How to cook homemade dog food. How to cook porridge for a dog: products and rules What dishes to cook for a nursing dog

Dogs, like people, need to eat right. Their diet should be balanced and have a complex of all vitamins. Animals should eat meat, dairy products and vegetables. Sometimes, unfortunately, dogs refuse pure vegetables, but even in this case, they can be pleased.

1. Porridge "Field kitchen".
Boil the beef bone to get a rich broth. Cook buckwheat porridge on this broth. Let it be liquid so that the smell and taste of beef remains. Add fresh grated carrots and raw beef trimmings to the porridge. In no case do not use spices and salt, this should not be given to animals.

2. Vegetable pilaf "Dog's joy".
Stew finely chopped carrots, cabbage and pumpkin (can be replaced with zucchini) and lean beef farm. All these ingredients are stewed in a small amount of water without adding oil. Then add rice to the stewed vegetables with minced meat and cover with water, cover and leave for a while (about 15 minutes). Once the rice is cooked, the delicacy is ready.

3. Porridge "Favorite breakfast".
Put a pot of water on the fire, add herculean porridge to it. When the porridge approaches readiness, you need to add finely chopped pumpkin (without seeds) to it and continue cooking for another couple of minutes. After that, leave to cool, and before serving, mix with cottage cheese one by one. For animals, this dish will be a tasty and healthy breakfast.

4. Meat "Pet Health".
It's no secret that dogs shouldn't eat fatty meat. Many breeds are prone to liver disease and allergies. Most often, allergic reactions are caused by chicken meat, it must be given with great care, observing the condition of the animal. Fatty pork must be excluded, it is undeniably harmful to the health of a shaggy comrade. Based on this information, it is necessary to use beef or horse meat, these meat products are more useful for them.
Rinse the beef trim and cut it into small pieces. One raw egg is added to the meat. Grate the carrots and one stick of celery, then boil the vegetables for a couple of minutes in water or bake in the oven. Do not bring the grated vegetables to full readiness, otherwise all the beneficial properties will evaporate. The meat soaked in the egg is mixed with carrots and celery so that part of the meat is in priority.

5. Treat "I want dessert"
Not all dogs eat raw vegetables, but most do eat them baked. Cut carrots and pumpkin into small cubes. Place each piece in a ball of cottage cheese. If the cottage cheese is loose and it is impossible to roll a ball out of it, you can add a raw egg to it. Pieces of vegetables will be in curd balls, which must be laid on a baking sheet and sent to the oven. It is necessary to bake at an average temperature for about fifteen minutes. After readiness, the dessert needs to be cooled, and then offered to your beloved pet, who will be very happy with such delicacies.
It is worth remembering that not all vegetables are good for animals, but the suggested recipes are completely safe and healthy for any dog.

There is a staggering selection of different dog food brands that are convenient to buy in supermarkets and are reasonably priced. But if you take a closer look at the labels of these foods, you will notice that there are many mouth-watering recipes on them that are also suitable for animals, taking into account their certain nutritional restrictions, so, in view of this, why should you worry about any problems related to with homemade dog food?

In fact, many of the dog food brands that are on supermarket shelves contain harmful chemicals and poor quality meat. If you read the composition of the food on the packaging, you will most likely see something like "organ meats" mentioned as one of the main ingredients, unfortunately these are so-called by-products made from various parts of animals that are not suitable for human consumption. These ingredients may not harm your dog in the short term, but they certainly won't provide your pet with optimal nutrition, and may lead to long-term health problems like cancer in the long run. Certainly not all dog foods are like this, and by searching and iterating you should be able to find those that contain good quality natural ingredients. However, uncanned dog food is never better than good homemade food, and with the right approach, you can make good homemade food quickly and cheaply.

Raw or cooked food?

When preparing homemade dog food, it is important to provide him with all the nutrients he needs, and the best way to do this is to build his diet around 70% meat, and 30% fiber and carbohydrates. Choosing the most appropriate meat to feed your dog depends on the dog's age and dietary restrictions (if any), eg chicken, turkey and fish are great for older and overweight dogs due to their low fat content.

