[sfranklin]

I am trying to figure out where to start with the whole homemade food idea. My dogs itch non-stop and I really believe it is from their commercial dog food. Any suggestions on supplements to make sure I have a balanced diet? I saw on Amazon something called Wizpet dog food supplement, I haven’t been able to find anything about it. If anyone could point me in the right direction as to where I can find out more information on supplements that would be wonderful. I am leaning towards the cooked dog food, my dogs now love all raw veggies and fruit (the ones they are allowed to have) so that I don’t have a problem with, I just don’t know if I can do the raw food personally, I may be a little squeamish. Could I do cooked (rare) protein and then raw everything else? I have been reading so much on here I think I am in information overload and am lost as to where to start. Thanks for your time!

[pugmomsandy]

For easy homemade, use a premix like Urban Wolf, Grandma Lucys, The Honest Kitchen, and there’s another one by Steve Brown – can’t remember what that one is called. All you add is meat and some oil.

For some recipes, get “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats” by Dr Karen Becker/Beth Taylor or Steve Brown’s “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet”. “Real Food…” has cooked and raw recipes and a vitamin mix recipe and when made to recipe, it exceeds AAFCO/NRC guidelines.

For something simple, there’s http://homemadedogfood.com/easy-cooked-dog-food-recipe/ It uses a vitamin/mineral supplement and a fat supplement. Although I wouldn’t feed this single recipe forever. I’d give some variety.

You don’t have to stick to one product or recipe long term either. Try Urban Wolf and some other brands for variety.

Homemade food cannot be taken lightly. Although it’s the best, without proper vits/minerals/EFA’s, a poorly balanced homemade diet can be harmful. Do alot of research. I would say use some of HoundDogMom’s raw recipes, but since your’re a little squeamish of raw…that probably wouldn’t work out! She ran her recipe through a nutrient analysis and it is complete and balanced.

When I started raw, I used “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats”. And I have dog food grinding parties at my house!

[theBCnut]

Steve Brown’s is “See Spot Live Longer” Dinner Mixes.

[pugmomsandy]

Oh yeah! I knew Spot was in the name but I couldn’t get past “I See Spot”, a dog clothes store!

[theBCnut]

HaHaHa!!!

[Hound Dog Mom]

You actually don’t want to feed vegetables raw. Dogs can’t digest the cellulose in vegetables very efficiently and for this reason they should be cooked and pureed to in a sense “pre-digest” them prior to feeding. The meat, bones and organs are what you would feed raw with a raw diet but if you’re not comfortable with feeding raw meat that’s certainly understandable. A cooked homemade diet is still much healthier than commercial pet food. My favorite books of those Sandy mentioned is “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” – while this is more aimed at raw feeders there are many principals discussed that are common to both raw and home cooked diets. The recipes could also easily be converted to cooked by omitting the bone-in meat, adding boneless meat and supplementing with 800 – 1,000 mg. calcium per pound of meat fed. My favorite pre-mixes are See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix and Urban Wolf. BTW – GOOD choice on going homemade. As Sandy said, it’s not something to be taken lightly but if you do your research and properly prepare the meals you will be setting your dog up for a long and healthy life! 🙂

[bruno]

I think you may be interested in a formula that would be a compromise between the raw diet and commercial (kibble) pet food. I have one that is Brown rice, pearl barley, dehydrated raw carrots, red & green peppers, brocolli, garlic including a packet of high-end vitamins and minerals. This one takes the time to cook a pot of rice (20-30 min), you add your choice of fresh meat and it makes about 2 weeks worth of food. The other formula is Rolled Oats plus the veggies and so forth. This one takes one-minute to hydrate. Both would eliminate dealing with raw meat and eliminates all the cons of processed food–meat contamination, lack of nutrients from processing and questionable ingredients. If you or anyone is interested in seeing/reading about these formulas please visit California Gold
P.S. I disagree with the responder that stated that raw veggies are not good for dogs. I haven’t had any problems with any of my dog’s customers in over 13 years and raw is good!

[Rahat]

Chewing is a natural behaviour for all dogs. It allow them to explore the world around them, exercise their jaws and even clean their teeth. Bully sticks are one of the most popular dog chews today. Made of beef pizzle, they are dense, flavorful and come in various sizes. If anyone want know more about homemade dog treats you can visit this site http://www.bowwowbeautyshoppe.com/dog-treats/ you will find so many ways of homemade dog treats in the above site. I hope my will be helpful for all of you.

[Spiffyloo88]

It really is better for dogs to digest cooked veggies. My dog is allergic to wheat, chicken, carrots and rice that we know of so we make him hard boiled eggs and cooked oatmeal and boiled sweet potatoes, at the suggestion of our vet. I also need ideas on supplements to add to his food. We just started a month ago to see if we could clear up his rashes and diarrhea and it did so now we slowly add things one at a time and see how he reacts. I read you can buy like powdered vitamin stuff but I don’t even know where to start.
The poor guy can’t even have flavored chew toys so we have to buy plastic bones it kind of makes me sad for him.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Spiffyloo88.

[veron5959]

I cook for my dogs…. I share my

    
 
 
  recipe here. What motivated me was my dog mitzi who was down with liver disease.... with my vet's assistance and some natural health remedies and home made dog food, she is now in her pink of health at a age of 12... 

[veron5959]

I cook for my dogs too.. u can see my recipe here. http://dogcarezone.com/homecookdogfood .

What motivated me was my dog mitzi who was down with liver disease…. with my vet’s assistance and some natural health remedies and home made dog food, she is now in her pink of health at a age of 12… here’s my recipe

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by veron5959.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by veron5959.

[Cesar M]

In beginning always prefer to make the homemade food for your dogs. because its healthy as compared to other dog food products.

