That's Fit

When I was young, we had a German Short-haired Pointer and it was my job to feed him one night. I came back in the house and made a slightly strange comment about the dog's food smelling kind of good. My brother -- prankster that he is -- dared me to eat some of it. I flat out refused. But he had the dog-food-eating bug by then so he grabbed a handful for himself. The thought of that still grosses me out. For good reason.

A recent outbreak of salmonella has been traced to the handling of dry dog food. This is the first time a link between dog food and human disease has been discovered. Approximately 70 people contracted salmonella from dry dog food produced by Mars Petcare's Pennsylvania plant. No dogs were reported to have contracted the illness. Many of the people who contracted salmonella from dog food were three years old or younger.

I'm all about helping my family follow a healthy diet, and by family, I mean everyone, including my dogs. I make an effort to buy a high quality dog food, do the vet visits as needed, and keep them free from fleas and heartworms. I like to treat them as well, and I often bring home treats from the neighborhood doggy bakery, and have been known to bake up some doggy biscuits for special occasions.

However, when it comes to my dogs' daily meals, I think I have to draw the line at preparing it myself. I came across a section in All Recipes where they list a number of different recipes for homemade pet food, such as Doggy Meatloaf with Vegetables and Poochie Meat Cakes (both of which take longer to prepare and bake than many of the things I make for the humans in my family).

What do you think? Does homemade dog food cross the line, or is it a great option for pet owners who wish to have more input in their dogs nutrition?

(If you do opt to make a change in your pet's diet, please discuss it with your vet to ensure your furry friend will receive the proper nutrition!)

Do you feed that pit bull raw meat all the time? Items like raw ground beef are not only not healthy at all for your pet, but can put the safety of an entire household in danger, according to a new study.

It's common sense, really. Would humans eat raw meat? Of course not, due to harmful bacteria and other reasons, we always need to thoroughly cook our meats before consumption.

Since most pets are domesticated, the notion that "raw meat is what their pet would have eaten in the wild" is not valid according to researchers, who then added that pet owners may be putting their pets' health in danger.