12 Fresh Food Remedies and Feeding Tips for Your Dog!

When you adopted your dog you decided to take him or her into your life and let them become a part of your family. As a family member you owe it to your pet to treat them as well as you would your own child which means that you have to be prepared for a number of potential problems in life. Many people who own cats will turn to cat health insurance while others look for canine pet insurance. No matter what you decide to do with their health care, you need to start by amending their diet at home. Listed below are 12 rock solid fresh food remedies and feeding tips that can change your pup’s life.

The struggle against bad breath can be cured with cooking.

Bad breath isn’t pleasant for humans and it is especially unpleasant when found in your pet dog, bonus points if they are a larger breed. Many folks immediately head to the pet store to try and find some sort of bone with breath freshening properties for their dog to munch on. This might work to mask the odor but it won’t solve the intrinsic issue: the canine’s diet. To alleviate bad breath you can fix a simple recipe of shredded carrots, chopped mint, and lime juice. You can feed this mixture to your dog as a frozen solution or you can mix it straight into their dog food.

Balance fresh meat and diverse veggies for an all around dinner.

Now you don’t need to have a mass of online college degrees in order to feed your dog homemade food, but you should still consult with your vet before changing their diet. With that being said, the decision to make fresh food for your dog can be a great one. We like cooking up a big pot of meat and veggies for our dogs — splitting the ratio 50/50. Use a variety of different vegetables in order to maximize the kinds of vitamins and minerals that you are getting for your dog. Cook in bulk and freeze leftovers to always have something on hand.

Fight back against dreaded fleas.

If fleas are becoming a common issue in your household, for whatever reason, you are probably ready to try just about anything to make them go away! Some people opt for products like Frontline Plus but others want something more natural, that they can make, to try and get the job done. For natural flea repellent all you need to do is mix up equal doses of eucalyptus, rosemary, wormwod, fennel, rue, and yellow dock into a fine powder. Now sprinkle a little bit of this mixture onto your dog and gently massage it through their coat.

Go green, always go green.

Dogs are just like humans in a lot of ways and this extends to their need for healthy green vegetables in their diet. When you cook for your dog make sure to include obviously veggies like carrots or sweet potatoes but also bring in those green super veggies that are so good for them. Broccoli isn’t just for you anymore!

Relieve the pain from insect bites.

If you live out in the country or near a stagnant source of water then you are probably too familiar with the stinging welts that come along from insects. Save your dog from a similar pain with this simple home made blend. Mix up chamomile along with vodka and throw it in the back of the refrigerator, where it is clearly labeled. Sprinkle a bit onto your dogs insect bites and allow it to dry on its own — don’t wash it off.

Get rid of rice in your dogs food.

Rice is mostly a filler food used by companies when they are making up their blends. Get rid of bleached rice from your dogs diet and substitute in some healthy and organic lentils. Boiling lentils is easy to do and your dog will love the taste as well as the benefits that they bring to their GI tract. Just make sure that you boil the lentils all the way through — they need to be soft! You can also start incorporating lentils into your own diet as a rice replacement while benefiting from it on your own!

Get rid of your dogs upset stomach.

If you or I came down with a stomach ache we could easily try to remedy the problem. For dogs the issue of a stomach ache isn’t quite so simple. You can’t really ply down human stomach medicine so what can you do? Simply add a little bit of puree pumpkin into your dogs food to help alleviate constipation issues. You can either take fresh pumpkins and blend them down or you can use canned pumpkin. The choice is yours! Try this twice a day and wait to see if changes take effect. If you don’t notice changes in a few days then you might want to consider taking your pet to the vet in order to get a proper diagnosis.

Combat ear infections with this little additive.

Do you have a dog with big floppy ears? Are you worried about recurring ear infections? Simply add in a little bit of organic, edible, coconut oil to your dogs food twice a day. The coconut oil is filled with caprylic acid which acts as an anti fungal. This addition to your dogs food will go a long way toward slowing down ear infections and common body itching. To top it all off: most dogs actually like the taste! Again, as we said above, check with your vet to make sure that your dog is not allergic first.

Make that dreaded car sickness go away.

Your dog probably loves to go to the park and go with you on adventures but they might not enjoy getting carsick on the way there. Before going out for a ride simply grate down some organic ginger and put the shaving onto a dog treat that your pup especially likes — something with peanut butter works well. Ginger acts as a natural car sickness combatant and you should be able to have a pain free drive starting within the hour. Pay special attention as you drive to see if the effects have taken place. While car sickness won’t kill your dog, it’s still no good to force them to endure it when you can figure out how to help them.

Bust out the green beans!

If you have a kid they might suddenly be worried about all of the green veggies you are bringing home. Green beans make excellent treats for dogs that just have to beg for a snack or two. Snap off the ends and throw them into the freezer with a bit of brushed coconut oil on them. Green beans are great for dogs with gas issues as well as kidney problems and you’ll soon find that your beloved pup especially loves the taste. Bonus points: green beans are low in calories so you don’t have to regret letting your dog splurge a little bit.

Alleviate itchy, scratchy, skin with a special bath.

Bathing a cat is disastrous but bathing a dog can be very easy, especially if it makes them feel better. If your dog is suffering from hyper itchy skin then go ahead and get a bath going filled with some cool to warm, not hot, water. Add in some oatmeal and let the dog soak for around ten minutes as you rub their coat down with the liquid. Get a good rinse in when they are done, being careful not to agitate any itchy skin, and you’ll have a dog that feels better than ever once you let him out.

Keep your dogs stomach right with zucchini.

If you’ve noticed that your dog is throwing up grass or gagging up bile a lot then they might be having some stomach issues. If the vet rules out anything serious you can move straight on to adjusting their diet by incorporating some zucchini. Adding in cooked and chopped up zucchini into your dogs meal, especially if its home cooked, will help to alleviate that painful stomach. Add the cooked zucchini twice a day in order to maximize the efficiency of the treatment.