Need calcium help with homecooked

Monica Segal's two books have several examples of typical raw meaty bones - th ebasic nutritional analysis.  You are lucky!  I ddin't have to go looking for my book - I'm not allowed to stoop and stretch right now but the book was right on top.

Chicken quarter, 100 grams, mean value for calcium was 0.88%  A whole carcass is quite a bit more with a mean value of 1.63 per cent.

You can get values for things like yogurt and cottage cheese on the nutritional data site. 

I highly recommend ordering the books and also joining Monica's yahoo group K9 Kitchen.  A lot of times they will answer a single nutrient question like this for someone, particularly if you say you are ordering the books.

There's archival information on K9 Kitchen that steps you through the process of coming up with your own home based, balanced diet.  Her first book gives lots of details too but I heard someone say they are coming out with a new updated version?  Anyway, Optimal Ntrition is current and gives the NRC data you need to balance the diet for your dog.

Congratulations on making the move to home prepared!  It's so much fun and so rewarding.  I haven't been able to "play" for a few weeks now and I see the difference in my dogs even between my home cooked, and the good kibble they are on (Eagle Pack Holistic).   I can't wait to get them back on fresh.

PurplePets22

It's been about 3 months now and I am pleased with the results.  He's lost 6 lbs.  He's got a tuck and I just barely see ribs.  His coat is great and no eye boogies and is very well muscled.

  I started home cooking for Jessie in September and have lately noticed more muscle tone in the upper part of her rear legs, and her waist is smaller. She didn't lose weight ( I didn't want her to); she lost some fat and gained muscle. That's impressive for a 10 year old dog.

  I'm a big fan of Monica and have Optimal Nutrition and several of her booklets. The K9 Kitchen group is a great resource; besides Monica giving advice, the mods are very knowledgeable too.
 

PurplePets22

.  I'm liking commercial foods less and less, but I am afraid of doing him harm unintentionally.  Guess I'm headed back to school for a bit !

  You're very wise to do your home work before attempting to feed a home cooked diet (or raw for that matter). If it wasn't for Jessie's food allergies, which eliminate quite a few  kibbles, I probably wouldn't have left the security of commercial foods. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
 

Gibson has a touchy kind of stomach...several little things since I got him.  Talked to someone who sent me to this link for a home cooked diet.

http://www.naturesfarmacy.com/UserFriendlyDiet.pdf.    Have this printed and decided that as much as I like Eagle Pack for my Danes...I am going to fool with cooking for him. I want to see what kind of difference it makes. I do not want him to loose a pound...nor get slimmer. He is a puppy and is growing. The person I talked to told me that with home cooked I should see that he is growing more muscular the way a Dane should be.   Right now for a few days he is eating a mixture of cooked chicken and ground beef and chopped collard greens.   In a day or so I will add some brown rice and other veggies such as yams.     

I think I will then buy him frozen Bil Jac.... maybe for his second meal of the day.  

Question concerning calcium to go with OP question.    If I slow cook chicken ( or even beef ) long enough the bones get soft and they can eat them with out any problem at all....... will this be enough bones for their calcium???

 The chicken carcass will end up with a little much calcium - quarters are better.  I don't think you'll ever be albe to cook beef long enough to break down the bone - the meat will be some kind of nameless jello stuff before that happens.  But you can cook it to falling off the bone state and add the minerals you need.

Monica's books tell how much nutrition is in a chicken part.  You can also figure out the diet that your dog seems to be doing well on, and have either Monica or Sabine look at the diet and adjust the mineral (and possibly the protein/kcal levels considering Gib's a growing pup). 

brookcove

You can also figure out the diet that your dog seems to be doing well on, and have either Monica or Sabine look at the diet and adjust the mineral (and possibly the protein/kcal levels considering Gib's a growing pup). 

Thats the part I worry most about...the growing pup thing.

I was really trying to keep from adding supplements. Funny how so many of these people talk about how the dogs used to be so healthy eating talbe food and left overs years ago...but when it come right down to the making of it....supplements are suggested. 

