Advantages And Disadvantages Of Homemade Dog Food

We all think of our dogs as our companions and will do everything in our power to give them a good home and a diet to match.

From the dogs point of view of course they are counting on you as their master in taking good care of them, giving the attention they deserve, and most importantly feeding them.

No matter the breed all dogs seem to have incredible appetites and will pretty much demolish anything even half edible that you put in front of them.

Because of this you need to make sure that the dog food you provide gives your dog the proper nutrition that it needs to live long and stay healthy.

Commercially made dog food products may boast all of the vitamins, minerals, taste, and other nutritious ingredients that your dog rightfully needs.

But they arent the best solutions as they are filled with unhealthy additives and preservatives that can greatly affect your dogs lifespan if your dog relies on them too much.

It is because of this that many dog owners decide to go down the route of trying to make their own home made dog food.

It may not be absolutely perfect for your dog, but it is the closest thing in ensuring a balanced and healthy diet which is required if you wish for your dog to live a long life.

If you are going to ditch your old dog feeding habits and join the many others who are feeding their dogs with home made dog recipes, know first the advantages and disadvantages in serving these meals to your dogs.

Advantages

You decide the ingredients in preparing the meals so you know exactly what goes into your dogs diet.

Just like ordinary recipes for people, they have all natural ingredients that cost significantly lesser than pre-packaged commercial products.

Local shops or supermarkets will carry all the ingredients you need to make many of the more popular home made dog food.

Creating your own recipes means you have full control over the ingredients used and can avoid the harmful additives that can be found in most factory produced dog food.

The nutritional content found in well-prepared meals can be enough to make your dog more active and live healthier for a greater span of time.

Meals can be immediately prepared from the leftovers of family meals. Nothing is wasted this way.

Disadvantages

Deciding and preparing what your dog should eat can be time consuming as opposed to easily acquiring canned dog food that is ready to eat.

Preparing the right meals takes a lot of knowledge in figuring out what is best for your dog and how to keep their diets balanced. Getting the right balance in your dogs diet can be very difficult and will need some serious research into the best ingredients to use and which foods to avoid.

You need to be careful with the ingredients you use as certain foodstuffs can be very harmful to your dog.

The Verdict

With the so many benefits of home made dog food to your pet, it is an excellent way to help keep your pet in top condition.

While there are a few disadvantages, these can be worked around if you spend some time and research on how to correctly prepare the best meals for your dog.

These can be generally easy to do as long as you have a passion in keeping your dog happy and healthy.


------

Craig Ellyard writes for the Labrador-Retriever Guide the one stop information shop for owners of Labrador Retrievers