In the wild, dogs apparently only eat raw meat, but there is still an ongoing debate about whether owners should feed their pet dogs raw or cooked food. Some people believe that raw meat can carry diseases and that domesticated dogs have evolved to digest cooked meat better than raw meat. After all, no one can guarantee whether raw food is healthy or not, so it's always the owner's personal choice of what to feed their pet.

We reduce costs

The two main problems that arise when preparing food from scratch are its high cost and lack of free time. If you buy fillets for your dog every day, you may end up without a piece of bread yourself! Obviously buying the best meat every day is not smart for most people, especially if you have more than one dog or a large dog. Here are some tips on how to make homemade dog food more affordable:

Leftovers. A great way to cut down on the cost of meat your dog needs is to use leftovers from the family meal, so if you have leftover Sunday roast, just give it to your dog, along with leftovers from chicken and other meats.
cuts of meat. Try to find cuts and leftovers from meat in the supermarket at the end of the day. If you walk around the meat and fish stalls in the last hours before the store closes, you might find something worthwhile, or at least bargain.
trimmings. Ask your local meat cutter about trimmings. It will be better if you become a regular customer, but most dividers will gladly give them to you if you just ask kindly and delicately.
special days. Choose one or two days a week to feed your dog a "special" food, and the rest of the week give him regular food. One day a week certainly doesn't sound so good, but it can be up to 52 days a year, which will definitely have a positive impact on your pet's health.
Prepare ahead and freeze. Cooking homemade dog food doesn't mean you have to be at the stove every day. If you prepare a large pot of minced meat, vegetables and pasta, you can freeze it and then simply defrost a specific portion as needed.
Buy high quality food. If you don't have enough time to prepare dog food, then the next best option for your pet is food with the best quality ingredients available in stores. Obviously, they will cost significantly more than standard feeds, but if you buy in advance and gradually become a regular customer, you can significantly reduce the cost of feed.

Food to avoid

You should not feed your dog grapes, raisins, chocolate and pork. If you're not sure if a food or a particular ingredient is safe for your dog, it's best to check with your veterinarian first.

Homemade Recipes for Dogs

dog casserole

cooking time - 15 minutes
200g chicken or turkey
100g cooked vegetables such as broccoli, carrots or cabbage
100g cooked brown rice
A little sauce for flavor

Just mix all the ingredients.

Luxurious stew

cooking time - 20 minutes
400g ground beef or stew
200g boiled vegetables
a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 garlic clove
100g cottage cheese
2 raw eggs

Gently stir-fry the meat in an oiled skillet for 10 minutes. Add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Remove the skillet from the stove and let it cool. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Any leftovers from the stew can be frozen until next time.

The health of a dog depends on the diet. If the daily diet contains the necessary substances, trace elements and vitamins, then the pet will be cheerful, cheerful and active.

Monotony

The following foods should be included in your dog's diet:

different types of meat
dairy products of medium fat content,
some vegetables and fruits
bran of cereal crops.

Moreover, animal protein should make up the majority of the diet.

Only raw foods

Natural dog food should not be cooked. High temperatures destroy many substances necessary for the animal. In a word, you can’t feed a pet from the table. It is necessary to specially buy fresh products for him and not cook them as for yourself.

Individual approach

Remember that every dog's body is unique. Therefore, you need to form a diet based on its needs. For example, it is known that in adult dogs milk is poorly digested - it is allowed to give it only to puppies up to 3 months. But practice has shown that some pets drink it with pleasure and do not have any problems with digestion.

Also, the diet depends on the activity of the pet. If the dog constantly plays, runs, then it needs more energy. In this case, it is recommended to increase the amount of animal protein.

Behind:

Breeder Evgeny Fursov advises:

“Man domesticated the dog a long time ago, back in the Stone Age. Since then, the needs of the dog have changed dramatically as the digestive system has adapted to the new conditions. Modern dogs can eat not only raw meat, but also bran, dairy products, and vegetables.
All this is healthy and varied food. And the benefits of dry food are questionable. Indeed, in addition to the necessary substances, various preservatives, thickeners and dyes are added to them. Yes, and I often make such feeds from cheap processed meat products.

