Proper nutrition - a pledge of health for both the owner and his pet. All veterinarians insist that meat for dogs is a source of a lot of irreplaceable trace elements. Feeding an animal with meat is simply necessary for his health. There are several theories about what foods should be and how to prepare them.
What kind of meat to feed the dog?
According to veterinarians, the best meat for dogs is:
- low-fat beef;
- lamb, horse meat, rabbit;
- chicken, turkey, taking into account the individual characteristics of the animal;
- by-products - kidney, heart, udder, beef scar.
The main thing in your pet's diet should be low-fat beef. Meat for dogs does not have to be only first grade. To feed the animal with a tenderloin and other high-quality meat, according to experts, is even undesirable. Completely exclude from the diet of the dog you need fat pork and chicken legs.
By-products for a pet are obligatory dishes on a par with meat. For some dogs, they can even completely replace meat. Animal with pleasure and without harm to health will eat raw by-products. The main thing to consider is that basically this food is not as nutritious as meat, with the possible exception of a more caloric udder.
In a separate list of liver and lungs. You can give them, but rarely, because dogs often do not tolerate the raw liver. But if there is no serious reaction, then veterinarians do not prohibit these by-products.
Unprocessed unclean beef scar is a special dish for dogs. First, the animal is given a peeled stomach, it can even be chopped a little in a blender, so it is easier to perceive by the digestive system. And then they start giving an unclean washed-out frozen scar.
Raw or boiled meat for dogs?
Most experts, veterinarians, dog breeders and supporters of the natural diet agree on the opinion that raw meat for dogs is the most useful. Beef, chicken, turkey or something else is advised not to pour boiling water and cook, but simply to pre-blast, although some believe that even freezing meat is not necessary. It rarely happens that the dog gets sick because the meat has not been thermally treated - the animal has much more hydrochloric acid in the stomach than in humans, which disinfects the food. It is important to follow one rule: do not buy unchecked meat on the market. They can sell the meat of a sick animal, in which case even freezing will not kill harmful organisms. It is better to purchase products for a pet in shops where there are quality certificates and sanitary documents. Then you can feed the dog raw meat without heat treatment, without reducing its nutritional value.
Proponents of the second theory say that pets are too pampered to eat raw meat, so it must be boiled. Cook meat is also because the natural diet is dangerous poisoning , and, according to many, increased aggression and difficulties in raising a dog .
What opinion to adhere to, everyone decides for himself, but in that, and in another case, you need to choose the proven meat.
The sizes, volumes and norm of meat for dogs
We'll figure out what kind of meat you can feed the dog - crushed or not. Dogs, like cats, swallow food with convenient pieces for them, chewing them, so even for puppies, meat does not need to be ground to mince. Even if the animal has little or no teeth, meat can be given in pieces. A shop forcemeat because of its fat content to feed the dog is not worth it at all.
One of the most serious errors of owners is the overfeeding of the animal. Giving a dog more than necessary is as dangerous as giving inadmissible products.
Raw meat for dogs is useful in a certain amount.
The formula for calculating the volume of all food per day:
- up to 6 months 6-7% of body weight (calculation is approximate, excluding body fat);
- over 6 months 3-3,5% of body weight.
Half of all food per day for dogs should be meat and offal. And it does not matter what kind of meat to feed the dog, it is important to observe the proportions.
The norm of meat, as well as of food in general, can vary, for example, if the dog is pregnant. But the main thing to watch is that the dog's bowl was empty, and if something remains in it after eating, it is better to reduce the portion so that the animal does not overeat.