Free Homemade Dog Treat Recipes

The recent dog food scare has a lot of dog owners on edge, not knowing what they can do to protect their pet from future possible tainted dog food problems.  

So what is the best option - take the risk and continue feeding our dogs commercial dog food?  Make homemade dog treats and meals for our dogs?  Or, perhaps feeding our dogs table scraps.  

The worst thing you can do is feed your dog table scraps.  The table scraps may taste great and you may think since they are healthy for you, they should also be healthy for your dog.  But, foods that are good for us can be just as dangerous, or more dangerous, as commercial dog food for your dog.

For example:
A piece of chocolate can cause seizures, coma and death.  Even a small piece of chocolate is dangerous.

Anything containing caffeine can have a similar effect and be as dangerous as chocolate, and that includes coffee grounds, tea, and tea bags.

Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure and even a single serving of raisins can kill your dog.

Excessive salt intake can also cause kidney problems.

Onions can cause anemia by destroying red blood cells while tomatoes can cause tremors and heart arrhythmias.

Tomato plants are particularly toxic to dogs.

Avocados are also highly toxic and can cause breathing difficulty and fluid accumulation around the abdomen chest and heart.

When giving your dog bones ensure that they are raw as cooked bones can splinter and damage their internal organs.

Excessive fat can cause pancreatitis, so it is not wise to feed your dog a diet of fatty foods.

Fried foods also fall into this category and are not good to retain maximum health in your dog.

Certain nuts, such as Macadamia nuts and walnuts can cause weakness and muscle tremors.

Peanut butter however is generally okay provided you use the salt and sugar free peanut butter as sugar can encourage cancer growth.

The core and pits of fruits such as Apple's cherries and peaches contain cyanide, which is poisonous to dogs and can kill them
within 24-hours without warning.

If in doubt, always refrain from feeding your dog foods that we are eating assuming that they will be okay.

So what is the best option for taking care of our dog's nutritional needs?  

For most people it's unreasonable to feed their dog homemade dog food for every meal.  It takes time to prepare homemade dog treats and homemade dog food, and with our busy lives most people won't have that time.

I believe the best solution is to feed your dog good, quality commercial dog food and supplement that with homemade dog treats and homemade dog food meals.

There are several excellent books that teach you how to prepare your own that will be nutritious and also cost effective. I have a number of homemade dog treats and meals that will give you a great start to supplementing your dogs diet.

Check back each day and you will find more homemade dog treats added daily.