Against:

Consulting veterinarian Evgenia Chuiko:

“Any dog is a predator, and its digestive system works differently than in humans. Her stomach and intestines, accustomed to raw food, are unable to break down carbohydrates and fiber. Therefore, food of plant origin passes through the dog's digestive system twice as fast as protein.
But the animal body needs substances that are only found in plant foods. In nature, wolves get them by eating the stomach contents of their prey. In a domestic dog that receives natural food, there is a deficiency of these substances. That's why many veterinarians recommend balanced ones that have everything you need."

What to include in a dog's diet?

Meat

It is best to give a variety of meat:

beef,
rabbit meat
horse meat,
lamb.

You don't have to buy first class products. You can get by with offal, if the animal's body tolerates them well. Suitable meat scraps, kidneys, trachea, heart, ears, udder. The main thing is that the meat is not fatty. Therefore, do not feed your dog pork. Chicken and turkey are also suitable for some pets.

But you need to feed poultry meat carefully. First you need to make sure that it does not cause problems with the digestive system. As already mentioned, meat products are given raw. Do not grind them into minced meat - you can just cut into pieces. Before feeding, it is allowed to douse the meat with boiling water.

Dairy products

Most adult dogs are unable to digest milk. But their digestive system copes with sour-milk products of medium fat content. Choose cottage cheese with a fat content of 5-9%, kefir 3-3.5% and yogurt with a shelf life of no more than 7 days.

These foods are high in protein and are easily digestible. Remember that dairy products must be selected individually. Usually too fatty cottage cheese and kefir are not absorbed by the dog's body. But the sensitivity of some pets may be higher. In this case, you need to abandon this type of product or try varieties with a lower fat content.

Eggs

They are rich in protein and various vitamins. This product is highly digestible. Both adult dogs and puppies can be given raw chicken and quail eggs. Moreover, the protein does not need to be separated from the yolk.

Interestingly, heat treatment does not affect the usefulness of the product. But nutritionists say that soft-boiled eggs are digested better.

Vegetables and fruits

The most useful thing in vegetables and fruits is pectin, which binds heavy metal salts, cholesterol and easily removes them from the body. It is better to give vegetables and herbs separately from the main food in finely chopped form, but if desired, you can grate them and mix with meat.

It is allowed to feed a pet with almost all types of vegetables: cucumbers, beets, pumpkins, cabbage, zucchini, bell peppers. From the greens, lettuce leaves, parsley and dill are suitable. But sweets are not allowed for dogs, so most fruits, especially exotic ones, are not given to the pet. But if the dog eats a few berries at their summer cottage or wants to eat an apple, nothing bad will happen.

A fish

Cereals and bran

Cereals are used as a supplement to the main diet. They are needed to regulate the intestinal microflora and improve its peristalsis. Usually they are mixed with milk.

Advises Breeder Sergey Ivanov

The basis of the dog's diet with natural nutrition should be meat and dairy products. But the intake of this food must be divided. In one feeding, you can give meat with vegetable oil and some vegetables in the end, and in the other - kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, which can be mixed 2-3 times a week with bran or a raw egg.

Prohibited foods: what not to give dogs

Meat of unknown origin

River fish

Low fat dairy products

Even 2% fat cottage cheese can cause diarrhea and vomiting in a pet. And low-fat milk-based products are completely contraindicated.

Citruses and legumes

By themselves, citrus fruits are not harmful, but in large quantities they are. And if the dog has digestive problems, then citric acid will definitely aggravate them. Legumes also have a negative effect on the digestive system.

Sweets

Glucose in large quantities negatively affects the eyes of dogs - they often watery and fester. And with prolonged use, they

Unlike ready-made feeds, natural feeding is a labor-intensive method. The owner of the animal will have to spend time cooking and carefully consider the diet. Before choosing this method, it is necessary to study all the nuances of how to properly feed the dog with natural food.

Some owners confuse natural feeding with table food. This is wrong. Even the best food "for people" is harmful to pets. For dogs, cook separately.

