Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Cooking for Your Dog
We home cook for our dogs here at the Yorkie Crested Cavalier Castle. Truth be told, they eat better than we do.
We cooked for our dogs before the pet food recalls. I became convinced that kibble was not the best dog food available once I started reading ingredient lists. The dog food industry is starting to respond to the demand for healthy pet food and today there are some good quality holistic dog foods available. I do supplement occasionally with kibble as an added insurance that my dogs are getting a balanced meal nutritionally. Dogs have different nutrition requirements and if you cook for your dogs you might consider a pet multi vitamin supplement.
I would suggest you talk to your vet. Most vets are skeptical of home cooked diets for dogs but they are not experts; very little emphasis is placed on diet and nutrition in vet school. Some vets are more open to this concept than others. My vet reacted negatively at first but is coming around after I had him do a blood panel screening and found that all of the necessary nutrients were within the acceptable range.
You can cook occasionally for your dog even if you feed kibble. After all, we like variety and your dogs will too! You need not be concerned if you cook occasionally for special occasions for your dog. If you are feeding over 50% of their diet with home cooked meals, I would suggest you do some homework about canine nutrition. There are several informative sites on the web about canine nutrition. There are also several books available at Amazon.
After doing a lot of research, I use a premix for 50% of their diet and I highly recommends Dr. Harvey's Canine Health. The other 50% of their diet is home cooked meals. This is a balance that works for us, you will need to find what is right for you and your dogs.
Each month we will post a Dog Food Recipe of the Month here on our blog. Enjoy!
We cooked for our dogs before the pet food recalls. I became convinced that kibble was not the best dog food available once I started reading ingredient lists. The dog food industry is starting to respond to the demand for healthy pet food and today there are some good quality holistic dog foods available. I do supplement occasionally with kibble as an added insurance that my dogs are getting a balanced meal nutritionally. Dogs have different nutrition requirements and if you cook for your dogs you might consider a pet multi vitamin supplement.
I would suggest you talk to your vet. Most vets are skeptical of home cooked diets for dogs but they are not experts; very little emphasis is placed on diet and nutrition in vet school. Some vets are more open to this concept than others. My vet reacted negatively at first but is coming around after I had him do a blood panel screening and found that all of the necessary nutrients were within the acceptable range.
You can cook occasionally for your dog even if you feed kibble. After all, we like variety and your dogs will too! You need not be concerned if you cook occasionally for special occasions for your dog. If you are feeding over 50% of their diet with home cooked meals, I would suggest you do some homework about canine nutrition. There are several informative sites on the web about canine nutrition. There are also several books available at Amazon.
After doing a lot of research, I use a premix for 50% of their diet and I highly recommends Dr. Harvey's Canine Health. The other 50% of their diet is home cooked meals. This is a balance that works for us, you will need to find what is right for you and your dogs.
Each month we will post a Dog Food Recipe of the Month here on our blog. Enjoy!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Free Dog Stuff on the Web
In surfing around, which I admit that I do way too much of, I have come across some dog freebies and thought I would share them here. See the Free Dog Stuff on the Web for our current updated list.
If you know of a site that offers free dog items, post it here and I will add it to the list.
If you know of a site that offers free dog items, post it here and I will add it to the list.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
The Best Dressed Diva Dogs
We love to dress our dogs....for some, like our Chinese Crested, it is a necessity; for our yorkies, we do it because they look so darn cute!
Post your pictures of your dog's dressed up here.
Post your pictures of your dog's dressed up here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
