Interesting piece on Radio 4’s You and Yours programme today about home cooked dog food. Mintel report that one third of dog owners are now home cooking for their pooches.
Deborah Robertson, who has written the book Dogs’ Dinners: The healthy, happy way to feed your dog is interviewed. She rightly points out that this is how dogs used to be fed before commercial food came along and many of them lived to a good old age.
Here’s the link to the programme: You and Yours - Dogs Dinners (26.40) The link will probably eventually be broken so here is a summary of the interview with Deborah:
She points out that we have been feeding our dogs like this for centuries and they seemed to do alright, many of them lived to a good old age and that they didn’t seem to have skin, digestive problems and intolerances such as we see these days.
Her meals consist of:
60% to 70% meat
20% to 30% fruit and vegetables
10% other healthy things like grain, yoghurt, eggs
Deborah did a lot of research before writing the book. If anyone wishes to feed their dog home cooked food it is essential to do some homework first.
I was surprised at the Mintel figure of 30% who are cooking for their dogs. I wonder if it consists of two types: some who give wholly home cooked diets and others who give partially home cooked food.
Raw meat diets have been trendy for a long time. Perhaps home cooking is set to become equally, or more popular. Time will tell.