Are you a pet lover? As a pet owner no doubt you want to give the quality and healthy food to your pet for the best care possible. Best care means feeding your pet the nutritious diet you can.

Many pet owners prepare their pet food at home. By preparing your pet food at home you can save up to 80% and it’s easy; making pet food at home is probably a lot less time-consuming than you may have thought. With hundreds of websites offering free pet food recipes online, it’s now easier than ever to make your own pet food.

While preparing food for your pet does not need salt added to their diet as the natural salt in the food is enough for them. It’s a good idea to always add a grain, such as Kibble, wheat germ, cooked oatmeal or whole wheat bread to meat dinners. For dogs use 75% carbohydrate foods (grains and vegetables) to 25% meat; for cats use half carbohydrate foods to half meat.

You will find, once you begin making your own pet foods, that it is really relatively simple and you will save some money as well. Remember that all pet foods should be served at room temperature; don’t serve food cold from the refrigerator nor hot from the stove.

Homemade pet food should take a ridiculously small amount of your time. As a general guide meats should be raw and vegetables must be finely chopped in a food processor or by a hand grater.

When it comes time for feeding, it is important that you let your dogs and cats eat as much as they want at the time of feeding. Once their body becomes nutritionally satiated, they will cut their food intake, sometimes by half the amount, and go on a maintenance diet. Incidentally, you should know that cats should be fed three times a day, while an adult dog needs only one meal a day.

To get started, find a good book with pet food recipes and use it to start preparing simple meals. You can also get free recipes from many websites online.

The post Guide to Make Your Pet Food at Home appeared first on Secret Menu.

Maybe you heard that your particular brand of dog food is bad for your dog.

Here I will try to explain what to look for as well as the ingredients and how they measure up to what you are currently feeding. Please keep in mind dog food is essential to their health as for most it is their main source of nutrition.

Some easy tips are:

Do not buy dog food that contains BHT or BHA, they are chemical preservatives and could be harmful.
Do not buy food that has by-products in it; these are often left over from is given to the human market. That means by-products could be feet, intestines, necks etc.

Grains that are often difficult to digest like corn, wheat, gluten and soy, are often used as a protein source instead of meat. ñ This is not healthy and in addition can cause allergies.

Now we get into the fun part!

The first 5 ingredients play a significant role in the overall nutritional make up of a dog food

What are the protein sources? I believe the primary source should come from quality animal protein, not vegetable protein or grain. Foods that list 2 or more grains in the first 5 ingredients may have more vegetable protein than animal protein.

What about grains? Two or more grains listed in the first 5 ingredients means your food may have more vegetable protein than animal protein. Grains such as soy, corn, corn gluten and wheat gluten can be difficult to digest, which means less nutrition and more clean up.

Are there by-products? Some manufacturers consider by-products inferior sources of protein and, depending on the source, they can be difficult to digest.

What are the fat sources? Some fats are better than others. We believe the primary fat source in dog food should be animal based because animal fats contain a profile of fatty acids that are easily metabolized and thus are generally more available to the body.

Look for an identifiable animal protein such as “chicken meal” rather a generic term; such as, “poultry meal,” which can contain any fowl (turkey, chicken, geese, etc.).

Some manufacturers use chicken in their pet foods; however, look for Chicken ìMealî Why? Because chicken meat contains a certain amount of moisture in the flesh; however, chicken ìmealî is a concentrated source of chicken protein because most of the water has been removed. Therefore, it only stands to reason that you get a greater ìprotein contentî in 1 pound of chicken meal versus 1 pound of chicken.

Make sure your dog food has bacteria cultures (acidophilus) for easy digestion. Look for vegetables and fiber for anti-oxidants protection, vitamins and minerals.

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