On naturalka adhere to the following rules:

components are prepared separately and mixed in a bowl before feeding;

the dog should eat a portion in one “lick”: if the food remains, it means that the dog overeats, over time he will develop obesity;

provide constant access to clean water;

vitamin complexes are introduced into the diet - it is almost impossible to independently calculate the amount of nutrients in the daily menu;

dairy and meat products must be given in different ways;

meat and offal are given raw, pre-freezing in the freezer for 2-3 days;

vegetables are rubbed on a coarse grater or chopped;

cereals are boiled, it is possible on the broth;

meat is cut into pieces of different sizes, taking into account the size of the pet - so that he gnaws them;

products do not salt or pepper;

you can not mix natural and dry food - this will lead to problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

All food must be fresh. It is stored in the refrigerator for no more than two days.

The dog is transferred from dry food to nature gradually, over 2 weeks. Additionally, they give probiotics, otherwise you can undermine the work of the digestive system.

Advantages and disadvantages of "natural" nutrition

It is believed that natural women are cheaper than dry food. This is only partially true. For large breeds, feeding natural food will actually come out cheaper. They eat a lot of food, and most of the daily "natural" menu is occupied by cereals, vegetables, offal.

Small pets eat little and are very picky. You will have to literally “dance” around them in order to persuade them to eat a piece of healthy food.

However, natural feeding, in comparison with dry food, has important advantages:

independent quality control of products;
straight - as close as possible to the natural, "wild" diet of animals;
variety - the menu can be varied daily, which is especially important for small breeds.

This type of food is well suited for dogs prone to allergies. They often have negative reactions to the components of industrial feed. By preparing your own food, you can eliminate the allergen.

Natural has several disadvantages:

high cost - in most cases, it is cheaper to feed with industrial feed;
large expenditures of time and labor - every day you will have to cook not only for yourself, but also for your pet;
it is easy to deviate from the rules of feeding - the owners may make a mistake when calculating the required amount and ratio of products.

But the main drawback is revealed when you have to leave and temporarily leave the dog with friends or in a hotel. The attorney is unlikely to want to cook. Therefore, the animal is gradually transferred to industrial feed, and then returned to the previous diet.

It's even worse when the trip is unplanned. The owner has no other choice but to hastily hand the "nanny" a bag of ready-made food and hope that the pet's digestive system will not suffer much.

Do's and Don'ts for Pets

A natural diet should include:

- Dairy products. They give kefir, fermented baked milk, cottage cheese with a fat content of 2% to 9%. Skim milk is not included in the menu, as it is poorly absorbed.
- Meat. Beef, veal, turkey, rabbit. It is better to give not tenderloin, but sinewy meat. Chicken is added carefully - some dogs are allergic to it.
- offal. Liver and lungs (infrequently, they provoke diarrhea), udder, scar, heart, stomachs.
- Cereals. Buckwheat, rice, oatmeal, barley.
— Vegetables and herbs. Any, with the exception of potatoes, legumes, cabbage. They cause gas.
- Fruits and berries. All unsweetened varieties. Rarely added as a treat.
- Eggs. Chicken or quail, raw, 1 - 2 times a week.
- Sea or ocean fish. Enter 1 time per week. Pre-boil, remove sharp bones.
- Cut it off. They are added to ready-made liquid food, best of all - to kefir.
- Crackers or biscuits. Just like a treat.
- Vegetable oil. Olive, sunflower, pumpkin, linseed. They are given a portion. For small breeds - a few drops, for large breeds - 1 tbsp.

Fish is not as nutritious as meat. It has half the protein. Therefore, it is given 2 times more.

As for the bones, the opinions of breeders and veterinarians are different. Some recommend giving raw spongy bones and moslak to gnaw. This will help train your jaw and clean your teeth from plaque. Others prefer only artificial bones sold in pet stores.

One way or another, you can give bones to dogs with a full chewing apparatus and no diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Also, sometimes you can pamper your pet with unsalted hard cheese, nuts, special treats for animals. It is useful to occasionally introduce a little seafood, sea and sauerkraut.

Important! The dog is strictly forbidden to feed the following foods:

sweets;

bakery and pasta;

onion and garlic;

grapes and raisins;

smoked meats;

pork;

fried, spicy, pickled, peppered, salty foods;

corn, semolina, soybeans, pearl barley;

tubular bones;

river fish.

An adult dog, starting from 8 months, is fed twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. Usually for “breakfast” they give fermented milk products, for “dinner” - meat with vegetables.

