One method to be certain of what your dog is consuming is to make his pet food yourself. Considering the recent issues with packaged food recalls, this is becoming an attractive option. It is important to remember that a drastic change is not the proper way to proceed. Consult with your animal's health care professional, get a list of ingredients which cover all nutritional needs, and slowly change them over. One nice thing about making your animal's food is that they can have a bit more variety introduced into their daily routine.

Most vets will tell you that you should not feed your dog bones. The thought is that they could get caught somewhere in your dog's stomach or intestines. Chicken bones are the worse to feed your dog because of their splintering ability. Some vets on the other hand will tell you that you can and should safely give you dog other types of bones. Some vets prefer them cooked and some prefer them raw. It is felt that wild dogs eat bones and do just fine, but the bones that they eat are usually attached to hair and skin and therefore are a bit protected. There are other foods that are dangerous for your dog, some of which are, chocolate, garlic, onions, raisins, grapes, mushrooms and macadamia nuts.

In the wake of the recent pet food recall, many pet owners are searching for nutritional guidelines for homemade dog food. Ideas about dog natural balance dog food continue to change. Years ago many believed that canines were carnivores but after many dogs fell ill from eating an all-meat diet, it's been decided that they are actually omnivores, meaning that they need both meat and plant-based foods. Cats, on the other hand, are true carnivores - needing only meat.

Did you know that commercial pet food is a $15 billion dollar industry today? Most people don't even know that the optimal diet for dogs may NOT be commercially prepared dog foods! Canine nutritional requirements actually don't have much research to support one type of diet over another. Of course the pet food execs want you to believe that nothing but their products is healthy - they are out for profits, after all.

For every kind of diet, there will be some kind of 'expert' who claims that it is the absolute healthiest diet for your dog. Some recommend nothing but raw kibble, others say that homemade is the only way to go, and others claim that all-meat, vegetarian, or even vegan diets are best for dogs. The only real way to judge is observing the health of your dog. No matter what you feed him, if your dog seems healthy, gets regular checkups at the vet, and keeps an appropriate weight and healthy appearance, you can bet that his diet is probably fine.

The protein component in dog food should essentially contain ten amino acids. Corn as base is very popular in most brands of commercially manufactured dog food. This, no doubt, is protein but it contains just four out of the required ten amino acids. What has really caught on these days is a meat based diet which supplies good quality protein in the form of egg white, beef, lamb or white meat, that is, chicken and fish. This is further fortified with some carbohydrate like wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, or soy and also includes vegetables that supply the energy, vitamins, minerals and fats.

These ingredients can be found in premium commercial foods or can be easily made at home using human quality foods. When preparing homemade dog food, it is best to vary the recipes so that your dog gets an array of nutrients. If you want to try different dog food recipes, there are many good homemade dog food recipe collections available online.