How to Safely Cook at Home for Your Dog With The Farmer’s Dog Do-It-Yourself Nutrient Mix

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As a company dedicated to helping as many dogs as possible eat fresh, complete and balanced, human-grade food, we believe in the benefits of feeding fresh. So you might wonder: Why not just cook for your dog at home?

Why can’t I just cook for my dog at home?

The answer is… complicated. You can cook for your dog at home. But you can’t—or at least shouldn’t—just throw together some meats, vegetables, and carbs and assume your best friend will get the nutrients they need. Dogs need 38 essential nutrients in the proper proportions to avoid long-term health consequences. That’s why all of the ready-to-eat foods from The Farmer’s Dog are formulated by on-staff, board-certified nutritionists.

When home chefs cook without professional guidance, they risk inadvertently harming their pets. A 2013 study from the University of California, Davis published in the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine showed that 95% of homemade dog foods lack critical nutrients—most often calcium, vitamin D, choline, iodine, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, and B vitamins. New research from The Dog Aging Project, Virginia Tech, and Texas A&M also found that 94% of the home-cooked dog foods they studied failed to meet pets’ nutritional needs.

These numbers show why home cooks need to be very cautious. But for those who do want to prepare their dogs’ food at home, The Farmer’s Dog has a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Nutrient Mix that, in combination with over 20 simple recipes, provides your dog with all of the nutrients they need to thrive.

Here are the details.

What nutrients are in The Farmer’s Dog Do-It Yourself Nutrient Mix?

Here are some of the vitamins and minerals in our DIY Nutrient Mix, and the functions they serve. It’s nearly impossible for an untrained home cook to provide these nutrients to their dog in the right proportions, but it’s easy to do when combining approved recipes with our mix:

  • Calcium: Key for bone health, and nerve and muscle function. It’s hard to get the right amount into a dog’s food on your own—you’d need a finely ground eggshell, bone meal or calcium supplement measured in the appropriate amount daily and balanced with the phosphorus and calories in the diet.
  • Vitamin D: Along with calcium and phosphorus, this vitamin is important for bone and muscle health.
  • Choline: Supports liver and neurological health.
  • Iodine: Vital for thyroid hormones. Iodized salt or kelp can provide this nutrient, but both are hard to dose precisely—and too much iodine, as well as too little, can cause problems.
  • Zinc and copper: Support skin and coat health. Zinc is a cofactor in many enzymes needed in the body for it to complete functions including collagen and connective tissue development, immunity, and metabolism of food for energy. Diets are often low on these nutrients without supplementation, and high amounts of calcium can block zinc absorption.
  • Manganese and selenium: Trace minerals for joints and cartilage (manganese), and antioxidant function (selenium). 
  • B vitamins: Important for energy production and many processes throughout the body, including those involved with neurologic function, and red blood cell health. Amounts in homemade foods tend to be inconsistent, and often require supplements to meet minimum requirements. 

How does The Farmer’s Dog formulate its Do-It-Yourself Nutrient Mix?

Our on-staff, board-certified nutritionists have formulated our DIY Nutrient Mix to have the exact amounts and appropriate ratios of micronutrients dogs need.

This is vital, because too much of a nutrient can cause issues just as serious as not enough of it—and improper ratios of one nutrient to another can also be dangerous.

One of the trickiest ratios to achieve is calcium to phosphorus: Meat is naturally high in phosphorus, but very low in calcium. Our mix contains the proper balance of tricalcium phosphate and vitamin D3 for bone health.

We also keep other delicate pairs in check, including:

  • Zinc and copper: Too much zinc prevents copper absorption, and too little copper fails to support red blood cell and coat health. 
  • Iodine and selenium: Iodine builds thyroid hormones, and selenium provides key enzymes needed to convert them from an inactive form to the active form.
  • Oils: help meet essential fatty acid requirements.
  • Vitamin E: This important antioxidant helps the immune system and protects against inflammation.

Because our on-staff, board-certified nutritionists have precisely formulated our DIY Nutrient Mix to provide complete and balanced nutrition in combination with approved recipes, you can safely cook at home for your dog—without a calculator or lab scale.

What kinds of recipes can I use with The Farmer’s Dog Do-It-Yourself Nutrient Mix?

Our Do-It-Yourself Nutrient Mix can’t do its job without the proteins, veggies, and carbs in your grocery cart. That’s why our same on-staff, board-certified veterinary nutritionists have created recipes that, in combination with the mix, provide your dog with all of the nutrients they need.

Here are examples from our DIY Plan library:

  • Beef and carrots (Beef, eggs, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, and Nutrient Mix): Beef packs iron and zinc; eggs add choline; carrots and sweet potatoes supply vitamin A precursors; and spinach contributes vitamin E, vitamin K, and folate. But, before supplementation, the bowl is still light on calcium, vitamin D, iodine, manganese, selenium, and B vitamins. The mix fills those gaps, making sure tricalcium phosphate and vitamin D3 keep the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in check.
  • Chicken and veggies (Chicken, sweet potato, spinach, zucchini, egg whites, and Nutrient Mix): Chicken brings lean protein. Sweet potato, spinach, zucchini, and egg whites provide lean protein, vitamin A precursors, vitamin C, and fiber. But, compared with beef, chicken is lighter in iron and copper—and egg whites lack yolks, making them lower in choline. The Nutrient Mix steps in with choline, chelated zinc and copper to raise trace minerals, and the calcium-vitamin D3 combo to align the calcium:phosphorous balance. Iodine helps with thyroid support.

These recipes work with fresh, frozen, or canned ingredients. Just make sure to wash fresh veggies, thaw frozen ones, and rinse canned ingredients. And only use plain vegetables with nothing added.

And always remember to stay away from ingredients that may be healthy for humans but are dangerous for dogs—including onions, garlic, and grapes. 

Our DIY Plan library mixes and matches more than 20 nutrient-dense recipes with our Nutrient Mix to make complete and balanced meals that you can prepare for your dog at home. If you’re considering the home-cooking route for your dog, take a safe, informed approach and sign up for a DIY Plan.

The post How to Safely Cook at Home for Your Dog With The Farmer’s Dog Do-It-Yourself Nutrient Mix appeared first on The Farmer’s Dog - Digest.


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