The animal should not be overfed - this will lead to obesity. The pet must eat a portion at a time. If food remains in the bowl, reduce the amount.

Approximately the required daily volume of products is calculated as follows: 6 - 7% of body weight for puppies, and 3 - 4% for adults.

Calculation for an adult dog weighing 15 kg: 15 * 0.4 \u003d 600 g of food. For a puppy 15 kg: 15*0.7=1050 g.

When choosing a menu, the proportions should be observed:

Meat - 30%;

Offal - 20%;

Cereals and vegetables - 35%;

Dairy products - 10%;

The rest is 5%.

These are average values. For a domestic and elderly dog, the calorie content of the daily menu is reduced. For a young, active, pregnant or working dog, the amount of food is increased.

It is possible to formulate the rules of feeding natural women only in general terms. Each breed has its own characteristics, which are taken into account when compiling the diet.

Natural nutrition is considered as close as possible to the dog's natural diet. Its main ingredients are meat, cereals, vegetables, offal and dairy products. Although this method allows you to independently control the quality of food, it takes a lot of time and effort.

Some 30 years ago, meat and cereals for dogs were the basis of the diet. But with the massive increase and active advertising of commercial feeds, the concept of natural nutrition or simply "natural" appeared. Unfortunately, many understand it not quite correctly, or even completely distort it in their favor. There are a lot of questions and disputes on this topic, including: is it possible to feed a dog with porridge?

Natural nutrition is not food from the master's table! The term is understood as feeding as close as possible to the natural diet of a certain species, in our case, a dog. For example: is meat a natural product? Of course yes! For a dog, not for a cow. Hay is also a natural product, but only for a cow, not for dogs.

Feeding carnivores bread, sweets, "natural" fried potatoes, pasta, and other things is not related to natural nutrition, just like feeding dogs only cereals or seafood.

The dog is a predator, but!

A dog should only eat meat like a wolf - another misconception. Consider in general terms the diet of wolves, the closest relatives of our four-legged friends.

In addition to food of animal origin, wolves also eat fruits, berries, roots, amphibians, large insects, eggs (if you're lucky to crush the masonry) and herbivore excrement. Grays eat small prey whole, in large prey they first eat part of the skin, naturally with wool, intestines and stomach along with the contents, then they feast on offal, and leave some part of the fillet for dessert.

Your pet will not eat roots or elk excrement, but the diet should include carbohydrates and fiber, which means it should contain cereals. Answering the question whether it is possible to feed a dog with porridge, we say “it is possible”.

What kind of cereal can dogs have?

Healthy animal nutrition implies a strict selection of products. The rule also applies to cereals, not all of them are equally useful. We will figure out which cereals are given to dogs, and which ones are better to refuse.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is one of the healthiest cereals. It contains trace elements, vitamins and proteins of plant origin. Buckwheat porridge has a positive effect on metabolism. In addition, it is rich in lecithin, and therefore recommended for liver diseases. The rich composition of cereals is both an advantage and a disadvantage, in some dogs it causes an allergic reaction.

Rice

Rice, especially not polished, is a natural sorbent rich in fiber, macro and microelements, and vitamins. Rice porridge stimulates digestion and is well absorbed by the body.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is no less useful, contains vitamins, macro and microelements, has an enveloping property and stimulates peristalsis. Oatmeal in the form of cereals or flakes is not recommended to be given in its pure form, so as not to provoke indigestion, only in combination with the aforementioned cereals. Porridge contains a lot of carbohydrates and in dogs that lead a sedentary lifestyle, can provoke obesity.

Oatmeal is contraindicated in animals suffering from urolithiasis.

If your pet has health problems, be sure to consult your veterinarian about which porridge is best to feed your dog.

Manka

Semolina contains a lot of carbohydrates, and microelements and vitamins are not included in the composition, so cereals are not given regularly. Veterinarians can introduce semolina into the diet, with diseases of the stomach. Milk semolina is allowed in the diet of puppies to make up for the high energy requirement.

Corn grits

Corn groats are a very popular product in the production of ready-made dog food, and many dog breeders began to introduce corn porridge into the diet of their pets.

