Easily Boost Your Pet’s Bowl

If you’ve ever walked into House of Paws, you’ve probably heard me say something like:

“Variety is the spice of life! Build a buffet in their bowl and provide a diverse diet. Our pets should eat less processed food and more fresh whole food!”

Most pet parents want to feed the best they can, but between busy schedules, overwhelming info online, and budgets, it can feel impossible to overhaul everything overnight.

Here’s the good news:

You don’t have to!

Boosting your furry family's bowl is one of the easiest, most impactful ways to support your pet’s long-term health without stress, overwhelm, or huge expense.

Small, fresh additions, even a few times a week can have big impacts!

• Improve digestion and nutrient absorption

• Support a stronger immune system

• Promote healthy skin and coat

• Reduce inflammation and joint issues

• Boost energy, vitality, and overall resilience

Think of it like adding a multivitamin, a probiotic, and a skin serum...but through real, whole food.

I want to share 5 of our favourite bowl boosters that we recommend every day to pet parents just like you:

🥛 Raw Goat Milk: The Easy Gut Fix

Raw goat milk is what I call a “gateway booster.” It’s easy to add, delicious for the furry guys, and incredibly powerful. Packed with naturally occurring probiotics, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and hydration, raw goat milk supports:

• Healthy digestion (great for sensitive tummies, combatting Gerd (acid reflux) or transitioning to a new food)

• Healthy blood sugars and is great for furry guys with diabetes
  
• A clear respiratory system by reducing inflammation which can help a furry guy who has asthma

• A robust immune system

• Better nutrient absorption from their regular food

It’s especially helpful for pets recovering from antibiotics, struggling with allergies, fighting a yeast infection or who need extra hydration (especially kibble-fed pets who live in a chronic state of mild dehydration).

If your furry guy has to do a round of antibiotics, we always recommend including a probiotic while taking antibiotics. We recommend serving probiotics two hours before or two hours after antibiotics, then keeping probiotics as part of the diet once the antibiotics are finished for at least two weeks. Goat milk is a great way to do this!

👉 Pro Tip: Start with a small splash over meals or a drink a few times a week and work up to a full serving of 1-2 ounces per 20lbs of body weight. It’s gentle, but powerful.

🐟 Sardines: The Small Fish with Big Benefits

They might be a little stinky and look a little, well…fishy, but sardines are one of the best whole food additions you can make to your pet’s bowl.

These tiny fish are packed with high-quality protein, rich in essential amino acids that your pet can’t produce on their own and must get from food. But the benefits go way beyond just protein:

🦴 Joint and Bone Support: Sardines are loaded with vitamin D, which helps strengthen bones and improve calcium absorption, crucial for growing puppies, seniors, and active pets alike.

💙 Heart Health: They’re an excellent source of vitamin B12, known for supporting cardiovascular function and maintaining healthy red blood cells.

💪 Cancer-Fighting Power: The omega-3 fatty acids in sardines have been shown in studies to inhibit tumor growth and reduce the risk of cancer spreading (metastasis).

🧠 Brain Boosting: Those same omega-3s help sharpen learning, memory, and motor skills, keeping your floof’s mind sharp well into their senior years.

🦠 Allergy Soothing: Sardines have powerful anti-inflammatory properties, helping to reduce redness, itchy skin, and allergic flare-ups.

🎛 Weight Management: Omega-3s in sardines can help regulate metabolism and encourage the body to activate fat-burning genes, a secret weapon for pups who need to shed a little extra fluff.

🐟 Seizure Support: Research shows that the anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3s can help raise seizure thresholds and may reduce the severity and frequency of seizures in epileptic pets.

🧩 Kidney Health: Omega-3 fatty acids also help protect kidney function and may slow the progression of kidney disease.

😀 Mood and Mental Health: Sardines are rich in EPA and DHA, which have been linked to improved mood and decreased symptoms of depression, and yes, pets can experience mood shifts too!

