Whole-milk yogurt or kefir is fine unless your dog needs a low-fat diet.
Healthy food for dogs free#
Fermented dairy products that are homemade or manufactured with added probiotics – and are free of sugar or xylitol – can help with digestive issues. This may include other salt-water fish that spawn in fresh water such as smelt, sturgeon, shad, and striped bass.Ĥ. Yogurt and kefir. “One small sardine weighing less than half an ounce provides 100 to 150 mg of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA,” she says, “and I recommend 3 to 10 mg EPA/DHA per pound of body weight daily.”ĭon’t feed raw salmon or trout from the Pacific Northwest (California to Alaska) because it may contain a parasite that is fatal to dogs.
Canned sardines (preferably packed in water rather than oil), jack mackerel, and pink salmon are wonderful additions, says Straus, because of their beneficial fatty acids and trace minerals. Organ meats like heart and poultry gizzard are nutritionally similar to muscle meats and can be fed in greater quantity, though some dogs might experience digestive upset if too much is fed at one time.ģ. Fish. “This is because most commercial foods are already high in copper,” she explains, “and excessive copper in the diet can lead to copper storage disease.”įor organ meats other than beef liver, she recommends introducing small amounts. While liver and other organ meats provide beneficial nutrients, Straus no longer recommends feeding fresh or freeze-dried beef liver to kibble-fed dogs. Add any kind of meat, such as chicken, turkey, or lean beef, either ground or in chunks that are small enough to prevent choking, served raw or lightly cooked (never feed cooked bones). Dogs weighing 40 pounds or more can handle a whole egg, so I’d recommend half an egg (or a whole egg every other day) for dogs weighing 20 to 40 pounds and proportionately less for smaller dogs.”Ģ. Muscle meat (including heart) and organ meats. “Whole raw eggs are fine,” says Straus, “as the yolks contain plenty of biotin to make up for what raw egg whites destroy, but the whites are more easily digested when cooked.Įggs are one of the healthiest and easiest additions to make. Feed eggs raw or lightly scrambled, soft-boiled, or hard-boiled. She offers the following guidelines to help improve your dog’s health while adding enjoyment and variety:ġ. Eggs. “Replacing more than 25% of the calories from a commercial diet with fresh foods, treats, and chews risks seriously unbalancing the overall diet, unless care is taken to balance the added portion,” Straus explains. In general, added foods should represent only a small portion of the calories your dog consumes.
Healthy food for dogs skin#
In contrast, animal protein supports the immune system and central nervous system, contributes to wound healing, helps build lean muscle, and is required for skin and coat health. Most dry foods are already high in carbohydrates, she explains, and dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates. Straus recommends adding animal-source foods such as eggs, meat, or dairy rather than plant foods such as grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables. “Today’s consumers have many dog food choices,” Straus says, “but kibble is the diet that most benefits from enhancement since it is so highly processed and because it tends to be high in carbohydrates, which are needed for the extrusion process.” The good news is, that you can vastly improve a dry diet by making simple additions of cooked or raw foods, says Mary Straus, long-time pet-food researcher and owner of the website. Unfortunately, dry dog food is far from perfect. America’s most popular dog food is kibble or dry food, which, because it is convenient and affordable, accounts for more than 60% of all dog food sales.
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