Dr. Michael Fox's Homemade 'Natural' Food for Dogs

Diet for Dogs

If you are feeding only this recipe to your dog/s it is safe and beneficial to add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of powdered KELP (seaweed) or SPIRULINA ( per 20lb body weight) to the food 2-3 times a week.

Ingredients (T = tablespoon / t = teaspoon) 2 cups uncooked whole grain rice (or barley, rolled oats, or pasta noodles) Pinch of salt 1 T. vegetable oil (flax seed oil* or safflower oil) and 1T organic butter 1 T. wheat germ 1 T. cider vinegar 1 t. brewer's yeast 1 T calcium carbonate/citrate/ or lactate, or oyster shell or 3 Tums tablets 1 lb. lean hamburger, or ground lamb, mutton, or one whole chicken or half of a small turkey.

PURCHASE THESE INGREDIENTS FOR DOG FOOD RECIPE!
	Solid Gold Flaxseed Oil 32 oz Bottle NR100917   $22.95
	Animal Essentials Natural Calcium From the Sea 180 Capsules NR101002   $20.95

Directions

1. Combine all above ingredients (except flax seed oil).
2. Add water to cover ingredients, simmer, stir, and add more water as needed until cooked.
3. De-bone chicken parts and do not feed cooked bones since they can splinter and cause internal injury.
4. The recipe should be thick to be molded into patties (add oat bran or rice or buckwheat flour to help thicken).
5. Mix well into the stew while it is still very hot, a cup full of raw, grated carrots, sweet potato or yam.
6. Add flax seed oil after the cooked food has cooled down to room temperature.
7. Serve 1 cup full of this recipe for a 30 lb. dog with the rest of his/her rations, and freeze the rest into patties and store in the freezer. Serve thawed, or frozen to gnaw on outdoors in hot weather.

NOTE:

• Some dogs are allergic or hypersensitive to some foods, especially soy, beef, eggs, wheat and dairy products.
• Give the dog a daily multi-vitamin and muti-mineral supplement, such as Pfizer's Pet Tabs, or a good quality human 'one Ða day' supplement equivalent, crushed up in the food, calculating one half of the human daily dose for a 50 lb dog.

PURCHASE THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR DOG FOOD RECIPE!
	Animal Essentials Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement NR101001 $24.95

• For dogs under 30 lb, and for over-weight and less active dogs, use 1 cup of uncooked rice in the recipe.
• Large dogs require less food per pound body weight, so adjust according to appetite and weight gain, and especially if deep-chested and prone to bloat, give 3-4 smaller meals per day.

--TRANSITION YOUR DOG GRADUALLY ONTO THIS NEW DIET

--MIX INCREASING AMOUNTS OF YOUR DOG'S NEW FOOD WITH DECREASING AMOUNTS OF THE OLD FOOD OVER A 7-DAY PERIOD TO ENABLE ADAPTIATION AND AVOID POSSIBLE DIGESTIVE UPSET.

--IT IS ADVISABLE TO VARY THE BASIC INGREDIENTS TO PROVIDE VARIETY AND TO AVOID POSSIBLE NUTRITIONAL IMBALANCES, AND TO MONITOR THE ANIMAL'S BODY CONDITION SO AS TO AVOID EITHER OVER-FEEDING OR UNDER-FEEDING, BASED ON THE AVERAGE DOG CONSUMING ONE CUPFULL OF THE FOOD TWICE DAILY PER 30 POUNDS BODY WEIGHT.

--NOTE: DIFFERENT ANIMALS HAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT NUTRITIONAL NEEDS ACCORDING TO AGE, TEMPERAMENT, AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH STATUS.

Keep teeth clean by getting dogs, especially toy breeds, used to a daily brushing. The best and safest natural tooth-cleaner is a raw, scalded (to kill off bacteria) 3-4 inch piece of beef shank/soup/marrow bone, or thin strips of scalded raw beef heart or shank meatÑthe tougher the better!

PURCHASE THIS PREVENTATIVE FOR YOUR CAT!
	ARK NATURALS Breathless Plaque Zapper 30 Packs NR101026 $15.95

Home-prepared foods for our animal companions, ideally with organic ingredients that were locally produced, are important because you then know what your animal is being fed if a food-related health problem such as an allergy to a particular ingredient or digestive upset were to arise. With most processed commercial pet foods containing all kinds of human food-industry by-products and ingredients considered unfit/unsafe for human consumption, many of questionable nutritional value after repeated processing, you just don't know. Aside from coloring agents that may cause problems other than saliva-staining of animals' faces, and paws, most commercial pet foods contain artificial preservatives like BHA that is linked with cancer of the bladder and stomach; BHT that may cause cancer of the bladder and thyroid gland; and Ethoxyquin, one of Monsanto's many allegedly harmful products that renderers (meat and poultry processors) add to the fat/tallow that is put into pet foods to prevent rancidity. Ethoxyquin is a recognized hazardous chemical, a highly toxic pesticide. Most pet food manufacturers have recently phased out using BHA and BHT and now use 'mixed tocopherols' (a claimed source or form of vitamin E), citric acid, beta-carotene and Rosemary extract as preservatives.

For more information on holistic dog care, see my books The Healing Touch for Dogs published by New Market Press, NY. and for food industry concerns that affect us all, see my book, Eating With Conscience: The Bioethics of Food. New Sage Press, Troutdale, OR. My latest book on dogs entitled Dog Body, Dog Mind, was published by The Lyons Press in 2007.?For details on the health risks of manufactured pet foods, see Not Fit for a Dog!: The Truth About Manufactured Cat and Dog Food, by Drs. M.W.Fox, E.Hodgkins, and M. Smart, Quill Driver Books, Sanger CA 2008

This recipe is safe for all puppies as well as for adult dogs unless they have a genetic predisposition for nutrient-related disease, or have a pre-existing medical condition such as pancreatic of kidney disease. In which case, consult with your veterinarian, and always remember to transition on to any new food gradually. Giving probiotics daily during such transition can be helpful.

PURCHASE THIS PROBIOTIC FOR YOUR DOG!
	Wysong C-Biotic (9 oz. bottle) NR100980 $18.95

Normally, when healthy animals are fed a wholesome, balanced diet, they absorb what nutrients they need. An unbalanced, high-cereal content diet leads to unbalanced physiology, nutrient excesses and deficiencies leading to obesity and a host of health problems as documented in the book Not Fit for a Dog!: The Truth About Manufactured Cat and Dog Food.