your dog enjoys and the foods that they don’t. If you’re just starting out with making homemade dog food, remember that you need to introduce the natural food slowly so that their digestive systems can adjust.

There a number of sites on the internet that offer free dog food recipes. There are also books available that will guide you on how to make sure that you are feeding your dog nutritional homemade dog food. By feeding your dog homemade dog food you will begin to see a happier, healthier dog.

To find more information on homemade dog food and natural dog food recipes visit The Pooch Place. There you’ll find all kinds of information to help your puppy have long and happy life.

Tags: homemade dog food, pets, dogs, dog food, dog nutrition, dog, dog health, holistic dog food

The origin of the raw food diet came about ten years ago. At that point it was called the “BARF” diet, which stood for the Bones and Raw Food diet. This diet was created by an Australian veterinarian named Ian Billinghurst. As time passed the diet then became known as the biologically appropriate raw food diet. Today we just simply call it the Raw Food Diet.

If you spend anytime at all on the internet, then you will know that there is a lot of information out there about the raw food diet. There are many people that are strongly for the raw food diet and there are some against it. In this article we are going to give you the pros and the cons of the diet so that you can make the best decision for your dog.

I’m sure that you’ll recall last Spring, that the raw food diet received a lot of attention when numerous commercial dog foods were recalled. The massive recalls made many pet owners pause and consider giving homemade dog food a try. The idea of giving your dog a fresh, varied, rich in enzymes and amino acids type diet became very appealing to many pet owners.

While many people tend to switch to a raw food diet in times of stress such as when your their dog becomes sick, or they develop allergies. However as dog owners become more proactive about making sure that their dogs are getting proper nutrition they are beginning to think along these guidelines, “If this is how I should feed my dog when they are sick… why don’t I feed him this way all the time?”

Some veterinarians are still not comfortable with recommending a diet that mimics what a wild dog would eat, raw meat, pulverized fruit and veggies and bones. Their main concern has to do more with the bacterial contamination and nutritional imbalances and the possibility of internal injuries that can be caused by the bone fragments that can come from chewed bones.

The advocates of the raw food diet counter the bacterial objections by saying that good hygiene is essential in handling raw meat. The majority of healthy dogs are able to tolerate bacteria such as Ecoli. With this in mind if your dog is immune compromised in anyway, the raw food diet may not be the best diet plan for them.

Advocates also point out that if you grind the bones into a hamburger type consistency you then eliminate the risk of bone fragments lodging in the intestinal tract and causing problems. A note about feeding your dog bones…never give them cooked bones. When bones are cooked, they become brittle and can splinter.

As with any new diet it’s not advisable to start your dog on this raw food diet without doing proper research and talking to your vet.

To find out more information on homemade dog food and dog food recipes please visit The Pooch Place .

Tags: dog food, dogs, pet, dog health, pets, holistic dog food, dog nutrition, homemade dog food

Here is a quick and easy recipe for you puppy.

• 3 jars baby food, strained chicken, beef or carrot
• 1/4 cup cream of wheat*
• 1/4 cup dry milk

Combine ingredients in bowl and mix well. Roll into small balls and place on wellgreased
cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake in preheated 350 degree
oven for 15 min. until brown.

Cool on wire racks and STORE IN REFRIGERATOR. Also freezes well.

* Wheat germ can be substituted for cream of wheat.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup butter — cut into pieces
• 4 beef or chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups grated cheese
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick
cooking spray.

Mix oats into a medium bowl, top with pieces of butter and the bouillon cubes.

Pour in boiling water and let sit 10 minutes to dissolve the butter and bouillon.

Mix well, then add whole wheat flour, cornmeal, sugar, milk, eggs and cheese.

Add enough of the all purpose flour to make a stiff dough.

Mix well

Roll out dough. The thinner the dough, the crisper the baked treats will be.

Use a cookie cutter to cut out cookies in fun shapes.

Bake on prepared cookie sheets until hard, 5-15 minutes depending on how thin the dough is rolled.

Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.
This recipe makes 4 dozen cookies

Tags: dog health, pet, pets, holistic dog food, homemade dog food, commercial dog food, dogs, dog food

If you are concerned about what your dog is eating then you may want to consider making your pet’s food yourself. Homemade dog food is not a new concept, consider the fact that dogs have been around for thousands of years while dog food companies have only been around for about a hundred years.

So how were dogs being fed before IAMS and Purina came along? Their owners were creating delicious meals for them from the very same food that they themselves were enjoying. Plain and simple, the only way for you to know exactly what your pup is eating is for you to take the extra moment or two and make your own homemade dog food.

Naturally you’re going to find people that will tell you this is the best thing you can do for your dog and you are going to find those that are going to tell you this is the worst thing you can do, I say, give it a try. Introduce the homemade dog food slowly so that you dog can adjust to the dietary change you are making. Talk to your vet to make sure that you are meeting your dog’s nutritional requirements.

There foods you should avoid giving your dog because we know that it is harmful. Avoid giving your dog any type of bone, cooked or uncooked. This is due to the fact that bone fragments can get stuck in the digestive track. I know, you are thinking that dogs thousands of years ago ate bones… wild dogs eat bones and survive. They do, I agree, but they are also eating hide and hair which pads those bone fragments so they pass through the digestive track easier.