👉 Pro Tip:
When adding sardines, choose those packed in water with no added salt, avoid sardines packed in soy, sunflower, or any other oils. Fresh or frozen sardines work best and ensure the sardine is as minimally processed as possible!

✅ If you choose canned sardines, use them within 2 days and refrigerate leftovers, sardines are delicate, and you don’t want their healthy fats to spoil.

✅ Be mindful of serving sizes to prevent overloading on calories or fats. Sardines are powerful, but more isn’t always better.

If you want more information as well as serving portions from a can, check out our blog, we've got lots of information on sardines!

🦴 Bone Broth: Collagen, Hydration, and Joint Love

Bone broth is liquid gold for pets, especially seniors or pets prone to joint issues. You've likely heard me say that I'm like the Frank's Red Hot commercial and I say "put that *beep* on everything!" Bone broth is a major superfood, because:

• It's loaded with collagen and gelatin (for joint and gut health)

• Packed with glucosamine and chondroitin (natural cartilage supporters)

• Full of minerals like magnesium and phosphorus (for muscle and bone strength)

• It supports skin and coat health, heart and nervous system health as well as digestive health
• It helps us detox, specifically the liver which is beneficial for all furry guys but especially the furry guys prone to tear stains. Dark tear stains with no scent are typically an indication of liver toxins, adding bone broth to your furry guy's diet will provide tons of benefits, with one being detoxing the liver and reducing or eliminating tear stains.

Bone broth is soothing, easy to digest, and helps replenish essential nutrients lost in modern processed diets. It can act like our furry guy's chicken soup when they're under the weather, but it's also a huge bowl booster when used every day! We cannot overdose the furry guys on bone broth and it offers huge health benefits to any diet we feed!

👉 Pro Tip: Add a splash to every meal or freeze it into ice cube trays for easy serving.

💙 Blueberries: Antioxidant Power

Fresh blueberries are packed with antioxidants that protect against oxidative stress and inflammation, the root cause of so many chronic health problems in pets (and people!).

Benefits include:

• Boosting cognitive function (great for senior pets)

• Supporting heart health

• Reducing inflammation

• Fighting free radicals that cause cellular damage

👉 Pro Tip: A small serving of fresh or frozen blueberries a few times a week is enough. For small furry guys, 1-3 berries on their meal or served as a treat, for medium guys 3-10 and the big furry guys can enjoy a small handful. If your furry guy is all about texture and fresh blueberries are hit and miss, freeze dried blueberries might be the answer to getting all of the beautiful benefits blueberries offer! Bonus, they’re the perfect low-calorie training treat too!

🎃 Pumpkin (and Sweet Potato): The Gut Health Heroes

If there’s one pantry staple that almost every pet parent has heard about, it’s pumpkin and for good reason. But let’s not stop there. Sweet potato deserves a spotlight too, it’s another powerful, gut-friendly food that brings some serious nutritional backup to the bowl.

Here’s why both are a win:

🎃 Pumpkin:

Plain, unsweetened pumpkin is one of the easiest ways to boost fiber in your pet’s diet — and it’s beneficial whether they’re dealing with constipation or diarrhea (yep, it helps both ways!).

• Rich in Soluble and Insoluble Fibre: Helps regulate digestion, firm up stools, and support a healthy gut microbiome by feeding the good bacteria.

• Beta-Carotene Superstar: Loaded with beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, essential for immune function, vision, and skin health.

• Hydration Helper: Pumpkin is nearly 90% water, offering an easy way to sneak extra hydration into dry kibble meals or support pets prone to urinary issues.

👉 Pro Tip: Stick to plain canned pumpkin (no pie filling or added spices) or cooked fresh pumpkin. A tablespoon a day is perfect for most medium-sized dogs; less for small breeds or cats.

🍠 Sweet Potato:
Think of sweet potato as pumpkin’s slightly sweeter, equally beneficial cousin. It’s a great source of dietary fibre, but also delivers a ton of other health perks:

• Rich in Antioxidants: Especially beta-carotene and vitamin C, which help reduce oxidative stress and boost immune defence.

