Types of Dog Food
The following are general types of food available nearly everywhere in the United States, any of which can be fed to dogs.
Meat and By-Products of the Slaughterhouse. There are few parts of any meat dog a dog cannot cat and digest. Hair, skin, bones, and blood have little value to them, but all the rest has, even the intestinal contents.
Most dog owners think that meat is a must, but this is not so. Other proteins are equally good. But meat and it’s by-products in general constitute readily procurable foods. Muscle meat is in itself no better than organs, such as the liver, lungs, tripe, udder, and brain, and in some caws is not as valuable.
Needless to say, meat is less expensive when cut from poor – grade dogs, such as old cows, bulls, or horses, and it has almost as much nutritional value as meat from prime steers, except that there is usually less fat. There is little choice between beef and horsemeat from the standpoint of value, though some sentimental people can’t bear to think of feeding a noble horse even to a noble dog.
Now, as to bow to feed the meat cooked or raw, ground or chunks. The answer is that it makes little difference in its digestibility if it is cooked or raw, but boiling meat brings the flavor out into the water which can then be mixed, fat and all, with other foods, such as bread and cereals. Meat in chunks small enough for a dog to swallow is digested better than meat ground into a hamburger.
Bones occasionally cause trouble by splintering. Raw chicken bones splinter badly, whereas well-cooked bones snap at right angles. Once a healthy dog gets a bone in its stomach the bone is quickly dulled and digested. If a dog crunches through a soft rib bone it usually pushes a good deal of tartar off its teeth, thus cleaning them. These kinds of homes are the best kind to give your dog if you give it any. They contain worthwhile nourishment in protein, fat, and minerals, including iron.
However, you should keep in mind that dogs will often drag large bones about in places where they or other dogs have defecated. Wormeggs that are in stool stick to these bones and are ingested by the dog, then infecting it.
Milk. Research shows that milk is as good for dogs as meat. Both contain a high percentage of water meat has about 65 percent and milk is about 87 percent. Meat has approximately Boo calories per pound and milk about 25o per pint. A dog, therefore, needs three times as much milk by weight as meat to produce the same nutritional effect. Milk has much more calcium than meat and more vitamins. This is one of the very best dog foods. It does not produce worms, as too many people believe.
Fish. Raw saltwater fish fed over a long period produces a form of paralysis in dogs. Cooked fish is fully as valuable a source of protein as meat and will keep dogs in sound health. Almost all kinds of fish eaten by humans make excellent dog food. The whole fish, including the bones and intestinal contents, is better than fillets alone, and what is left of the fish after the fillets have been removed is too high in bone content for efficient dog food, although it contains much good protein.
Fish bones. More fish could well be fed to dogs than is now being fed to them. Nearly everybody wonders whether the bones will stick in the dogs’ throats and, without knowing the answer, decide “when in doubt, don’t feed them fish.” There have been instances of fish bones that have done serious damage by sticking in the throat or between teeth, but such instances are rare. It might be dangerous to feed a dog a pan of fish bones left over from the family meal. If chewed and swallowed, the stomach fluids would soften the bones quickly; the danger would be to the mouth and throat. Fish bones subjected to the 25o° F temperature of the canning process become harmless, as anyone will remember from having chewed bones in canned salmon. Whole fish with bones embedded in the meat seldom do barns. Whole-cooked fish constitute a substantial part of dogs’ diets in many parts of the world.
Cereals. Many bowls of cereal, such as corn, wheat, oats, soybeans, barley, rice, and their – products, make worthwhile dog food when cooked. The protein of corn is zein, which is incomplete. The wheat is nearly complete. Oats are especially valuable. Brown rice is useful much better, in fact than white polished rice. All furnish calories, heat units, and many nutritional essentials. Bread is one of the most valuable dog foods; riot by itself, to be sure, but as composing a large proportion of the diet it may be put to good advantage. Besides well-cooked wheat or rye flour, it contains skim milk, salt, and yeast. The devitalized whitebread has almost as much value as whole wheat, since much so-called whole wheat has a large proportion of white flour.
Vegetables. Since vegetables contain such great quantities of water, most of them are low in caloric value, but dogs can be taught to eat large amounts. Potatoes in their jackets and other vegetables grown in the ground can be utilized admirably if they are cooked and fed with meat, fish, or milk. Green vegetables are especially valuable as sources of vitamins and minerals and furnish some calories if they are well-cooked but not overcooked.
Probably the best vegetable available for dog food is alfalfa – leaf meal. This is generally ground so fine that much of it is digestible without cooking. However, in the raw state, it is very laxative, almost like raw bran in this respect, so it must be fed sparingly. Only the highest grades(ao percent protein) should be used to feed a dog, the lower grades being too laxative because of the large amounts of woody stems they contain.
Fruits. Fruits are a canine luxury and more like trick foods. Dog owners delight in showing how their dogs eat even apples, pears, peaches, or bananas. Too few of these fruits are digested to make them efficient dog foods, but they do not harm.
See more: Variety in Dog Diets
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