You are also going to want to avoid foods such as chocolate, mushrooms, avocados, grapes, raisins, macadamia nuts, garlic and onions.

I have no doubt that you are just as concerned as I am about what your dog is eating. I would also bet that you’ve taken the time to read labels and pick what you consider to be the safest and healthiest dog food available. But if you were to be completely honest with your self, you would have to admit that you don’t really know what really goes into commercial dog food. The majority of this dog food contains harmful chemicals. This isn’t just my opinion; this is a fact that has been supported through independent research by doctors and veterinarians.

Wondering where you can find healthy recipes for your four legged family member. You can search the internet; there are a number of sites that offer recipes. Read the recipe; make sure that it is a healthy recipe. Take the same considerations you would for your family. You are also going to want to try different recipes to see what your dog likes best. To give you a head start, I am including a healthy recipe for a dog treat. Give it a try and enjoy the fact that you are giving your pup a natural, holistic dog food treat.

Apple Crunch Pup Cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup dried apple chips
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten slightly
• 4 tablespoons honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray muffin tin with cooling spray. Mix all wet ingredients thoroughly. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Add wet to dry slowly , scraping well to make sure no dry mixture is left. Pour into muffin tins. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out dry. Store in a sealed container. Makes around 12-14 pupcakes.

To learn more about how to make homemade dog food that your dog will love visit The Pooch Place

We have all seen those commercials with the adorable dogs begging and drooling for those dog treats that look and smell like people food, promising to offer even better dog food nutrition. You love your dog and you want to be able to give them a special treat every now and then, after all… how can you resist that lovely little head tilt, and those pleading eyes and possible even a cute little “come on… don’cha love me” whimper.

Naturally this makes you want to cave and give the lovable little pup the treat he deserves. If you aren’t giving him a homemade dog treat then you could be doing more harm then good. The better thing to do is to pet him in the head and tell him how you love him before you reach for one of those doggie treats.

From purely a digestive stand point, your dog does not need any extra snacks to get him through the day. Giving your pup those extra treats is actually contributing to the growing problem of pet obesity. Obesity can cause a number of health problems including diabetes, GI problems, cardiovascular problems, even immune and respiratory problems just to name a few. Think about it this way, you wouldn’t give your youngster treats every time they looked at you with a cute face, don’t give into your four legged little one either.

I know how tempting it can be to give your dog people food as well. I understand the thought process of, “It’s safe for us to eat,” the fact is that it could potentially make your dog very sick and possible kill them. Items such as baby food, many of which contain onion powder can be toxic to dogs.

Fish, poultry and other meat bones can actually cause obstructions in the digestive system, even cause lacerations. Have another little four legged feline friend, it isn’t okay to have them share the cat food either. Cat food is usually too high in fats and proteins for dogs. The infamous fat trimmings from the juicy steak you enjoyed can actually cause pancreatitis in your dog.

There are many very good dog foods available that will offer your dog all the nutrition they need. You can also look at holistic dog food that can be bought from your vet or you may even consider homemade dog food and homemade dog treats. There are a number of sites on the internet that provide free dog food recipes .

Really let them know you love them by making sure you are thinking of their long term health and not just instant gratification.

Find out more about the best way to take care of you dog, whether your looking for homemade dog food recipes or puppy training tips, check out The Pooch Place . Join other pet owners who share and learn from each other the best ways to take care of their babies.

For many pet owners, their dog is like one of the family. They love their dog deeply and want only the best for them. Maintaining your dog’s health ensures he will have a long and happy life with you, and a crucial part of this is feeding your dog the right food. Holistic dog food is one of the best choices you can make for your pet.

Other types of dog food may have additives which can be harmful for your pet, but holistic dog food, especially natural organic dog food, mimics the natural diet your dog would eat in the wild. By mimicking its natural diet you are helping your dog to live a more natural and healthier life.

A big advantage of feeding your pet holistic dog food is that it is likely to improve your dog’s immune system, making it healthier. While the meat in commercial food may have antibiotics in it, organic dog food does not, which keeps your dog’s immune system strong, and ready to fight off any infection.

Your dog will also be healthier because holistic dog food is likely to have a better balance of minerals and nutrients, helping to maintain a healthy digestive system, and helping your dog build strong muscles, teeth and bones. This will also help keep your dog healthy into its advanced years.

Do you show your dog? If so natural dog food is still a good choice, because it aids in a glossy coat and bright eyes. Judges at dog shows look for healthy animals, and there is nothing healthier than a natural well balanced diet. Just like with humans, when a dog is healthy it shows in everything they do, from their movements to the way they hold themselves.

But where can you get natural dog food? You can make it yourself, from recipes on the internet. Be careful to source only the best of ingredients and experiment with ratios until you find something which works for you and your pet. If the recipe will freeze properly, considering making a large batch every month to save time.

If you don’t want to make the food yourself, then ask your vet or your dog’s breeder for recommendations of natural dog food manufacturers. Otherwise browse through the selection of foods at your local pet store, being careful to read labels properly to find a good food.

Although it does require some extra effort, and extra cost, holistic dog food is a worthwhile expense. If you care about your pet, then you’ll surely agree that being able to spend more time with your pet, and more time in which your pet is living a happy and healthy life, is worth the time and money.