Home cooked meals

Some people prefer preparing their pet's meals themselves.

Here are the 3 most frequent reasons:

• for the fun of it;
• because people think that home-made meals are more nutritious than commercial foods;
• because people think that their pet prefers the taste of the home-made meal.

There are a variety of home recipes for pets available in books or articles, on the internet, and on blogs. However, be careful when choosing a recipe, as some may be incomplete or not nutritionally balanced.

It is recommended that pet owners consult a veterinary nutritionnist to make sure that the recipe chosen is complete and balanced.

It is also very important that owners follow the recipe to the letter without removing or changing the written ingredients.

In order to diagnose a pet with a food allergy, an eviction diet must be used. This involves feeding the pet exlcusively with a hypoallergenic diet over a period varying from 6 to 12 weeks. 

Commercial or home cooked diets can be used to perform this test. While commercial diets can be used over a long period of time because they're complete and balanced, home cooked diets are composed of limited ingredients and can only be used over a short period of time. This type of feeding must be supervised by a veterinarian if attempted. 

Theoretically, if an animal is allergic to one or more foods but does not react to other components present in their evironment, the symptoms should cease during the testing period. Thereafter, food will be introduced progressively, one at a time, in order to identify the causative ingredient. 

Once this is achieved, the veterinarian will recommend that the pet continues to be fed a complete and balanced hypoallergenic commercial diet if it was already eating one. On the other hand, if the client prefers to continue feeding them with a home cooked diet, then a veterinary nutritionist should be consulted, as they will develop a recipe for maintenance that is complete and balanced. 

In this case, it is important that the owner does not make any changes to the recipe, nor offer any treats or food other than those used during the process of elimination, unless otherwise directed by a veterinarian.

Dogs and cats often suffer from diarrhea. When that happens, it is always better to consult a veterinarian to try and identify the cause of the problem and to resolve it, particularly if the diarrhea is accompanied by a decrease or loss in appetite, lethargy, or vomiting. 

Among the various treatments that exist for diarrhea, we generally use a type of food that is more easily digestable. Our preferred choice are commercial diets because they are complete and nutritionally balanced. 

In cases where a pet develops diarrhea and the owner does not want to or can not consult a veterinarian immediately, a diet made of minced meat and boiled rice can be given to help him recover. Given that this diet is in no way complete or balanced, it is very important not to use it for more than 2 to 3 days, and to consult a veterinarian if it is not resolved after this period. 

Here is the recipe for minced meat and boiled rice diet: 

1- Boil rice and lean minced meat in the same pot. Make sure that the meat is well cooked and do not add seasoning, butter, or any other ingredient. 

2- The pet can eat the minced meat and rice mixture and drink the cooking water. It is important to offer your pet several small meals throughout the day. 

3- If the diarrhea stops over the course of the next three days, you can reintroduce his regular food. 

1- Preheat the oven at 350ºF.

2- In a bowl, mix the canned food with a little bit of water.

3- Roll a small amount of the mix into small balls and place them on a cookie sheet.

4- Cook 15 to 20 minutes until the balls become golden brown.