‘Pimping Up’ Your Dogs’ Processed Food

As we know, if you want the best health and wellbeing for your dog fresh food is always best whether that’s a raw diet or lightly cooked. Ideally no one would feed any processed foods, but if you are feeding a processed diet for whatever reason let’s look at how you can take some simple and cost effective steps to improve your dogs meals.

Fresh fruits and vegetables

Go for mostly low carbohydrate fruits and veggies, think especially leafy greens and berries. Root vegetables are fine fed in moderation, and think BIG variety! Fruit and vegetables are packed full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. You can lightly steam veggies or blitz them and feed raw. Fruits are best fed fresh.

Meat

Adding in some fresh meat to your dogs diet provides a great source of essential amino acids, it’s also a great source of high quality protein. It can be fed raw if your dog tolerates it, but make sure that you freeze it for one week first if it’s supermarket or butchers meat, or three weeks for game. Alternatively very lightly cook it, either flash fry for a few seconds or lightly poach it in water for a few mins, that’s ALL it needs!

Offal

Offal is a power house of vitamins and minerals! Either freeze for a week before feeding or lightly cook, but go easy as it can cause loose stools if you feed too much!

Fish

Oily fish is a great source of omega-3, vitamin D and many other vitamins and minerals. It is also a great source of protein. You can feed raw fish, but freeze it for three weeks before feeding it, or cooked salmon and tinned sardines in spring water or tomato sauce are a great add in 2 or 3 times a week.

Eggs

Eggs are another great source of protein and packed full of vitamins and minerals! Poach them, scramble them, feed them raw! What ever is to your dogos liking. Add to the bowl 2 or 3 times a week. Always buy organic or free range.

Nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are a great source of fibre, vitamin E and lots of other goodies!! Always feed a rotation for variety as they all have different nutrients. Ideally soak nuts and seeds first as this makes them more digestible and gets rid of the anti nutrients (phytic acid) - soak them for 4-8hrs. Note: DO NOT FEED MACADAMIA NUTS as they are toxic to dogs.

Probiotics

Processed food is very damaging to the gut microbiota so adding in a good quality soil based probiotic will help, my preferred one is KIKI Body Biotics

Feeding on a really tight budget?

There are still ways you can get in fresh food even on a super tight budget. Head for the reduced meat and fish in the supermarket or go to the butcher and ask for any off-cuts, you can buy things like heart and offal very cheaply. Go to the fish mongers and ask for off-cuts or fish heads; you can feed these raw (after freezing) or chop up and lightly bake. Buy the vegetables in the reduced section or the misshaped ones, buy in bulk, lightly steam and freeze.

Balance

Will adding one these foods effect the balance? We know that most processed pet food is not balanced as the study by Mike Davis at Nottingham university proved. They also contains synthetic vitamins and minerals which are not always bio-available to your dog. These vitamins and minerals dramatically decrease over time, so adding some fresh food can only benefit your dog, so get pimping!

Written by Karla Pearson for NO BULL just natural health for dogs