Making sure my puppy eats safely

I have tried to find ways that I can ensure that my puppy eats safely.

One way is to feed him what we eat. Yes, I know that we should not give him chocolate and some other things and we do check with the vet about the snacks that we let him have. This puppy has an amazingly varied taste preference. In fact we have only found a few things that he would not eat. It has been months since any of us were able to eat a whole banana. We have watched him linger over carrots and even a potato. He especially loves crabgrass and digs it up himself to eat it. But those are just treats -- even the crabgrass.

I grew up in the rural south. All my relatives with hunting dogs fed those dogs table scraps and occasionally dry or wet dog food if there was something the dog was being treated for. I don't know if I want to do that either. One big reason is that our eating habits are quite different than the eating habits of my relatives 40 and 50 years ago. I do not want to feed my dog pizza even if I really do like it.

The best thing seems to be to study that list from the FDA and make sure that you are picking only the NON-listed foods.

Recent dog food recalls

I have become quite concerned about the dog food (and cat food) recalls. At first I blew them off as media frenzy but after it kept growing, I became more concerned.

I have a Weimaraner puppy (1 year old in May). In the last few months, my wife, my son, and even the grumpy old man (yours truly) have all become quite attached to a very lovable, very affectionate, and very mischievous puppy. None of my family wants anything to happen to him except when we want to kill him! ;-)

I have looked over the lists on the FDA site at FDA pet food recall site. It truly looks as if just about every pet food company has been affected in some way. All the big names are there -- Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina, Iams and more. And many store brands are there -- ShopRite, WinnDixie, Weis, Food Lion and more.

After closer inspection, however, I found that only a few products for each of the brands and each of the stores was in the recall lists.

Other solutions for feeding my puppy.

I have found some interesting solutions to feeding my puppy safely.

One book with recipes for regular dog food called called Healthy Dog Food and it was written by Dr. Miller when he was looking for a solution to feel safe about what their dog eats. And for healthy dog treat recipes click here!

Both dogs and humans live longer and have higher quality of life if they eat right and in moderation. Using books like the ones here, we can impose (if that is the right word) that health on our dogs. Too bad we make unwise choices for our own diet -- but that is another story