SIMPLE (!!!) Homemade Diet?

    • Gold Top Dog

    SIMPLE (!!!) Homemade Diet?

    Hi all!  Our boy Max is almost 3 years old.  He's a mostly-Springer-Spaniel-some-Lab who is a little oveweight (69 lbs instead of low 60's), despite regular exercise.  Thanks to Mommy!  She likes to feed him too much food, which consists of Canidae ALS in the morning, Evanger's canned in the evening.  We've argued about quantity, and even Dr. Vet has been unable to convince her that too much of a good thing is, well, too much.

     So we're trying to strike a balance, by reducing the purchased food and substituting things like low-calorie veggies and such.  No way am I energetic enough to do the requisite amount of research necessary for a decent all-raw diet, but I thought maybe y'all could give me some suggestions.

    Max likes nearly all vegetables when cooked, almost no raw vegetables, and no fruits.  Maybe I haven't been persistent enough, as those little baby carrots seem like a splendid treat, but he won't touch them.

    Any ideas what I can easily try?  Or how to get Max to like some of these things?

    Thanks in advance.

    • Gold Top Dog

    An easy quick few meals or partial meal replacement/topper -

    Just throw a whole chicken in a crock pot, put it on low, and leave it for 24 hours, or until the largest bones are soft enough to crush between your fingers.  To make it more diet friendly (lol), just put any veggies or fruit (not onions or grapes) you have on hand in the pot too.  Be aware that root veggies and the pectin-type fruits like apples and pears are not "free" - they've got some calories too.  But any whole foods will fill up your dog and satisfy him more than a few more kibbles.would do.

    You can replace up to a third of the diet (as calculated by calories) without worrying about long term balance.  You can do just about anything for short periods (like you could feed that whole chicken recipe out several meals in a row if you want to).  But, be sure you figure out about how many calories you are feeding since you are concerned with weight - at least at first.  It's easier to keep a good weight than it is to take off even more that has crept on while you are replacing commercial food with homemade goodies!