This article will give you the best ideas and ways to make nutritious and delicious food for your dogs if you run out of pet food for them in an emergency.
When calamity hits, the first concern is usually to look after your family, both two-legged and four-legged. While many people stockpile food, save money, and have first aid and emergency supplies in stock, few people take for granted stocking some pet supplies.
Food is only one component of a pet’s emergency pack, but it is crucial. Prepare and pick emergency food rations for your dogs with care to ensure their safety, usefulness, and nutritional value when you need them most.
Let’s dig in to find out how to save your dog’s tummy from starving.
Before diving too deep, it would be best to know what to ensure are in check to prevent harmful foods from getting into your dog’s stomach.
First and foremost, make sure that you avoid serving salty, spicy, sweet, or greasy meals.
Because a dog’s palette isn’t very sophisticated, the meal you cook doesn’t have to be a gourmet pleasure. Anything other than basic meals might trigger digestive problems such as vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.
Next, check if there are toxic and processed food contents. For example, grapes, raisins, onions, and garlic, among other human foods, are harmful to dogs. Because of their high salt and fat levels, processed meals like bacon and deli meats are off-limits.
Thirdly, if you like to feed them meat, you need to ensure to cook skinless and boneless ones that should be at least 80% lean. White flesh chicken is excellent, but ground turkey or beef would suffice. It is best to boil the meat rather than cook or grill it.
Additionally, take into account your dog’s allergies and health issues. Meat-based proteins, such as chicken and beef, are frequently the source of food allergies in dogs.
Moreover, keep in mind that it is required to provide a low-fat diet for chronic health issues like renal or liver disease. Consider a meal that won’t exacerbate a food allergy or worsen a chronic condition when planning what to feed your dog.
Lastly, if you and your pet are trying to get through a meal for the day, you can resort to feeding them human food. Because they are not as nutritionally balanced as commercial dog foods, “in a pinch” human meals for dogs are not long-term solutions.
The maximum amount of time you should serve these meals to your dog is one week, which will also be enough time to go out and buy new dog food.
Resourceful Emergency Dog Food Finding
As much as possible, try to make a meal that has a decent mix of lean protein and complex carbs.
If you’re fortunate enough to have access to a refrigerator, a stove, and a pantry, you’ll have various goods in your pantry and refrigerator to get creative.
Starting with your pantry, you can look for xylitol-free peanut butter (on Amazon) and plain, complex grains, like brown rice. You can also try and find couscous and farina. Low-sodium broth from vegetables, chicken, and beef (on Amazon) for extra flavor is something you can use.
Plain, unprocessed oatmeal packets are processed and sugary, so this might not be the best choice to let your dogs consume long-term. But once or twice shouldn’t do any harm.
You can also mix in some canned vegetables, such as corn, peas, and carrots but ensure to rinse them well and drain them to remove sodium. The same goes with canned chicken in water.
From your fridge, having and serving them plain and low-fat Greek yogurt, mild American cheese, and cooked white or sweet potatoes are good options.
Also, scrambled eggs and other cooked eggs, skin, and bones removed from rotisserie chicken will be a good nutrition source for your pets. You can also look for and add in lean and cooked beef or turkey.
Fresh vegetables, such as carrots, maize, and broccoli, cooked or raw blueberries, strawberries, sliced bananas, and pears are examples of fruits you also feed them.
Dogs are not fussy eaters, so keep that in mind. Just ensure that the meal has a decent protein and carbohydrate nutritional balance.
Plain chicken served over plain brown rice in a 50:50 mixture, for example, is a quick and easy supper. To make the food tastier for your dog, add a little quantity of low-sodium broth.
2-3 scrambled eggs over veggies and a cooked grain are another simple dish, particularly in the morning. Also, as mentioned earlier, you can add in fruits to provide a tasty treat for your dog. You can try to cook some ground beef with either cooked or raw veggies and simple brown rice.
Top 3 Best Emergency Dog Food
If you are not much of a chef and won’t dare to become one, even if it’ll save your dog from starving, you don’t have to worry because we’ve got you.
Here is the best alternative emergency pet food that you can purchase in nearby pet stores or grocery shops.
1. Mayday Emergency Pet Food
Mayday Industries makes comprehensive and balanced dog food. And they prepare them specifically for emergency usage, which come in vacuum-seal packaging and have a five-year shelf life.
Yellow maize, meat and bone meal, chicken by-products, brewers rice, and soybean meal are among the ingredients. Each sealed bag includes enough food to last one day for an average-sized dog.
These food packs are not only great for 72-hour packages, bug-out bags, or emergency kits, but they’re also great for long-term storage. Mayday emergency dog food is available in large quantities.
2. ER Emergency Pet Rations
Aside from Mayday Industries, ER Pet Food is also a well-known food brand for dogs and cats regardless of age. It conforms to AAFCO nutritional profiles, and one 8-ounce bag delivers three days’ worth of vitamins and minerals for average-sized dogs.
To keep your dogs at a healthy weight, you may need to give them more calories or serve them more often. ER emergency pet meals are hermetically packed and have a five-year shelf life.
Furthermore, the packaging complies with military requirements for a waterproof, vapor-proof, and heat-stable material. Corn, wheat, poultry meal, meat by-products, and animal fat are among the main components, according to QuakeKare customer service.
3. Dehydrated and Freeze-Dried Foods
Besides looking at Mayday Industries or ER Pet Food, you may also want to check Sojos, Honest Kitchen, and NRG. These companies make the best examples of dehydrated and freeze-dried foods ideal for emergency food kits.
Many of these meals are not only made with natural components, but they are also heavy in calories. Some of the NRG recipes include as many as 600 calories per cup.
That’s a whole day’s worth of food for some dogs. Manufacturers pack these many dehydrated and freeze-dried foods in shelf-stable packaging, and you can store them without refrigeration.
However, if you must open a container, it’s better to reseal the contents for storage or inclusion in an emergency kit.
Also, consider vacuum-packing daily dry portions and preparing and canning the food for long-term preservation. You can also bake it into “K9 meal bars” and vacuum-sealing the bars for dogs.
Last Words
Consider putting roughly a week’s worth of your dog’s usual food in a plastic baggie to avoid having a food emergency.
It’s time to replace your dog food supply when the big bag of dog food is empty, and you’re going for the baggie.
If you can, try and choose the auto-delivery option when ordering dog food online. In this way, you always have some extra dog food on hand.
It’s normal if you run out of dog food now and again since life gets hectic. Your dog will undoubtedly enjoy a plate or two of a meal like yours. Remember to eat nutritious “in a pinch” meals and get your dog some regular dog food as soon as possible.
You can look at these articles, which you will find as exciting and informative as this one:
- Perfect DIY Dog First Aid Kit – 2022
- Best Emergency Food For Car: Top 15 Emergency Foods For 2022
- The Best 2 Week Food Supply List Preparation Guide 2022
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I don’t feed my dogs anything unless I know exactly what is in it. Where are the ingredients listed? Dogs don’t eat corn… PERIOD… dogs do NOT eat corn.
I thought this blog was going to be an emergency dog food review. I was so glad it also included ways to improvise and prepare survival dog food from whatever you could possibly find from your food stock.