Homemade Dog Food

. I cook by proportion and I never ever do the same thing twice. I'm serious. In variety lies safety. It's variety that keeps the diet balanced.

Typically it amounts to about 40% meat/fish, 45-50% veggie matter, 10-15% water -- "fat" is part of my meat and I tend to stick with 10 or 15% ground beef. If I need to go below 10% I add beef heart (it's as close to zero fat as you can get).

I don't add fish oil because I use sardines (usually the big oval cans of sardines in tomato sauce), sometimes jack mackerel, and occasionally I will use whitefish as my "meat" if I can get it cheap.

You can make yourself nuts with amounts and "what ifs". That's dumb. Whether veggies are above ground, below ground, leafy, have seeds, have no seeds, what color they are ... ALL those things determine what sort of nutrition is in it.

Some of this is just plain experience -- no one starts out knowing it all. But -- keep this in mind. You have managed to feed yourself for most of your adult life, right?? And you probably feed your family?? Do you agonize over amounts with a calculator? Probably not. So don't get caught up in "oh dear what if it's not balanced?" -- it won't be at first. But you'll even it out.

The big big BIG thing is variety. I grew up in a home where Sunday was chicken, mashed potato and corn; Monday was smoked pork chops, mashed potato and peas, Tuesday was steak, baked potato and corn, Wednesday was meatloaf, (do you have the rhythm yet??) mashed potato and , peas. Sometimes Mom would get really daring and make carrot sticks or a "chef salad" (lettuce, tomato, and ... dressing.) So .. veggies are ... potato, corn, and peas. and .... corn ... and ... potato and ... .oh yeah .. PEAS.

No -- there are WAY more veggies than that. I didn't even know what kale was until I fed it to my dogs. What I said above -- how a veg is grown, above ground, below, fruit of the vine, etc. -- that helps determine what vitamin/minerals are in it. It's color ... how fibrous it is. That's all part of variety. If I find something uber cheap I'll try to freeze some. (Halloween is WONDERFUL -- get all the jack-o-lantern pumpkins that didn't get sold and offer the store $2 for all you can carry away and often they'll let you because otherwise they throw it away.

There are things in butternut squash and carrots that aren't in other vegetables. But both of them have sucky cal/phos ratios. So ... I only use those when I use kale (because it's got such a GOOD ratio). I usually try to use 6-7 veggies at least in every batch of food. Like last time ... let's see ... I used sweet potato, tomato, pumpkin, cabbage [angel hair shredded cabbage for coleslaw mix] acorn squash, okra, turnip greens.

If they have "brocccoslaw" on sale -- RAH -- that's broccoli, carrot, cabbage all shredded for me. SCORE.

I often stop at bodegas (spanish markets) because the prices are good. So if I get too much "green" this week, I'll make it up next week. It averages out well.

My water tends to be more alkaline (something the add to it -- water should be "neutral";) so I often have to add more acid than a lot of dogs so the tomato tends to be a staple with me (a big can of diced tomato - the Hunts one that has the oregano, garlic and basil in it). Canned pumpkin goes in every batch (great fiber). Sweet potato is a good "base" food -- it's big on bulk and helps them feel full.

I use some white potato but it's pretty carby -- so I often use it when I wind up with too much "water" in the food and the potato will thicken it.

I don't peel anything at all (unless I fix rutabaga/turnip -- that is waxed so you gotta peel it ugh). Like the sweets -- I wash, chop them up in hunks but I don't peel at all. Again -- it's good roughage for them, and most of the vitamins are under the skin in ANY veg.

I don't use a food processor -- I have to "sit" in the kitchen and frankly I'm just not tall enough to get stuff in a food processor. Most "normal" people use one -- *smile* have at it. I just can't manage it physically & reach high enough to 'Push' food thru it.

So I attack everything with a potato masher AFTER it's cooked.

When you fix something fibrous like celery you chop it finer. But I use every different veg I can lay my hands on -- stuff like bok choy, yucca root -- these are great for certain things (particularly arthritis). So you can do a lot of tailoring to your specific needs.

Everything is fair game - from parsnips to radish to lettuce and spinach. But part of the beauty is that you can tailor it to what yours need. For years when I had "senior" dogs I never used spinach because it increases arthritis ... now I can use it.

The other night I had Caesar salad left over -- I chopped it up more finely and added it to their food. Romaine is a superb iron source ... and Caesar dressing has anchovie in it (fish oil) and parmasean is just more animal protein/fat.

