nutrition
Berner Cuisine
a doggy restaurant With a flare for fine dining
Ok, just kidding (kinda)
HOME MADE CUISINE
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of animal nutrition, there are a few things I would like to point out.
Let's start with:
Individuality matters
- Many diets can be fed to pets. However, due to individuality, all have different caloric, mineral and vitamin requirements.
- We are not suggesting you chage your pets diet in any way shape or form
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All diets posted here have been tailored to our dogs.
- Not doing enough research can have serious effects on your pets health
- Talk with a Veterinarian, or even better, a Veterinarian with a specialty in nutrition. There are a lot of vets out there that slept though nutrition class but aced other subjects 🙂
The reason we started feeding a home made diet is heavily based on Kardia getting sick after eating commercial kibble. On her 13 month birthday, she became so ill, she lost 10 pounds, she was place on IV drips and countless medications in order to save her life. Almost 14 days later, her health finally bounced back... Ever since, we decided to place our dogs lives, nutrition and well being in our hands.
Other than life or death situations. In our experience, home made food provides wholesome nutrition and most important: bioavailability.
Bioavailabity is a fancy word for how easy it is for the body to absorb nutrient and micronutrients; in other words, the less processed the food, the easier for the body to absorb, the more benefit are sowed.
Why Home Made Food?
The menu
protein
If we could compare stench to nutrition, sardines would win the price every year.
(Speaking of micronutrients) These stinky buggers are loaded with vitamins: riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D and one of the only protein sources of B12!
Minerals (calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus) and healthy oils, including, yes, the wonderful Omega 3 fat.
Sardines should have their own hero cape!
Besides sardines (which our dogs get every day), they also eat other sources of protein such as: hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese, ground beef and ground turkey, etc.
Fruits & Vegetables (carbs & fiber)
A great source of nutrients, micronutries, fiber and carbohydrates. Different fruits and vegetables provide high levels of digestible energy.
grains
Grains… the fancy word for Fiber!
Also, depending on what type of grain you provide, you get several vitamins and minerals added to the diet.
fat
Oils provide benefits such as: good cholesterol (heart healthy), and oils vital for providing healthy skin and shiny coats.
Different oils such as coconut or canola are used with variants on health benefits.
Here we are
It is no secret that the better we eat, the better we feel.
The same can be said about our dogs. Ours dogs cannot tell us “Hey, I feel much better” with this or that diet. But we can clearly see it on their coats, yearly blood tests and health screenings.
On the right you can see examples of meals we make for our dogs. These pictures were taken in our kitchen. These meals cooked with our hands, and fed to our dogs – the ones you happily see on the video below chomping on some home-made treats.