A
bowl of comforting
porridge or congee brought me back childhood memories as I remember my
dog likes to eat home cook porridge. And I will tell you why.
I
used to have this
dog which is a cross breed. I had the dog when I was about 13 years
old. Our family friend advised us that to make the dog fur looks shinny
and thick, we must give him natural black "gula melaka" (a kind of
traditional palm sugar in Malaysia) mixed with porridge. It really
makes his fur thick and shiny black. Even few of my neighbors asked us
what special food we gave him that make him looks so good and healthy.
Ancient
Chinese Food - Porridge
The
Chinese porridge
(or otherwise known as congee) is a soupy or
liquidized version of boiled rice. Once upon a time, the poor in China
made porridge to prolong the household consumption of rice grain;
because it uses much smaller amount of rice for each meal. However, due
to its soft texture, it is also a traditional Chinese baby food. The
fact that it is easy to digest and curative effect on the body, those
who are recovering from sickness could use it as a main food intake.
Porridge
is
good for humans. What about for dogs?
Porridge
alone may
be easy to digest but may lack certain nutritional values essential for
your dog's health maintenance. To make the porridge diet for your dog
more balanced, it is important to include a combination of fats,
carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water in a balanced
diet that provides sufficient calories to meet their daily needs for
growth, activity, and repair.
My
Dog's
Special Diet
"Gula
Melaka" (Palm sugar) was originally made from the sugary sap
of the Palmyra palm or the date palm. Now it is also made from the sap
of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as "coconut sugar." The
sugar is a golden brown paste, sold in tubes, blocks or tin cans. It
may be light-colored or dark, soft and gooey or hard. As a
lightly-processed product of cottage industry, it varies greatly from
batch to batch. In Indonesia, sugar made from the Borassus (Palmyra
palm) is known as Gula Jawa ("Javanese sugar") or gula merah (red
sugar). Sago Gula Melaka is a very popular soft dessert in Malaysia.
You can see it in almost every traditional function, such as parties,
wedding reception, gathering, or school parties.
We
never feed our
dog a lot of meat. My mother will cook porridge mixed with a bit of
"gula Melaka", "ikan bilis" (malay word for a family (Engraulidae)
of small, common salt-water fish) or small amount of beef. We usually
used low grade brown rice (at that time we do not know it is actually
organic rice and nobody ever heard of organic food at that time).
Avoid
products that
use meat by-products like bones, feet, and intestines, chemical
preservatives like BHA and BHT and difficult-to-digest grains like
corn, wheat, gluten and soy. These grains are sometimes listed as a
protein source in place of meat in commercial dog food.
Many
health
problems, like allergies that cause itchy skin, are simply caused by a
poor diet and improper allocations of the wrong kinds of food. It is
recommended that you start making note of the ingredients until you
notice an improvement.
My
dog was so used
to eating porridge that he will refuse to eat if it is rice. The
porridge smells good even to people. That is why I believe in homemade
natural food that is best for human is guaranteed good for your dog.
Protect
Your Dog's Health
The
health of your
dog is very important and hinges on good nourishment and plenty of
exercise. The pet owner who feeds their dogs a good balanced diet
consisting of special
dog food will save a lot of money and have a happy healthy
pet.
If
your dog has a
healthy skin and coat, is energetic, and gets good marks from the
veterinarian on the annual checkup, you can continue to feed the same
diet of natural food no matter which they have chosen. If the dog is
having problems, it is important to investigate if its food might be a
contributing factor and take steps to fix things by adding a
supplement, switching to another food, or asking the vet to run some
diagnostic tests.
Shocking
News
On
March 15, 2007,
FDA (US Food And Drug Administration) learned that certain pet foods
were sickening and killing cats and dogs. FDA found contaminants in
vegetable proteins imported into the United States from China and used
as ingredients in pet food. FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations
announced that two Chinese nationals and the businesses they operate,
along with a U.S. company and its president and chief executive
officer, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 6, 2008. The
indictments are for their roles in a scheme to import into the United
States products they claimed were wheat gluten. The products were
contaminated with melamine and used to make pet food."
How
can we protect
our animal companions? Make your dog healthy and happy by feeding him
healthy, natural dog food now!
Dog Food Nutrition:
This article only touches the basic techniques to feed and care for your
dog. For more effective dog nutrition guide, either consulted a
qualified veterinarian or learn from a reputable dog food book like
"Dog Food Secrets" as revealed by my dog expert friend, Andrew
Lewis. Discover how you can lengthen your dog's lifespan by 134%. Is it
possible? Find out more at
www.Recipes4Pet.com.
Dog Training:
To train your dog correctly, do a consultation with qualified dog
trainer or learn from a reputable and most comprehensive step by step
dog training home study course like our renown dog trainer,
"Secrets to Dog Training." Discover how you too can
train your dog on your own without spending a big sum of fee to hire a
dog trainer or sending your dog to over crowded dog obedience classes
only to learn just a few basic dog obedience tricks. You can download
the videos at
www.DogExpertReveal.com.
"A Healthy And Trained Dog Brings Joy To The Whole Family"