• Blood Sugar Friendly: Sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic load compared to white potatoes, meaning they release sugars more slowly and help avoid spikes in blood sugar, great for pets who need steady energy or weight management.

• Digestive Comfort: Easy to digest, gentle on the stomach, and can help soothe minor digestive upset.

• Skin and Coat Benefits: The vitamin A and C content supports skin repair and promotes a healthy, shiny coat, always a bonus.

👉 Pro Tip: Steam or bake sweet potatoes with no added salt, oils, or seasoning. You can mash them into meals or cube them for easy, bite-sized toppers.

✨ Why Fibre Matters
Both pumpkin and sweet potato provide prebiotic fiber, food for the good gut bacteria (probiotics) already in your pet’s digestive system. A healthy gut isn’t just about less gas or better poop (although, yes please) it’s the foundation of strong immunity, allergy resistance, and even mental health.

Adding a spoonful of one or both a few times a week can:

• Regulate digestion

• Improve stool consistency

• Support gut flora

• Deliver key vitamins and minerals that processed diets often lack

And bonus: Most pets love the taste, even picky eaters usually dive right in.

For most dogs: 1–2 tablespoons per meal for pumpkin; 1–2 cubes of sweet potato for small dogs or 3–5 for larger dogs. For cats, 1 teaspoon is usually perfect.

👉 Pro Tip: Choose plain, canned pumpkin or sweet potato with no added sugars or spices. As with all new additions to the diet, start slow and work towards the recommended serving size.

👉 Bonus Pro Tip: If you've got a little furry guy like Zaner, I typically divide a can of pumpkin or sweet potato into three separate containers. I freeze two and use one over the course of a week. Then when pumpkin is back in our rotation, I grab another container from the freezer! 

✨ Why Fresh Food Matters

Here’s the thing, most commercial dry pet foods are designed to meet basic nutritional needs, but they don’t necessarily optimize health.

Adding real, fresh foods fills in the gaps. It nourishes their bodies in ways dry kibble or even some canned foods simply can’t match. It’s the difference between surviving and thriving.

And no, you don’t have to be perfect. Even adding one fresh food a few times a week is better than none.

It’s about taking that first small step. Then another. Your pet’s future self will thank you.

🚫 Bonus: 5 Foods We Never Feed Our Pets (and Why)

While adding fresh foods can be amazing for your pet’s health, it’s just as important to know what not to add to the bowl.
Here are five foods that are toxic to pets and why they’re off-limits:

⚠️ Extra Bonus: More No-Go Foods You Should Know About

🍗 Cooked Bones
While raw meaty bones are safe and beneficial under the right conditions, cooked bones become brittle and can splinter, leading to dangerous blockages or tears in the digestive tract. Always stick to raw, properly sized bones for safe chewing.

☕️ Coffee (and Caffeine in General)
Caffeine is toxic to pets. It stimulates the heart and nervous system and can lead to restlessness, rapid breathing, heart palpitations, muscle tremors, and serious cardiac issues. No sneaking sips of your latte!

🍸 Alcohol
Even small amounts of alcohol can be very dangerous. It depresses the central nervous system, leading to vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, tremors, and even coma. No beer at the BBQ for the furry guys, keep the wobbly pops well out of paw’s reach.

🐾 Your Takeaway

Fresh food boosts can do wonders for your pet’s health, but only when we choose the right ones. When in doubt, stick to whole, natural foods you know are safe, or pop by and ask us anytime. We’re always happy to help you build a bowl that’s fresher, safer, and more nutritious, without the guesswork.

Every pet is different. Some need gut support, some need joint support, some just need a little more fun at mealtime. If you’re not sure where to start, or want to match boosters to your floof’s unique needs, we’re here for you.

Pop by the store and let’s build a better bowl together, one fresh bite at a time.