Permenter Paris - Healthy Hound Cookbook: Over 125 Easy Recipes for Healthy, Homemade Dog Food--Including Grain-Free, Paleo, and Raw Recipes!

Jellied Chicken Salad

Greetings, fellow dog lovers, and welcome to our kitchen! Like you, we are pet parents who share our lives with our furry family membersand that includes cooking the occasional meal or treat for them. Using whole foods, we enjoy whipping up dishes for our dogs Irie and Tikiincluding many meals that we all share.

Whether you would like to prepare Sunday doggie dinners, the occasional special celebratory meal, or everyday dog treats, its easy to doand its always very appreciated!

This book is also perfect for pet parents who want to take the leash in terms of their dogs diet. Maybe you want to avoid giving your dogs all the preservatives and additives found in many store-bought dog treats. Perhaps you love cooking and want to offer your dog foods made with in-season produce thats packed with nutritional value. Or maybe your dog needs a particular specialty diet thats costly to purchase. Just as there is no single best diet for every person, there isnt one diet thats best for all dogs. Every dog is an individualsome will thrive on one diet, while others do best on another. Many pet parents want to feed their dogs a wholesome specialty diet. No matter what type of diet your dog needsfrom grain-free to Paleo to raw to traditionalyoull find recipe examples in this cookbook. Just look for the icons () for easy reference. Choosing the best diet for your dog is a job that you should take on with the help of your veterinarian to determine the best foods for your dogs breed, energy level, and life stage.

Unlike cats, who are obligate carnivores and need a diet primarily consisting of meat, dogs eat (and enjoy!) a varied diet. As you can tell from your dogs teeth, which are meant to tear, but not chew and grind, the canine diet naturally leans heavily toward meat, too, but dogs can also digest and savor many fruits and vegetables. Fruits like bananas, blueberries, blackberries, and more will provide a tasty addition to your dogs treats and meals while serving up great nutrition as well. And dont forget veggies! From asparagus to zucchini, dogs love fresh vegetables. Well provide recipes for many seasonal favorites like sweet potato and pumpkin; youll also find many recipes that provide a template for using your own dogs favorite veggies depending on the time of year.

This book introduces you to the many wholesome foods that you can be proud to serve to your best friends. Youll help them enjoy their meals and treats, and live healthy lives, too.

While there are many high-quality commercial dog foods available in stores these days, many dog lovers like to prepare at least the occasional meal and treats at home. We find that cooking for our dogs is rewarding for us as well. When we watch them enjoying a meal we have prepared especially for them, we feel satisfaction at having created something our dogs love, and their eager eating proves that they appreciate it.

Aside from the sheer joy of cooking, probably the biggest advantage of homemade dog foods and treats is having control over exactly what your dog is eating. By choosing fresh ingredients and preparing them in your own kitchen, you are free of the worries of byproducts, fillers, and recalled foods and treats. Youll be making canine cuisine from ingredients youve purchased and prepared, just like you do for foods for every other member of your family.

In 2007, many dog foods were found to be tainted with the industrial chemical melaminecausing the sickness and tragic deaths of many animals. The event drew the attention of so many dog lovers, and for the first time, many people began to look closely at the ingredients list of their dogs treats. Many pet parents opted to buy only U.S.A.-made treats (the melamine was linked to ingredients imported from China), while others decided to head to their own kitchens to prepare nutritious homemade treats using whole foods. Not only is making your own treats a way to use ingredients you know and trust, it also a great way to share your love with your dog.

Also, control over your dogs diet means that you are more actively invested in his nutritional health, keeping you on your toes as far as the quality (and quantity) of the food you feed, rather than simply following feeding recommendations on the back of a bag.

Hand in hand with being able to choose your own ingredients is the benefit of selecting fruits and vegetables during their peak seasona time when theyre not only less expensive, but also more nutritious. Fresh fruits and vegetables provide excellent nutrition for your dog. While dogs digestive systems cannot break down the cellulose walls in raw plant cells, they can utilize these nutrient-dense foods when you cook them or you break them down in a juicer, blender, or food processor. Those all-important nutrients are bio-available to your dog after you pure, juice, steam, or cook that fruit or vegetable.

Which fruits and veggies are good for your dog? As with people, the brightly colored vegetables and fruits are some of the most nutritious. Some of our favorites to incorporate in our dogs meals include:

• Green beans: A great source of vitamin A, green beans are also a wonderful way to help your hungry hound feel full without packing on the calories. If you dont have fresh green beans, canned will work, but look for a low-sodium variety.
• Pumpkin: Pumpkin is not just a fall favorite (when we buy it fresh, pure it, and freeze it for later useitll keep for a few months); it can be a great choice for dogs year-round. Amazingly, pumpkin can be helpful for both constipation and diarrhea, and its also another excellent food for making your dog feel full. If you dont have fresh pumpkin, you can purchase canned pumpkin pure (but not pumpkin pie filling, which contains sugar and spices).
• Carrots: Carrots are a favorite snack for many dogs, enjoyed raw as an alternative to a rawhide chew. For your dog to get the nutrients in the carrot, though, youll need to steam, cook, or pure the carrot to unleash its powerhouse of vitamins, such as vitamin A and beta carotene.
• Sweet potatoes: Like carrots, sweet potatoes make a great chew (see our recipe for dehydrated chews in ), but you can also pure them and add to any meal for a great source of vitamin E as well as vitamin B6, vitamin C, beta carotene, and more.
• Blueberries: Rich in antioxidants, this superfood is a favorite with many dogs, ours included. You can include them in a meal, serve them separately as a little treat, and freeze them for some added crunch.
• Eggs: Not only are eggs an economical source of protein for your dog, but they pack a real punch in terms of nutrients. Youll find numerous recipes for egg dishes and treats in this book. Some proponents of raw diets also favor feeding eggs raw. However, be aware of two potential issues: food poisoning from salmonella or E. coli, and the presence of avidin, a vitamin B inhibitor thats found in uncooked egg whites. If you feed uncooked eggs regularly, just be sure to feed the entire egg, not just the egg white.