What Are The Best Organic Dog Food Options?

You know the saying: we are what we eat. A balanced diet of healthy and chemical-free food can increase your quality of life. You’re pretty good at eating right and making healthy choices, but is everyone in your family the following suit? What about your dog?

Experts and pet-care professionals agree that a balanced diet is a key to your dog living a long and healthy life, while poor nutrition feeds directly into higher risks for chronic or auto-immune conditions and shorter lifespans. Thankfully, getting your dog the right nutrition is easy with organic food and homemade meals.

A Quick Look Into A Dog’s Diet

A dog is an omnivore, meaning they need more than strictly meat to have a balanced diet. While protein usually makes up a majority of what they eat, vegetables, fruits, and grains are essential to their mental health and development, bone structure, and health of their legs, hips, eyes, and ears.

A well-balanced meal for your dog should contain:

1. High-quality protein (meat, seafood, dairy or eggs)
2. Fat (meat or oil)
3. Carbohydrates (grains or vegetables)
4. Calcium (dairy)
5. Essential fatty acids (egg yolks or oatmeal)

A balanced diet is 50% cooked protein, 25% produce, and 25% cooked complex carbs. Organic dog food covers all of that in one serving.

What is Organic Dog Food?

Organic dog food means that your dog’s food was grown or raised without artificial or synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or chemicals. It is as natural as natural can get, so there are no unforeseen additives or harsh chemicals in the food bag. A fantastic rule of thumb for dog food is to check the ingredients. If you wouldn’t feed it to yourself or your family, why would you feed it to your dogs?

Organic food can also be dry kibble or wet food.

By law, organic dog food cannot include ingredients which contain any of the following:

• Toxic pesticides
• Artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
• Synthetic growth hormones
• Antibiotics
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
• Irradiation

If you notice any of these on your pet’s food labels, then it’s not organic (even if the bag claims it is).

What Organic Food Should I Feed My Dog?

Every dog is different. Their diet should center around their age, breed, and weight. Before switching your dog’s diet, whether strictly to organic or a mix of the two, always talk with your vet.

A vet can tell you exactly what types of ingredients to look out for and how much to feed your dog. Below, there’s a few of our favorite options for organic dog food:

Best Organic Kibble for Large Dogs

Best Organic Canned Dog Foods

Best Organic Choice for Small Breeds

Best Dehydrated Organic Dog Food

Best Organic Dog Treats That Are Organic And Natural

DIY Organic Food Recipes

Did you know you can try using your hand to make natural dog food yourself? There are plenty of recipes online to help you get started.

Organic food is not table scraps, though! Your pooch is part of your family, but just remember that they can’t eat the same things you can. If any of the homemade recipes look like ones you’ve made your family, take another look.

Most homemade dog food recipes do not include seasonings, salt, and avoid certain foods that are toxic to dogs. For example, a dog should never have avocados, onions, almonds, garlic, and more. And those are just ingredients that are commonly put on meats like chicken, turkey, and beef.

So if you do opt to make your dog meals yourself, do your research first! Learn what is safe for your pup to eat and what isn’t before cooking.

This recipe from Damn Delicious is easy to freeze and store for later, tastes great, and is well balanced to give your dog the nutrients it needs.

You’ll need:

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• 3 pounds organic ground turkey
• 3 cups organic baby spinach, chopped
• 2 organic carrots, shredded
• 1 organic zucchini, shredded
• 1/2 cup organic peas (canned or frozen)

Directions:

1. Add three entire cups of water and cook rice in a large saucepan
2. Shred zucchini and carrots
3. Add ground turkey to a large stockpot and cook until browned while making sure to crumble the turkey as it cooks
4. Stir in spinach, carrots, zucchini, peas and brown rice until the spinach has wilted and the mixture is heated through about 3-5 minutes
5. Let cool completely

This homemade recipe could improve your dog’s weight control, and their health of their legs. Additionally, it will start to rebuilt healthier joints, and it stimulates hair growth. You will also notice that the dog leash will start to loosen up within days.

DIY Organic Dog Treats Recipe

If you want to ease yourself and your pup into an organic diet, you can try making this easy and tasty treat for them! These peanut butter and applesauce cookies for dogs from Everyday Dog Mom are fun to make and can last a week in an air-tight container.

Please remember that treats, including biscuits and chews, should make up no more than 10% of your dog’s daily calorie intake.

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unsweetened organic applesauce
• 2 cups quick-cook oats
• 1 cup unsweetened organic peanut butter (smooth or chunky, your choice!)
• 1/4-1/2 cup of olive oil or coconut oil (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface. Try adding can add a 1/4-1/2 cup of olive oil or coconut oil if it is crumpy.
4. Roll them to about 1/4 inch thick and then cut into shapes with cookie cutters. You can use cookie cutters, or make small dough balls instead.
5. Place cookies on a baking sheet, approximately 1/2 inch apart.
6. Bake for 25 minutes in the oven or until lightly browned.
7. Let cool and then serve.

Why Organic Dog Food is Better?

Organic food is better for your dog for a few reasons, but the main one is that you can actually control what your dog is eating. It is filled with healthy and safe ingredients from farms that don’t use harsh chemicals. They also only have the best cuts of meat. You won’t find byproducts, such as hooves, beaks, or feet, in true organic dog food.

This is great for dogs with fussy stomachs, are prone to indigestion, are allergic to many types of kibble, or have irritable bowels. Organic food, because it is more natural, is far easier for them to digest.

Organic food is also versatile — you can buy it in stores or make it yourself! You can gain control over your dog’s diet and lets you know exactly what you’re feeding them. That means you can cut out those preservatives, cut out allergens, and ensure your dog lives a healthy and long life.

How to Transition to Organic Food

If you are switching your pooch to organic foods, you’re going to want to do it gradually. Dogs are creatures of habit and don’t often like sudden changes to their food. Switching food suddenly can also upset their stomach and lead to your dog throwing up or having diarrhea.

Gradually mix the new food with your dog’s old food over the next 7-10 days. If you opt to go the homemade dog food route, feed them small amounts with their regular kibble and slowly increase the amount of the organic food overtime.

If you do switch to homemade food, we recommend trying out a variety of recipes (instead of sticking to one) to help keep their teeth healthy and strong. Remember, if you only feed your dog soft foods, it can weaken their teeth over time.

A fantastic way to keep their oral health strong is to switch their old treats for organic options or give them bones to chew. Stay away from dry food that has organ meats as a source of protein. You can verify this on the food labels.

Last Updated on 14/02/2024 by Karen Snow