Cooking for Lillie

I know Glenda has shared some of her 'recipes' -- or I would suggest that you READ tons, and maybe hang somewhere like http://www.monicasegal.com or her yahoo group ... generally you combine veggies and meat.  I do about a 35% meat with the rest veggie recipe for mine.  Different meats and different veggies every week.  In variety you will find balance -- about the only no-no is onions.  I don't use corn either -- almost no nutritional value and it can be an allergen.  I don't use grains much unless a health problem calls for it. (I'm going to have to go back to grains for a while for Billy to keep it bland enough since he's battling pancreatitis).

I've read that mushrooms are also bad for dogs. And grapes are highly toxic as well. (It would be weird to put grapes in your recipe, but just in case!) 

Mushrooms are ok - depending upon the variety.   White mushrooms are generally lacking in nutrients, so their not a good choice.  Wild mushrooms are also a danger unless you know what you're doing.   The homecooked recipe that my vet gives out includes Maitake, Shiitake or Reishi mushrooms.   I can find Shiitake in the store all the time, the others only occassionally.

According to Monica Segal the general guideline is that 25 - 33% of a kibble fed dogs diet can be homecooked without throwing off the mineral balances in the kibble.    I wouldn't rely on chicken as the only source of meat unless you do a ton of reading about nutrient requirements, etc first as suggested by Callie.   If you go above that 25% mark you're probably going to need to add in organ meats as a source of minerals (chicken is really lacking in zinc, as an example).

Monica's yahoo group is very friendly - its called K9Kitchen.   You might want to join that if you want to start cooking for your dog.  Her books are also excellent.   She also has a few very reasonably priced pamplets (I think they're about $4 each) that includes balanced recipes - but I've gotta warn you, its not as easy as you might think as you move more towards homecooking (ie: more than 25% of the diet).

I honestly wasn't even talking about fruits.  that's a whole different subject (rare when one is not 'good' but there are PARTS that aren't good - like seeds, and certain ones, like prunes, can have a serious .. er ... side-effect, but quite medicinal taken minmally.

Mushroons are ok ... but they ARE fungus (which is why some question them). 

You probably won't ever find maitake mushroom in a regular store.  The mushroom itself is as big as a basketball - yep, seriously.  It's usually taken ground as a supplement but man, it's good good stuff.

calliecritturs

You probably won't ever find maitake mushroom in a regular store.  The mushroom itself is as big as a basketball - yep, seriously. 

LOL - I had no idea !   I put a few Shiitake in Prancer's veggie mush.   I figure she gets about 1 mushroom a week.