Organic, Homemade Dog Food - Good Food in the Nude

You'd have to be living under a rock if you've missed all of the buzz about organic foods. Even your dog's heard about it. A whole pack of folks believe that pesticides, herbicides, human waste, sewage sludge, radiation, genetic modification, and artificial additives have no place in or on our produce. But what about meat? Did you know that your meat - and the meat that you prepare for your dog - can be organic, too?

Organic meat is harvested from animals that have been raised without artificial growth hormones or antibiotics, and have not been fed animal by-products. Organic foods provide no more nutritional value than conventional ones, but their attraction is strictly about what's NOT in them. You'll be paying more for less (about twice as much) - but, it's less of what you DON'T want. Most grocers carry organic meat, and if they don't, ask for it.

Almost any homemade dog food recipe can be converted to organic - by simply replacing conventional ingredients with organically-produced ones. Here's one that will fly out of the bowl:

Organic Wings 'N' Things

$7.00, 5 minutes
half cup organic cottage cheese
half cup organic grated carrots
4-5 organic skin-on raw chicken wings (or cooked organic chicken, with bones removed)
Pile up your dog's bowl (using our weight calculator) with these yummy ingredients and watch 'em fly.

Homemade Holistic Dog Food - Feeding the Whole Dog

Holistic feeding methods and medicine stand upon the idea that feeding the mind and body will serve to restore and maintain health and vitality. Principles include ideals such as balance and variety. Holistic diets may be fed raw or cooked - your choice.

Meal rotation and variety is essential to holistic health principles, just as variety is essential to your own good daily diet. Dogs are naturally less carnivorous than cats. Their teeth testify to this - if you open the trap, you'll notice canines for ripping and grinders for other items that they naturally ingest while foraging in the wild.

Holistic dog food notions dictate that grains are okay for dogs - based on the premise that when dogs eat wild animals, they also ingest the stomach contents of those animals, including grains and greens. Many holistic dog food recipes hover right around 2 parts protein, 1 part carbohydrates, and 1 part vegetables. Using these guidelines, you can whip up any number of recipes. Here's a yummy example:

Buffaloaf

$10.00, 1 hour 3 cups ground buffalo (lean)
2 eggs
1 and a half cups old fashioned oats
three quarter's of a cup grated mixed vegetables, including zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potato
half cup cottage cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Hand-mix all ingredients and press into a loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes. May be refrigerated, or frozen in slices for easy serving.
Substitute ground turkey, chicken, or beef, if desired. Mixing meats is not recommended.