Have you ever cook for your dog? Making your dog food have many benefits, especially if your dog has allergies or gastrointestinal sensitivity since you can control the ingredient in it. Homemade dog food also tends to have more nutrients than processed foods that have additives and preservatives. So, are you interested? Here are some tips and some recipe collections for you to try!
3 Recipes You Can Cook For Your Dog: Game Changer
The important thing is to keep it complete and balance. Try to fulfill their needs with proper ingredients and portion, depending on the dog condition. Just like us, each of them has different nutritional needs, health condition, and activity level. You can ask your vet for some advice about the right diets for your dog.
No pressure, though! Don’t be too stressed out about what is good or bad for your dog. In general, the basic nutrient required for dogs consists of protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and of course water. Protein from chicken, beef, turkey, fish, or cooked egg can help your dog’s growth. Fat from meat and oil also helps to assist the absorption of some vitamins and gives good hair and skin for your dog. Rice or beans that have carbohydrates in it can keep your dog’s intestines healthy. Minerals like calcium, sodium, iron, magnesium, and others give your dogs strong and structured bones and teeth, while vitamins promote weight loss, immune, and healthy eye and skin. The last, water is also critical because your dogs have to stay hydrated throughout the day to prevent them from health issues because of dehydration!
You should have known that chocolate is a big no-no for your dogs. Besides that, you also shouldn’t feed them with raisins, onions, grapes, tomato, macadamias, and garlic. So keep those ingredients away from your recipe!
So now, how we make it? Basically, you only have to combine some protein source and carbs, as well as meat, or if you are avoiding meat, then fish like mackerel, sardines, and salmon can be an option. You can also add a mixture of sweet potato, turnips, cauliflower, and brown rice to it. If you want to add steamed vegetables, make sure to leave some crunch because dogs love it!
Now put on your apron and let’s jump in into the recipes that you can try!
1. Turkey and vegetable mix with rice
This balanced combination of animal protein, vegetable, and the carb is good for your dogs if they need to keep the weights off because it is low in calorie and fat.
All you need are 6 cups of water, 1 pound ground turkey, 2 cups of uncooked brown rice, a half package of frozen broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower, and a teaspoon of dried rosemary. With all of these, you make up to 12 cups of dog food, and you can keep it up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
First thing first, put the water, turkey, rice, and dried rosemary into a large pot (a dutch oven is better!) and stir it until the ground turkey is broken up and evenly distributed. Bring the soup to boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer for 20 minutes. After that, you can put the frozen veggie in it and cook it for 5 minutes more before removing the pot from heat, let it cool, And… that’s it! Your homemade dog food is ready to serve!
2. Beef Stew
Beef stew for dogs can be another healthier alternative besides the canned dog food. To make it, you need one pound of beef stew meat, one sweet potato, half cups of diced carrots, diced green beans, flour, and water, and one tablespoon of vegetable oil.
First, you cook the sweet potato for 5 to 8 minutes in a microwave. Then, slice the beef into small chunks, cook it with the vegetable oil over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until well-done. After that, set aside the beef and reserve the drippings, we’ll come back to it later. Go back to your sweet potato and cut it in dice. After that, heat the drippings in medium-slow heat and add flour and water into the pan slowly to make a gravy. Add the meat, diced sweet potato, and the vegetables into the gravy and stir to coat. Cook about for 10 minutes, and serve! You can store the remaining stew in the fridge for up to 5 days.
3. Pumpkin Biscuits for Dogs
If your dog has a tummy problem, you can make them this easy to digest food in the form of biscuit! Your dogs going to love this snack!
To make this, you need a pumpkin puree, 2 eggs, half cup of oats, 3 cups of whole wheat flour, brown rice flour, or gluten-free flour, 3 tablespoons of butter (that has no xylitol in it because it’s not good for your dog), and half teaspoon of cinnamon to add more flavor.
First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Start with the dry mixture: put and stir together the flour, oats, and cinnamon in a small bow. For the wet mixture, use a separate larger bowl. Put in and whisk the eggs, pumpkin, and peanut butter. Stir the wet mixture into a dry one. Then, pour and roll the dough out to 1/2″ thick (don’t forget to spread some flour into the surface, rolling pin, and your hand to keep your dough from sticking), and cut it out with cookie cutter. Bake for 30 to 35 minute, and let it cool on the cooling rack. That’s it! Your pumpkin biscuit is ready to be served for your dogs!
That’s a few recipe collections that you can try to make your own dog food at home. Easy, right? Making a homemade dog food is a game-changer because it can help you to cut the cost, save some times, and it is healthier for your dogs! And surely, your dogs will appreciate it and love you more! So, good luck, chef!