Category Archives: Pets

Is Homemade Dog Food Best For Your Dog?

There is a lot of debate right now going on among dog lovers about what is better for their dog – homemade dog food or the stuff that you get in cans. Certainly the canned kind of dog food is more convenient but is it in the best interests of your dog?

The problem is that you can’t always be sure exactly what is in canned dog food.  This is because according to the Federal Drug Administration itself there is no requirement that pet food products have premarket approval by FDA. It only requires that the ingredients be truthfully labeled and that the food not contain any ingredients that are “deleterious” to the animal. However that word “deleterious” is very vague as it could always be left up to the discretion of the dog food manufacturer to figure out what kinds of additives, animal body parts or fillers are deleterious to an animal at once. For instance, dogs are not vegetarians. Still you will find all kinds of dog foods out on the mark with cellulose-based fillers in them, which could affect a canine digestive system in a negative way or cause obesity.

Like it or not, a dog is a carnivore. However many people that are fans of home made dog food insist that it is all about making them vegetarian meals. This is not fair to your dog that does not have the teeth or digestive juices to handle this type of diet. By making your dog a homemade mash of vegetables instead of giving him canned dog food or fresh meat you are putting him or her at severe risk of anemia.

However there is another school of cooking when it comes to making home made dog food and that is that your dog is healthier if you cook the meat yourself and serve it to him. This of course makes a great deal of sense.

The benefits of homemade dog food are –

  • You have better control over your dog’s diet
  • You know for sure that there is no additives in the food
  • If you fry the food first you can keep your dog thin by draining the fat just like you would for a human.
  • There is no risk of food poisoning due to a sabotage of manufacturing processes

To keep your dog healthy serving up your own home made dog food might be a great idea especially if you want to have more control over what your pet eats. You could purchase specialty meats such as rabbit or other types of game at a pet food store that has a raw pet foods freezer on the premises or you could go the much cheaper route and by ordinary hamburger or other types of meat in a supermarket. The benefits to making your own home made dog food are that you are never blindsided by the sight of your dog being sick or getting too fat possibly as the result of what he or she is eating.

Cat Toilet Training Kits

Training your cat to go on the toilet like Mr. Jinx in “Meet The Parents” is all the rage right now. So is training your cat to flush but that is a whole other blog I am going to get around to writing sometime soon.

You can buy these kitty toilet training devices in all kinds of stores both online and offline, but the drawback is that they are not so cheap! Usually they consist of prefabricated plastic pieces shaped like toilet seats that you can punch strips out of to create wider holes for the cat to straddle as you go through the training process. The plastic that these units are made of are reminiscent of a plastic take out container with a big hole in the center that you widen until the cat is totally straddling the toilet. It is made out of the same material that plastic coffee cup lids are made of.

This is how it works. These fabricated plastic perforated pieces fit on your toilet seat or hook onto the rim of the bowl. The hole, through which the cat excretes, widens as pieces of it are torn out from the center in increments as part of the kitty training process.  The wider the hole gets, the more the cat is forced to widen his stance as he or she squats over the bowl. It is only a matter of time before the cat is balancing on all four legs on the top of the toilet seat because you have removed any support by tearing out those center plastic pieces.

Eventually the prefabricated tray no longer serves as a cat litter tray and becomes simply becomes just a psychological cure for the cat to jump on top of the toilet to go. Over time it too can be removed and the cat will just go to the toilet all by him or herself.

So are these kits worth it?  Many of them vary widely in quality. Some kits are just expensive sheets of plastic that you tape or clip onto the edges of your toilet. Others are the prefabricated trays with perforations that are discussed above.

You don’ have to spend a lot of money on these kits that can cost thirty dollars or more. It is quite simple to can make your own versions of these kitty liners, plastic sheets and metal tubs all by yourself at home using every day common household objects you can get at a dollar store.

Still if you are not the do-it-yourself type then buying a commercial kitty toilet training kit might be your only option. The commercial type is very effective and there is no confusion for the cat. If you make one yourself out of a bucket that is familiar to the cat in another context you might just end up confusing it. Also buying the commercial type can also be more hygienic then trying to rig up your own trays over the toilet bowl.

Home Made Dog Food

So what is better for your dog than homemade dog food or the stuff that you get in cans. Certainly the canned kind of dog food is more convenient but is it the healthiest for your pet.

The problem is that you can’t always be sure exactly what is in canned dog food. This is because according to the Federal Drug Administration itself there is no requirement that pet food products must have approval. The FDA only requires that the ingredients be truthfully labeled and that the food not contain any ingredients that are “deleterious” to the animal. However that word  “deleterious” can be defined many different ways. The dog food manufacturer is the one who decided what kind of additives; animal body parts or fillers are bad for a dog to eat. This of course is a conflict of interest because the manufacturer is always going to say that it is cheapest ingredients that are good for your pet. This is why you will find all kinds of dog foods out on the mark with cellulose-based fillers in them, which could affect a canine digestive system in a negative way or cause obesity.

Like it or not, a dog is a carnivore. However many people that are fans of home made dog food insist that it is all about making them vegetarian meals. This is not fair to your dog that does not have the teeth or digestive juices to handle this type of diet. By making your dog a homemade mash of vegetables instead of giving him canned dog food or fresh meat you are putting him or her at severe risk of anemia.

However there is another school of cooking when it comes to making home made dog food and that is that your dog is healthier if you cook the meat yourself and serve it to him. This of course makes a great deal of sense.

The benefits of homemade dog food are better control over your dog’s diet in general. You can control the amount of protein and fat he eats and unless you are shaking MSG in it you can be assured there are no additives in the food. If you fry the food you can actually drain the fat like you would for a human. There is also no risk of food poisoning due to a sabotage of manufacturing processes

To keep your dog healthy serving up your own home made dog food might be a great idea especially if you want to have more control over what your pet eats. You could purchase specialty meats such as rabbit or other types of game at a pet food store or you could go the much cheaper route and by ordinary hamburger or other types of meat in a supermarket. The benefits to making your own home made dog food are that you are never blindsided by the sight of your dog being sick or getting too fat possibly as the result of what he or she is eating.