Our pets give us unconditional love, companionship, and attention, so it’s the least we can do to return their efforts on National Cook For Your Pets Day on November 1! While we tend to feed our pets with food bought from the store, spending a day cooking for our pet is more than just a nice way to honor their place in our lives.
Before you put on that apron and start throwing things into a pot, take these tips from National Today:
- Check your ingredient list. Checking with your vet is the best way to learn what foods to avoid giving your pet, but the big no-nos are anything milk-based, chocolate, avocados, nuts, onions, leeks, chives, mushrooms, and walnuts. Your pet’s digestion is pretty fragile, so it’s important not to risk renal failure by trying to do something nice for the animal! Also, it should go without saying, but seriously, avoid giving your pet alcohol. It can be lethal for animals in any dose.
- Get cooking. A dog likes a nice bowl of mixed cooked protein, vegetables and rice. Together with fresh fruit, and the occasional chew for healthy teeth, feeding a dog home-cooked food isn’t as complex as you might think. A cat, meanwhile, is exclusively carnivorous, so you’ll be looking at giving the animal a nice piece of protein.
- Buy a pet cookbook. Julia Child would probably be horrified to learn that there are an increasing number of pet cookbooks on the market, but it’s true. Often, they’re written in the personas of the animals doing the eating, and it’s a creative and hilarious new trend for you to explore. One word of caution: A 2013 study by U.C. Davis researchers showed that many homemade recipes lacked the necessary nutrition, so it’s important to ensure that your recipe book does meet your pet’s needs, or that you’re just using the recipes as supplements to a more balanced diet.
Thinking about what to cook for you pet might also make you rethink your own diet, too! Thinking about what to cook for Fido but finding that you wouldn’t want to give him most of what you eat because you’re not sure it’s healthy? Wake-up call! Also, remember, dogs don’t judge, so if you’re just learning to cook, then you’ll get some validation here. And most of us could use some validation in the kitchen.
By consulting with the vet about what foods to avoid and what foods might nourish the pet best, we’ll gain new insights into our animals’ diets and ultimately, become better at caring for our animals. So take this day to cook a delicious meal for your pets!
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Photo Credit: Monika Wisniewska / Shutterstock.com