I waste NOTHING. I dont' cook with foods with preservatives (my own health issues prevent) -- but good food is good food. Old french fries are NOT good food -- they are trash. But ... leftover mashed potato? That's just good food. So I'll add it in -- particularly if I have to make up a night or if I have a ton of leftovers from something in pariticular.

I work -- I'm gone almost 10 hours a day. So I do convenience where I can -- like the cello bags of fresh produce, orfrozen "french cut" green beans and turnip greens (they're cut up and READY)

It's easier than cooking for a human (who would have a conniption if you served sweet potato boiled with the peel on!!).

I use a tabletop roaster (not a big turkey roaster but the smaller one). I cram it full of the harder veg and water to the brim -- that's what I cook first. (things like cabbage/kale that take longer to cook) and then add the rest of it in order of how long it takes to cook it.

Usually then I lift it out with a strainer and plop it all in a big plastic container (like a storage container?) that I use just for this. Meat gets cooked last (it requires a bit more watching). Honestly I eyeball it -- I might add more water if I need to. (that's experiential -- depends on how 'fast' it cooks and the heat) I add the meat pretty well last (ground beef, turkey, or whitefish -- sometimes organ meat). I rarely use chicken -- in TCVM it is considered an inflammatory meat -- if I use ANY chicken I use dark meat chicken -- it's got more minerals and vitamins.

You can, if you want, use big cheap cuts of meat (and pork is fine) -- you can roast it slowly, tear it apart with forks, and drain off excess fat. Whatever works for you. p>

Some folks use more legumes than I do -- they're protein and I don't use peas, lentils, etc. It's not wrong to - it's just not something I do.

I use Animal Essentials Sea Calcium (I give raw marrow bones (that I have frozen) once a week but I don't do much 'raw because I'm in Florida and the bacteria scares me). You can also use food-grade Bone meal or calcium citrate for calcium. But honestly? bone meal is a pain to figure and keep balanced. The Sea Calcium is 1 teas. per pound of raw meat. That is just stirred in

I do this all in shifts while I'm doing laundry or something -- depending on what veg I'm using *this* week it takes between 2 hours and 6 hours. If I know time is gonna be precious then it's a lot of frozen stuff, and NOT kale.

It's not uncommon for me to put the really long-cooking "tough" veggies (like kale) on ultra "low" and let it cook all night. I don't stand in the kitchen every moment to do this.

I'm cooking for about 80 pounds of 'dog' (30 + 30 + 20) and I use about 6 or so pounds of meat to do that. Usually I can put a bit in the freezer because that plus all those veggies makes enough food for about 8 days. Depending on how many containers it all made this week I might just freeze one container or two then defrost before I need it -- or keep it for a time when I run out of food.

Other than that I don't supplement a lot. But I do give them as wide a variety as I can possibly give them. No one would think dogs would like okra but they do. I don't think *I* have ever willingly eaten mustard greens in my life but dogs will eat them willingly if they're cooked with everything else.

Part of what keeps this all acceptable to dogs is mashing everything all together. You do not put separate portions of meat, broccoli, squash, and potato in their bowl. It's all just a mixed up mass -- you couldn't pull out a piece of tomato if you wanted to.

Carrots that you might labor over for your family -- shoot -- you cut the tops off them, wash them and toss them in the cooker whole. They mash easy. You wash potato and maybe cut in half because they mash easily. It's only sweets I 'cut up' because the skin is tougher.

Even acorn squash - I cut in half and remove the seeds, then I cut in pieces and cook WITH the skin. I will use a chopper to break up the skin if any bigger 'identifiable' pieces remain after cooking. Or .. you can food process.

The no nos are few -- no onion, no avocado (pits -- altho avocado is very fatty), no eggplant (too difficult to cook eggplant for them -- too much the nightshade veggie. tomato is fine as long as you don't give them the green parts of the vine)

  I belong to a yahoo group called K9 Kitchen; members cook balanced meals for their dogs. It is a great place to get started cooking for your dog;

   K9Kitchen : dog diets raw cooked allergies disease

  The moderator of the group formulated Jessie's diet. She has the education necessary to formulate balanced diets for dogs (this is very important). Here is her site;

  Individualized Nutrition For Your Dogs

  If you don't want to pay for a consultation, there are many books and booklets available on the site that have balanced recipes.  I have many of her booklets and some of her books. The forward to her book "Optimal Nutrition" was written by Dr. Ana Hill, a professor of small animal nutrition at Ohio State. The book is also on the suggested reading list for veterinary students at the college. It is very important to feed your dog a diet that includes all the vitamins and minerals he or she needs. Many homemade diets do not have enough potassium. Did you know that feeding more than a small amount of beef liver daily can result in vitamin A toxicity? Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A but dogs do not absorb vitamin A well from vegetables.  You have to add calcium and phosphorus to the diet in the right amounts. Monica's books or booklets can help you do that yourself, or you can have her do it.

