HOME-MADE DIET
Veterinary surgeons and pet food
manufacturers often warn against feeding home-made diets. This
is because of the assumed difficulty of ensuring adequate levels
of all nutrients especially minerals and vitamins. My experience
is that it is perfectly feasible to feed a natural homemade diet
even without adding vitamin and mineral supplements. But the key
to achieving this is VARIETY!
It may be necessary to distinguish
between using diet to maintain healthy condition and using diet
as a means of treating an existing health problem (Clinical Nutrition).
For example, a severe or chronic skin condition may be caused
by an underlying dietary intolerance but the offending ingredients
have not been identified. In that case it may be necessary to
keep to a restricted, fixed diet with only a few ingredients to
avoid the risk of introducing an ingredient which could trigger
a reaction.
The following suggestions are based
on my own recommendations to avoid health problems and ensure
an excellent level of general health. Treatment of specific health
conditions may require specialist advice and careful attention
to detail.
For the dog
1/3 rd by volume boiled brown rice
1/3 rd by volume meat (this should be varied regularly using chicken,
fish, lamb, beef)
1/3 rd by volume vegetable, again varied using roots and greens
and to include some seaweed (dried or fresh)
I have less experience in the use
of home made food for cats but in general cats need a higher level
of protein and less carbohydrate.
This could be achieved by increasing
the meat portion to 50% with the rice and vegetable portions of
25% each. Again, some seaweed should be included to provide trace
minerals.
Donald Strombeck, has written a book
on homemade diets for the treatment of disease of the dog and
cat. (Strombeck, Donald R. 1999. Home Prepared Dog and Cat Diets
– The Healthful Alternative. Iowa: Blackwell Publishing.
ISBN 0-8138-2149-5)
Common pet health problems
John Burns Pet Health Management
Programme