Our great-grandparents remember it well: in the past, there were no kibble or canned food for dogs. People cooked for their four-legged friends just as they did for every other member of the family! Today, thanks to the widespread success of dry dog food, many people have lost this habit; while others, still uncertain about what goes into packaged dog food, would like to return to a home-cooked diet for dogs! Let's explore the right quantities and plenty of other tips on home feeding for dogs — a natural diet, free from preservatives and certainly healthier for our furry friends!
A brief note on the home-cooked diet for dogs
It is our duty to remind you that our tips on a home-cooked diet for dogs can never, under any circumstances, replace the guidance of a veterinary nutritionist. You should also always remember to exclude from your dog's diet all foods that are harmful to dogs, which we have already covered. Another important warning concerns food intolerances: many dogs, for example, are intolerant to lactose, fish, or even cooked rice! If your furry friend experiences any kind of discomfort, you will notice it immediately by checking their stools — if they are excessively soft, something is definitely not right!
With a particularly active dog, you will need to ensure the right balance of proteins and fats, whereas if you have a couch potato at home, the home-cooked diet for dogs will need to be much more carefully balanced. In the past, those who followed a home-feeding approach for dogs would typically give their companion several types of meat — such as chicken, turkey, beef, fish, and sometimes even pork (still used today for specific food intolerances). It seems that incorporating different cuts of meat into the diet may help extend their lives, even if we have never come across scientific confirmation of this — but as they say, listening to our elders never hurts!
It may surprise you, but today the average lifespan of a dog is 14 years, whereas in the past they were much longer-lived! In some cases, dogs would comfortably reach 18 or even 20 years of age! Of course, such exceptions still exist today, but they were certainly less rare back then — perhaps because city life, with all the pollution that both we and our furry companions breathe in, simply isn't that good for anyone!
Home feeding for dogs: quantities and tips
Meat for dogs
When it comes to home feeding for dogs, as mentioned above, you should try to vary the type of meat as much as possible. Perhaps chicken one day, beef the next, and so on. Always remember to wash the meat thoroughly before giving it to your dog, and if it is a less premium cut, boil it first! Even though they are dogs, they live with you in your home — not out in the wild — so you may be surprised at how much of their immune defences they may have lost over time. Comparisons with wild canids, therefore, carry little weight. Our companions are far more sensitive!
So, even when it comes to feeding raw meat to dogs, always choose high quality! Think of it this way — people eat steak tartare too, but from premium cuts, not offcuts! As for fat, you do not necessarily need to remove it; it does play its part in the diet. However, for dogs that get little physical exercise, the amount should be kept very low!
Grains and rice for dogs
In the wild, canids do not typically eat pasta, bread or rice. Nevertheless, these are foods that are used very widely in home feeding for dogs. Rice comes in first place, followed by pasta and other grains. When you cook them, however, you need to be very careful to cook them thoroughly! There is no such thing as "al dente" for our furry friends — the more well-cooked, the better. They should be as free from starch as possible, and always prepared strictly without salt!
Rice for dogs, in particular, should be rinsed both before and after cooking, again to remove as much starch as possible and to prevent potential diarrhoea in dogs. If you are always short on time, don't worry — you can turn to puffed cereals, which are highly digestible and do not cause digestive upset.
Vegetables for dogs
Much like with children, we now come to perhaps the natural foods that dogs enjoy the least — vegetables! Our furry friends are not exactly fond of them. To make vegetables for dogs more digestible and appealing, it is generally recommended to boil them; although in truth this is not the best choice, as they would lose most of their vitamins during cooking. If you do opt for this approach, a good idea is to save the cooking water and use it later to cook the rice or pasta.
Among the best vegetables for dogs are certainly green beans, rich in fibre and low in calories; spinach, with its excellent detoxifying properties; carrots, which are also great for your dog's dental hygiene; cooked potatoes; broccoli; and other leafy green vegetables. With the latter, don't overdo it — although they are rich in vitamins, they contain oxalic acid, which could contribute to the formation of small kidney stones. Finally, remember that vegetables suitable for dogs should never exceed 10–15% of the total meal.