Mydogs

What is a good source for the needed ingredients to make cooked homemade dog food? 

 

 

Get The Whole Pet Diet by Andi  Brown!  You can find it on Amazon.com  She explains each ingredient - proteins, herbs and spices, vegetables -  and why it is important - heart, liver, skin etc.  The book includes recipes to get you started.  The only comment by the  Whole Dog Journal:  she doesn't spend enough time explaining the importance of calcium.  They liked the recipes, those include the needed calcium, it's just the explanation was not detailed enough for them.

 I use it as a reference regularly, have done since I bought it 4 years back.  And the recipes, I have 3 I make regularly.  But once you get the info on the ingredients you can expand on your own as well.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the information.  It sounds like alot of work, whew!  It sounds like an all day job, and weekends are only two days long!

Right now the only thing Abby will eat is Kibbles and Bits Bistro, I know it goes against all my dog food rules, but at least she isn't puking for being over hungry - she can hold out a long time before eating.

I will look on line if there are any free recipes to try, just to get a feel for it.  Even If I just made small batches for her, it would be a start.. 

 

I found The Whole Pet Diet at my local library.  When I found how much I liked it, then I bought it.

 The Spot's Stew is fantastic, takes about an hour and then I freeze it in smaller portions.  Considering I am making it for 13 pets (9 cats and 4 dogs), it lasts me about a week.  

 

 Recipe for SPOT'S CHICKEN STEW by Andi Brown, author of The Whole Pet Diet
(reproduced hereunder for information purposes only... no copyright violation is intended)


Ingredients:-

    * 2½ pounds whole chicken or turkey bones, organs, skin, and all)
    * 1 cup grean peas
    * 1 cup coarsely chopped carrots
    * ½ cup coarsely chopped sweet potato
    * ½ cup coarsely chopped zucchini
    * ½ cup coarsely chopped yellow squash
    * ½ cup coarsely chopped green beans
    * ½ cup coarsely chopped celery
    * ¼ cup chopped fresh garlic
    * 1 tablespoon kelp powder
    * 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
    * 11 to 16 cups springwater

(yields 20 cups / see "serving size" below)


arrow For dogs, add 8 ounces whole barley and 6 ounces rolled oats, and adjust the water content to a total of 16 cups or enough to cover the ingredients.  I don't recommend the grains portions for cats.



Cooking:-

    * Combine all of the ingredients in a 10-quart stockpot (stainless steel, please) with enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat as low as possible and simmer for 2 hours (the carrots should be quite soft at the end of the cooking time).
    * Remove from the heat, let cool, and debone the chicken.  With an electric hand mixer, or using a food processor and working in batches, blend all the ingredients into a nice puree; the stew should be slightly thicker for dogs and more soupy for cats.
    * Using ziplock bags or plastic yogurt containers, make up meal-sized portions.  Refrigerate what you'll need for 3 days and freeze the rest.  Be sure and seek your pet's advice on ideal meal sizes.




Serving Size:-

    * Amounts will vary depending on age, activity level, current health, weight, and season, but here are some guidelines.
    * The average adult cat will eat roughly 1 cup a day.  Because dogs vary so much in size, consult the table below.  The amount shown should be split into at least 2 meals daily.


DOG'S WEIGHT        TOTAL DAILY PORTION
up to 10 pounds   1 to 1½ cups
11 to 20 pounds   2 to 3 cups
21 to 40 pounds   4 cups

arrow Remember, all pets are individuals, so let your intuition and observations guide you.

Thank you so much, this gives me an idea, and it does sound doable.  Thanks

Mydogs

  It sounds like alot of work, whew!  It sounds like an all day job, and weekends are only two days long!

 

My recipes are more proportions ... and I do VERY LITTLE prep work.

Sweet potato -- I cut off the ends and with a mallet and butcher knife I cut them into maybe 6-8 hunks.  You don't peell ANYTHING

I use frozen veggies, and I use veggies that are packaged (like I use "brocco-slaw" which is broccoli stems, cabbage & carrots already shredded) or kale that has been somewhat chopped up.

 Again hard squash -- I split it, take out the seeds and chop it but DON'T peel.  

I cook it in a table-top roaster in water.  When a veg is tender I haul it out with a sieve shaped like a scoop and set it aside.  If it's something like kale, I might put the cooked kale in a flat-bottomed pyrex disk and use a hand chopper on it.

