I was the type of person that felt like dog kibble from the bag was the best choice. Cooking homemade dog food and making treats was so far from anything I would imagine. I was the type who would say “That’s not me. That’s not what I’m about.” I never fed my dogs table food but my dogs were always overweight. Also, then, my dog started getting sick. I lost one of my dogs to lung cancer at age 9. I lost another one of my dogs to kidney failure at age 12 and then nine months later, another one to kidney failure at age 10. I started thinking that I needed to change up some things. People would talk about healthier lifestyles for our dogs. I thought that was a bunch of garbage. Just people that had too much time and obviously more money than I had to be going off on tangents like this. I always said I would never have homemade dog food or treats and that the stuff that you can buy at Walmart was just as good as anything else. Now I did think some brands of dog food were better than others and I never bought the bottom of the barrel brands. Yet, I thought, “Well, it’s dog food, right? It must be best, right?” After several of my dogs passed away I thought about changing out the way I did things. I started researching. The first implementation was to go to filtered water or bottled water because I had a bichon with terrible tear staining. I got her at age 4 so it was already started but still I heard that it would help. After that, just slow changes. Trying to make sure I bought healthier dog food. Looking at ingredients. Looking at nutritional ratings. I learned that dog food was not regulated. I mean there’s no standard. After that I realize the dog foods that I would like to purchase I could not afford. So then I started looking at making homemade treats and that did help. I saw changes in my dogs and they loved their new treats. I started using gluten-free flour eggs, fruits and veggies, oatmeal, and rice to make treats which they loved. Other people started loving them as well. I began researching and learning that homemade food would help. Commercial dog food has a lot of ingredients in it, and a lot of things that are counterproductive.
Some of the health conditions that dog‘s face today such as cancer, kidney disease, diabetes–all of those can be helped by a better diet. I started out with treats made with gluten-free flour, eggs, oats, fruits, and vegetables. Then, I started dehydrating green beans in the oven for a snack. I started giving them blueberries. All of those habits formed into the healthier dog food lifestyle. Then the healthier dog food like crockpot, lightly-cooked meals with chicken/beef liver or turkey, eggs, rice, and vegetables. I prefer fresh, but canned will work as long as they have no sodium and are thoroughly rinsed.
Paws of Happiness 