In terms of the amount of nutrients, the product is far from being a leader, and it is also characterized by low digestibility, but in a small amount it will be a useful addition, since it inhibits fermentation processes in the intestines and stimulates hematopoiesis due to the high content of nickel, iron and copper.

Barley grits

Barley groats are not inherently harmful, but are considered an inferior product for dogs. It is hard to digest and does not replenish the necessary energy reserve.

Millet

Millet in the body of dogs is hard to digest. In large breeds, large volumes of wheat porridge can provoke intestinal volvulus.

Barley porridge

Barley porridge is practically not digested and is a serious allergen. The nutritional value of cereals is low, and the fiber content is very high, so it is indicated for obesity or constipation, if it does not cause allergies.

Pea porridge

Pea porridge, like other legumes, is categorically contraindicated in dogs because of the likelihood of provoking bloating. Flatulence is much more difficult for dogs than humans due to the anatomy.

You now know what kind of porridge to cook for a dog, it remains to find out how much porridge a pet needs and how to cook it.

How much porridge should be given to a dog?

Now that we have decided on cereals, let's calculate how much cereal to give the dog for one feeding? The main dish - porridge with meat products and vegetables, is given to pets at the rate of: 60-70 grams of feed per 1 kilogram of body weight per day. This rate is divided into 2 or 3 doses.

The product ratio is as follows:

50% sinewy meat and offal;
30% porridge;
20% vegetables and fruits.

Thus, per kilogram of dog weight, you need 30-35 grams of meat, porridge - 20-25 grams, and vegetables and herbs - 5-10 grams per day.

A dog that weighs 15 kg, with two meals a day, should eat 150-190 grams of porridge per feeding, or 300-375 grams per day.

How to cook porridge for a dog?

First of all, dog breeders should understand that their pets do not need an extreme variety of diet. Dogs do not need to constantly taste new dishes, and on the contrary, the gastrointestinal tract of a predator adapts to one type of food and is tuned specifically for its digestion.

Sudden changes in diet will at best cause indigestion. It is necessary to decide what kind of porridge to cook for the dog and stop at the chosen option.

Now let's move on to the preparation. To properly cook porridge for a dog, you need to follow a few simple rules. Porridge can be single-component or cooked from several cereals. Cook porridge in water without salt and spices. Any cereal should be well boiled and crumbly, not gluey. Only oatmeal is recommended not to cook, but to steam. 5 minutes before readiness, finely chopped or grated vegetables, raw meat are added to the porridge. Offal is also added at the end, but pre-boiled. Offal is prepared separately from cereals, the broth is not used.

The ratio of cereals and water is 1 to 3;
Any spices are contraindicated, even if it seems that with them the pet eats its portion faster;
Porridge should not be salted, especially for animals prone to or suffering from urolithiasis.
When the porridge is cooked, it is left to infuse under the lid for at least half an hour.
A little vegetable oil or fish oil is added to the finished porridge.

Porridge in the dog's diet are important. Cereals are a storehouse of mineral salts, vegetable proteins and vitamins, especially group B. Carbohydrates provide the body with energy, and fiber will ensure the normal functioning of the intestines.

Why is it better to cook porridge with water?

Why porridge cannot be boiled in broth is a topic that is being discussed very vigorously today, and people, as happens in such cases, often defend extremes. Meanwhile, it is really undesirable to give the broth to dogs, especially the one we are used to: more daring, but fatter ...

As a result of long cooking, unsplit fats, toxins and other substances unnecessary for the dog remain in the broth. All this goes from the stomach to the liver, where it causes cell damage. In addition, any dilution of gastric juice upsets the balance and does not have the best effect on digestion. Constant feeding with rich broths can provoke the development of erosive gastritis.

Low-fat, double- or triple-boiled broths can sometimes be given to dogs. But it is not advisable to cook cereals on them. The dog gets used to porridge with the smell of meat and then refuses boiled with water, and the owners certainly follow its requirements and continue to buy soup sets.

What is the best porridge to feed a dog? Fresh from quality products with meat, vegetables and herbs. If you are a caring owner and decide to assign natural nutrition to your dog, follow simple rules so that your pet lives a long, and most importantly, healthy life.