    Dyan;  Generic recipes often are not properly balanced; dogs of different weights require different amounts of nutrients and these recipes don't take that into account. Smaller dogs can get too much of some nutrients and large dogs may not get enough. You have to be careful with a puppy, especially a large breed like Gibby. Both Monica and Sabine can formulate a diet for Gibby and adjust it for you as he grows into adulthood.

Thanks Janice!  Not sure though that we can call the link a generic recipe though...it is from a lady that has raised Danes for over 40 years. 

She feels it really important to change Gibson over to home cooked....although she probably really likes raw.  She also does'nt like his start in life...with stomach issues, even as small as they are.

Found this interesting thing on the Internet about calcium tonight:

  Sorry Dyan; I didn't know the recipe was formulated for Danes. I agree that it's worrisome for a young dog to have a sensitive stomach. It's a shame the EP Large & Giant Breed puppy doesn't agree with him. Would California Natural Chicken and Rice or Lamb and Rice puppy be suitable for a growing Dane; a simple formula like that may agree with him better.

jessies_mom

Sorry Dyan; I didn't know the recipe was formulated for Danes. I agree that it's worrisome for a young dog to have a sensitive stomach. It's a shame the EP Large & Giant Breed puppy doesn't agree with him. Would California Natural Chicken and Rice or Lamb and Rice puppy be suitable for a growing Dane; a simple formula like that may agree with him better.

Hey...not to be sorry Janice. First of all I appreciate your input.... and everyones.  I was just trying to let you know where the link came from..and actually don't know its only for Danes...it just came from a Dane person who is concerned about Gibby. She is not just concerned about Gibby and EP...she is concerned about Gibby and kibble.  She actually is a person that is concerned about kibble I guess....and being that we are talking Dane here..... she got in touch with me.  Gibson just has a flare up once in a while... and we can't pinpoint it to anything in particular.  He is healthy and happy..and looking good...but he is thinning out right now again.  

A long time ago I said that if I ever took a Dane off of Eagle Pack..I would put them on BilJac frozen. It was great for my dane/shepherd Cindy years ago... suggested to me by my vet at that time because she had a very sensitive tummy.  I switched her to BilJac and she lived healthy until about 13 or so.   I had a phone conversation with a Bil Jac person back when we were having trouble with Ollie...wanted to switch him to it but Mike wanted to stay with kibble for his teeth.   Ollie does have good teeth...but Bubby on the other hand ate kibble her whole life and had terrible teeth so I'm not sticking to kibble for teeth.

I'm pretty confused...I can say that!  Would do all home cooked if I was sure of myself..but I'm not! And of course feeding a Dane is not cheap so that plays a part in it too.   And I guess I just plain like a package back that tells me the nutrients that are in the food and how much to feed...at least a place for me to start.   Right now I have chicken, sweet potatoes and some carrots cooking in a slow cooker......  Even wondering if I can give him some of the juice that is in it.   So much I don't know!

By the way....is Sabine,  Lillian?????   Looking at the website really confused me. 

Sabine is here:  betterdogcare.com  I don't think there's any recipes on her web site - you get consults to tweak your own recipes, or full consults to develop a diet/care plan for your dog.   She uses the latest NRC data for age, size, many more minor (or manageable with diet) medical conditions to develop something precisely suited for your dog.

My youngest is a survivor of a horrible start in life, and an early fight with parvo.  Consequently, she's got a touchy tummy.  She gets early morning blapitis pretty easily if I'm not careful.  She was the first one I ran by Sabine, and I did the full consult though I'm normally fairly confident in developing my own diets.  My head started to spin when I started considering her young age, her tummy issues, her possible joint problems, and my budget.

Monica is much the same way except I don't think she does the partial consults.  But she does offer lots of material to help you do your own diets if you do a lot of homework.  However, I would be leery of trying it with a young Dane.  I had a friend who was sure he screwed up his LGD pup with poor nutrition - he never was really sure if what he did caused the problem and decided to go back to commercial.  But it's not and "either/or" thing - you can have the best of both worlds - you can be sure, AND still feed homemade.

Innova just added a new way to do so.  Yes, you have to feed their [expensive] canned food, but BalanceIt likewise makes you purchase their supplement blends - it's just another way to step folks into the world of taking control of their pets' diets: [url]http://flexcalc.innovapet.com/[/i]