Dog Food: Commercial Vs Homemade
Key Points
- Food, its quality and composition can determine the health and longevity of your dog.
- Commercial food, marketed as a balanced diet, is ultra-processed with sub-par ingredients and synthetic nutrients.
- Homemade food, like human food, achieves balance of nutrition through rotation, gentle cooking and quality nutrients.
Think “Dog Food” and we visualize bland and dry pellets. That is what we have largely fed our dogs in the last 40 years. Why? Because:
- Vets recommended it
- It is safe
- It is balanced
- I don’t know what food is right for my dog.
And maybe, all of the above. It is hard to make food choices for our pups because their health and even life, depends on these choices. This blog will cover various options of food and a few basic principles to help you make that choice.
Commercial Food
Commercial pet food is available in many forms. Kibble is the most popular, followed by wet foods which are available as toppers and retort packed fresh food.
Kibble
What is kibble? Kibble is a popular commercial pet food available in dry form. It is “designed” to be entirely balanced with the nutrients needed by our pets. However, its important to know the ingredients and the processes they pass through to achieve that little kibble nugget.
Among the ingredients list, you will find cheap fillers like corn, rice or wheat, fat like chicken or beef fat, meat by-products, synthetic vitamins and minerals, preservatives and stabilisers.
Then come the processes! Meat meal goes through 3-4 processes of its own before being added to the mix to form dough. It is cooked over high heat, pushed through the extruder to form the kibble shape and sprayed with colour and flavour. This processing also removes moisture from kibble, giving it the title of dry food, which means less than 10% moisture.
At the end, the vital nutrients in the ingredients, which are lost, are replaced with synthetic ones. Like making a meal out of vitamin pills!
Wet Food
Wet Food in India, for many years, included meat and gravy or canned meat which when poured over kibble or rice, made it palatable. With the changes in technology in the past years, wet food has now extended to fresh food in retort pouches.
Retort Packed food requires food (raw or cooked) to be packed in a special pouch or can and heated at around 120⁰C for a set interval in the retort machine. This process effectively kills all common microorganisms and increases the shelf life of food by reducing chances of it going bad. This is why such food does not need to be refrigerated. Heating food at such high temperatures to achieve microbial stability degrades the flavor, texture and nutrient content of food.
Homemade Food
We Indians have traditionally placed much significance on fresh food and how it benefits the body and our longevity. We also know that home cooked meals cooked using high-quality ingredients offer ultimate nutritional excellence. With dogs being integral parts of our lives, fresh dog food needs to be balanced too. It needs to include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and water for your pet’s health, growth, immunity and general wellness. Nutrient balancing happens over a period of feeding different premium, gently cooked ingredients with minimal processing.
Fresh food for dogs helps manage dietary requirements and optimal health considerations of your dogs on the basis of breed, age, weight, neutered/intact, physical activity and medical conditions. Food which is cooked on low temperatures, retains maximum nutrition. Carefully selected meat portions and organs in combination with vegetables and natural supplements, in rotation, create a cycle of nutrition and health for your pup.
Your choice of food will determine your dog’s health and quality of life.
To order our balanced Fresh Meals created to optimize your dog’s health and nutrition, click here.