In Malaysia alone, pet owners are spending US$340 million on pet food, and it is projected on a 6.2% annual growth rate in the next 5 years. This statistic proved that as the quality of life of the middle-incomers increased, they are spending more on the wellbeing of their pets.
Dogs and cats have integrated into our lives since the time of many ancestors ago for hunting and property/ livestock guarding purposes. However, they are slowly accepted to be household pets in the mid and late 1800s when the first line of dog food product (mostly canned food) was introduced.
The dynamic of the pet food industry changed during the World War I when the US rationed tin and metals for military usage. The manufacturers have to find another way because the shelf life of dog food would be drastically shorter if it is not preserved in a can. To overcome this, the pet industry introduced kibbles, a form of processed dry food which was made to have a longer expiry date, more affordable, can be stored conveniently and most importantly, pets enjoyed it.
The habit of feeding kibbles became a norm since our grandparents' generation and even right now, most of us pet owners think dogs and cats should only eat kibbles because this is the way as we know it.
The problem with kibble is we just do not know what is in the little pellets. It is made of all kind of preservatives, chemicals, addictives, animal by-products (parts of an animal that are not desired in meat market), unnecessary grain-based fillers (rice, wheat, corn, potato. I strongly recommend throwing the bag of kibble if you find your kibble manufacturer uses these ingredients).
In fact, the information we are getting is simply inaccurate and misleading because there is no proper regulatory body to determine what should go into your dog's meal.
For example, if the packaging shows it contained "chicken and rice", it could mean the food contains 26% of chicken, if it says "rich in chicken", they could get away with only 14% chicken, and if it says "chicken flavor", you are getting, well... the flavor.
In fact, this is not entirely pet owners fault as I have talked to numerous people whose veterinarian, a supposedly trained profession which gives consultation on the best practice for the wellbeing of animals, told them it is dangerous to feed their dogs and cats what we are eating. For me, it is absolutely ridiculous to even subscribe to such idea.
This is why it is no surprise for me when you think about the surge of pets with skin diseases, liver diseases or cancer in the last 100 years which is, coincidentally, around the time we introduce kibbles into their life.
Learning about this made me set myself on a mission to educate and encourage people to start cooking healthy and balanced food for their animals.
Below are 5 reasons why you should consider to try home-cooked food.
Premium quality
Photo credit: Petchef
When you are able to cook food for your pet, you have the absolute control on what you are feeding to your pet and the quality of the food will be ever more premium than any premium pet food product on the market.
More than half of the meal should consist of meat such as chicken, lamb, beef, venison, bison, hare or fish since our pet require protein from animals. You should also add 30-50% vegetable such as broccoli, cabbage, pumpkin, beans, carrots to ensure your pet is getting sufficient amount of vitamin and minerals.
While I do not recommend feeding white rice or potato, you can go for a low amount of brown rice to suit your budget for a meal.
It reduces breath odor
Photo credit: petmd.com
You will notice most of our kibble-fed pets, especially dogs, have strong and unpleasant breath odor, and this is called halitosis. This is, most of the time, caused by the poor quality of grain used to make the kibble.
Eating poor quality grain would attract bacteria into the mouth, lung or gut because they cannot be digested easily and it will lead to gum disease or gastrointestinal disease.
Feeding home-cooked food is a good solution to solve odor problem because cooked food can be easily digested by the dog and the nutrient will keep the immune system strong.
However, unusual smell could also derived from larger problem in your dog's health. You should consult your veterinarian if you are not sure what caused the bad odor.
Reduces skin problem and furs are more vibrant
Photo credit: trupanion.com
Other than bad dental odor, low-quality grain could also lead to skin problem and fur-falling problem. This is because most pets are allergic to grain-based ingredients and the allergic reaction will be shown on the skin.
If your pet is suffering from food allergy, I would highly recommend you to add 1/2 tablespoon of turmeric and oregano to the food of your pet to relief the allergy. You can also massage coconut oil on your pet's body to improve the health of the fur and make the appearance to be more vibrant.
Easier to digest
Since our pets have shorter digestive tract than human, they are unable to completely digest the food they consume. Highly processed and dried kibbles definitely do not help the pets in this case because these food are difficult to be digested in the body.
If we feed natural ingredient-based home cooked meal, we can ensure our pet can absorb the maximum amount of nutrients needed by the body.
Increase pets' vitality
Photo credit: free4photos.com
Unfortunately, having the benefit of affordability, easy storage or easy feeding routine come with a heavy cost. Pets that are on kibble diet have a shorter lifespan than pets on home-cooked diet by 3 to 4 years. If you compare that to a perspective of human's lifespan, that is almost 15-25 years of lives!
There are so many benefits in preparing human grade home-cooked food for your pet. However, one thing you always need to keep in mind is nutritionally balanced and complete diet. You need to make sure your beloved pet is getting an appropriate amount of biologically required nutrition. If you are cooking chicken but not feeding vegetable or vice versa, you are doing more damage to your pet than helping it to achieve health. In this case, I strongly recommend you to go for canned food that contains human grade ingredients.
Truth is you might already know the benefit of feeding your furkid appropriately but you are tied up by your work and you probably can't even cook for yourself. You can check out Petchef . Petchef is a project I am currently working on to cook a nutritionally balanced and complete diet for your pets. Our meals contained 50-60% meats, vegetables, coconut oil, eggshell powder and most importantly no grain-based filler.
Conclusion
We want to make sure our pets have the best food to the best of our affordability. However, feeding kibbles is like feeding cheap pasar malam hamburgers to our beloved children. There is a desperate need to raise the awareness of what we are putting into the mouth of our pets because, sadly, the number of diet-related pet disease is on the rise.
Try to commit yourself to an one month experiment with home-cooked food. You will see how much change the body will go through.
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Leave a comment if you have been feeding your dogs and cats home-cooked food and share with me what is the noticeable transformation of the pet for eating human-grade food.