I'm height-impaired and I have to "sit" in the kitchen b/c of the arthritis.  So I don't use a food procoessor (I'm not tall enough to reach high enough when the processor is sittingon the counter and then have to "push" something in from the top?  Nope -- not happening for ME).  So after I cook something that's tough or fibrous I simply either take the chopper to it a bit or I use a potato masher.

But like a white potato I might cut in half.  Carrots?  trim off the tops and cook whole then mash with a potato masher.

Frozen veg? you betcha -- french cut green beans, cut okra (WHY do dogs love okra so much?  dunno but they do!!), spinach, turnip greens, brussels sprouts, on and on and on.

a lot of mine is "dump from the bag" (I wash anything and everything fresh).

But -- I work 10 hours a day ... so I am NOT spending a whole day making dogfood!!  I'll buy angel hair coleslaw -- and cook THAT -- it's easier than me shredding a whole head of cabbage!

 I do about 40% meat, 50% veg and 10% water.  Rarely do I use grain.

Mine makes usually 4-5 of the large rectangular Glad-boxes w/lids.  

Mostly I use ground meat -- I keep the fat content to no more than 10 - 15%  (or else I cook it in water and let it refrigerate so I can lift off the fat and toss it)

DON'T FORGET TO ADD CALCIUM.  I use Animal Essentials  Sea Calcium -- it's simply easier to calculate.  You use 1 teas. per pound of raw meat.

 Let me add this tip:

I boil the chicken ALONE, first, this makes it easier to remove the bones and skin.  THen I put it back in the same water, add the other stuff, and proceed.

  Looks very appealing, and I know the author started the Halo company (she's no longer affiliated with it). However, if a dog has a sensitive stomach, it may be too high in fat because the skin from the poultry and the bones have a lot of fat. Poultry is a poor source of b vitamins and minerals so some b vitamins may need to be added. If you're only using one liver (what's included in a whole chicken or turkey), there won't be enough copper. One ounce of chicken liver cooked has .1 mg and, for example, Jessie needs 2 mg.  Dogs absorb vitamin A from carrots and potatoes very poorly so that needs to be considered.

Callie is wise! It's really not that hard. I throw it all in a big pot and let it simmer together, once cooked through, add the sea calcium and throw it in containers. The other book I like is written by a vet over in California "Dog Dish Diet." and he uses a crock pot to make the food. I use it for chicken and turkey (whole, and cut up, respectively). You cook it until the bones mush (I do it overnight, about 12 hours), and mash the veggies up right with the meat/bones. I do use it as a topper on kibble, with the exception of my chihuahua who only gets cooked because of her lack of teeth (previous home neglected them). Once you get into the swing of it, it's no big deal. If you don't want to spend time watching a pot simmer, then toss it in the crock pot (callie's style) and let it go on its own while you're at work. :) Love the crock pot!

My rescue Cairn Terrier has had a series of physical issues, some due to abuse. Her liver was malfunctioning and the meds did not improve her condition, In fact she developed a condition which caused a buildup of ammonia in her blood which caused to stumble and wall press. Thank God for dog insurance as the bills for surgery, follow ups and med have exceeded 6k. But after all the money spent I still had a very sick dog. I researched homemade food and used a recipe I found on the web. Now mind you she is still on meds but now I give her milk thistle, zinc, vitamin e along with homemade diet. At first it was work, but the results after only 3 days is nothing short of amazing. She is still slow, but her balance has returned, she is looking alert and she is no longer restless and sleeps comfortably. I will make a bigger batch next and freeze the meals.

Honest question here: if you are willing to cook for your dog(s) what would stop you from feeding a raw diet?

A good friend of mine feeds a raw diet and she has some of the healthiest dogs I'd ever seen. I always say consult with your vet and do your homework just to be safe.

The newest addition to my raw food pantry arrived last evenig...16 baby rabbits.  I am a farm girl through and through but found raising rabbits to be the best thing for my pets.  I have 5 dogs and 4 cats that all eat a raw diet.  It does not make sense to cook food for dogs .  The dog/cat body is built on the carnivore model.  I feed rabbit at least once a week.  I buy chicken necks, chicken hearts, beef kidney and tripe all from my local butcher.  I look at the meat section every time I go to the grocery store so I can spot the short date specials.  I have friends that hunt and am able to obtain venison.  I use raw pork, raw eggs and canned fishes.  My dogs never know what is going to be in their bowl.  It is not really that hard you just need to be open minded.  I encourage everyone to read See Spot Live Longer!