It’s mostly balanced and nutritious. The idea is for this to get you going and help you become creative in the kitchen. No single meal is perfectly balanced all on its own, that would be impossible. Like us humans, dogs thrive on a varied source of proteins and nutrients so a rotation of different whole foods is best. By nature canines are scavengers, they’ll eat what they can find. Mix things up! Whatever is seasonal and well-priced, use it. While there are a few exceptions like potato, rice and onions (limit garlic and chilli to a minimum) most colourful fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins (vitamin C is excellent), enzymes and anti-oxidants. Change out the meat too, if you can’t find Krill (Omega 3, 6) go for unrefined fish oil, pilchards or muscles, just a couple in each meal is perfect. Unrefined, raw coconut oil is a great carrier of Omega’s, use it. One can go for cheaper cuts of meat if on a budget. Bones and ground egg shells provide the calcium your dog needs.
Make a sizeable batch of food (use attached as a scale) and decant into separate Tupperware containers for each meal, perhaps for all your dogs to feed off.
Don’t just throw it down and say, Fido, from today on this is your new diet. It’s good to keep in mind he is accustomed to a starch (sugar) rich diet packed with flavourants along with a texture they’re familiar with. If they’ll chow down wholesale, brilliant. I prefer transitioning dogs over to a whole food diet slowly by mixing in a tablespoon or two with his current food at first, and increasing the portion size over a week, maybe even two until he is accustomed. Some dogs get a runny stomach with sudden changes while other dogs need to be weaned.
Don’t be tempted to feed too much, 3% of each dogs’ overall body weight, divided into 2 meals daily is optimum, or 3.5-4% for growing puppies. This diet is suitable for ALL breeds at ALL life-stages. Handle your dog, feel his body regularly. This is a rule of thumb, if your dog feels and looks a little overweight, cut back. If on the other hand he’s looking a little thin, add more food into his daily allowance.
I recommend giving a probiotic to improve the gut flora during transitioning and if you can, ongoing. The gut is like a garden, weed out the bad bacteria, toil the soil and then sow new healthy bacteria. On that, the gut sends a neurotransmitter to the brain to tell canines and humans what they love, and what they want. That’s another good reason for transitioning. www.promixsupplements.co.za sells a great product. It’s locally produced, well priced and approved. Educate the brain.
For optimum nutrition it’s best to mimic what dogs would eat in the wild if they didn’t have humans around to feed them. They would eat what’s available to them, determined by availability and season, providing a wholesome, balanced diet. Dogs would eat anything from berries, fruit, nuts, vegetables, fish, stomach contents, meat and bone. Dogs could never cook for themselves.
Dog’s need a good balance of raw meat, fat, omega 3 & 6 (fish/fish oil, kelp powder or Krill), vegetables and fruit. A varied diet will maintain optimum health and longevity, maintain optimum weight and vitality