Thank you

[Carolyn P]

I homecook for my dogs and use a supplement called Hilary’s Complete and Balanced.

Available at Vet’s, it comes with a recipe book, and the supplement.

I have been feeding my pack of chihuahua’s this for 3 years now and they are all in great health.

I had a sickly little one 2 years ago – and the Hilary’s turned her around – no more crystals in her urine, her liver issues cleared up.

I highly recommend it.

[Carl L]

Hello Carolyn,

If you are still checking in, could you help?

I just found out about Hilary’s book and supplement, and we are considering it. We have a young Lab, and not three chihuahua’s, but I am concerned about the expense of the supplement – which would be in addition to the cost of the good, wholesome ingredients in the recipes.

On her website, I think I read that one bottle of supplement would last about a month for a 40 pound dog. Does that sound about right to you? (I have no idea how much 3 chihuahua’s weigh, ha, ha!).

Thanks,
Carl

[Bunny B]

Carl L – I also have used Hilary’s Complete and Balanced

I have a high energy 2 year old dog and she burns lots of calories. I found I had to feed WAY more than the recommended amount than what Hilary says in her book. The supplements were $79 CDN for the big bottle and lasted me about 1 1/2 mo. It was costing me $16 a day and 3 hrs a night in the kitchen. I chose to do this anyhow because I have heard the benefits of real food for a dog and had seen the results on other peoples dogs. I did this for 5 months when I couldn’t stand the time and money anymore! I still strongly believe in real food, and that the real food has to be complete and balanced. Then I happened across NRG dehydrated food. This was the next best thing to home cooked. It cost me about $10 a day. And only 1 min in the kitchen!! She did fabulously on this for 7 months. Then she developed what I a, convinced of an allergy to grain so I put her on Natures Variety raw frozen. Which I just love, all the benefits of real food all ready made for me!

But now I am spending about $14 a day with Natures Variety and was thinking I should go back to Hilary’s…although I am a raw believer now on certain meats, but she says lots of her recipes (specific ones) can be fed raw. I happened across your post tonight out of coincidence!

I have to say Hilary’s seems to be great but I do NOT recommend her recipes that contain tomatoes or tomato sauce if your dog has a sensitive stomach or is susceptible to acid reflux. And if you are trying to find Safflower oil you may have to go to a health food store, it should be next to the olive oil. Alternately if you can’t find that I called and she actually picked up the phone which I thought was weird but she said you can use sunflower oil. And I find it hard finding cod liver oil, again I found this in a health food store. And the easiest way to pulse veggies is in a magic bullet btw.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Bunny B.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Bunny B.

[Susan]

You said that ur dogs itch none stop, you must start with an elimination diet, I started one about 1 month ago as my boy has Pancreatitis & enviornment allergies we dont know if he has food allergies that’s why I’d say the vet suggested an elimination diet, The vet said the first month just feed boil chicken but I knew my boy could eat boil chicken so I added cooked pumkin, then when I saw he wasnt scratching or rubbing his tummy on my beautiful white rug the next week I added sweet potato within 2 days Patch was rubbing on my carpet so I stopped the sweet potato & know he cant have sweet potato or a kibble with sweet potato…. then I added pasta another NO it made him itch then I read dogs with skin problems like yeast & bacteria shouldnt eat carbohydrates, potatos, sweet potatos etc, then I added half a boiled egg & he’s been good, Im thinking of adding broccoli next.. Im reading Raw & Natural Nutrition for Dogs by Lew Olson PhD she has help me understand alot of things & this group its a easy book to read & very easy recipes, she explains what foods aren’t good & what foods are good for certain illness, like Skin problems & what causes ur dog to itch, Pancreatitis Diabetes, Gastro problems, feeding senior dogs, getting a pup onto raw etc, she has cooked recipes & what supplements to add.. in the elimination diet you cannot give any treats nothing, just that one food for 2 weeks then 2 foods so on.. you must cook all vegetables so they are fully cooked, she even suggest to pulped vegetables as dogs digestive system weren’t meant to eat vegies, here’s one of her recipes for Skin allergies a Low Glycemic regular fats Diet..this is for a 50 pound dog to be divide into two or more smaller meals per day.
8 ounces 1 cup regular fat ground beef
2 ounces 1/4 cup beef liver or kidney
2 eggs scrambled or boiled
4 ounces 1/2 cup steamed or boiled broccoli
4 ounces 1/2 cup cooked yellow crookneck squash
4 ounces 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
Serve meat cooked or raw combined with cooked vegetables eggs & yogurt if serving meat cooked wait until meat & eggs have cooled before stirring in the yogurt…..
What I do is I cook once a fornight & freeze everything except the egg then put in fridge the night before to thaw for next day…

[Carl L]

Hey BunnyB, thanks for the reply.

Holy smokers. $16 a day? Really?? I hope you have a 240 pound dog. Then I can do it for $4 a day for our 60 pound guy. I had no idea homemade would be so expensive. We just got the idea about Hilary’s recipes from our vet. I had not costed it. The supplement alone is almost as expensive as a quality kibble.

We are not convinced yet to go raw. But we feel we should try to better than kibble. If the cost for home cooked is as you say, I wonder about one of the 5-star, “lightly-cooked” frozen, commercial foods. Surely it could be done for less than $16 a day, without the hours of cooking time.

Appreciate the reply from someone that has “been there, done that”.

[Bunny B]

Yes it prove to be super expensive. My dog is 55lbs.

Try Natures Variety raw frozen. For a 40lb dog you should be around $5 – $6 a day, and it’s real food, raw, but you don’t need to worry about nasties and cross contamination from dog tongue to human because all of NV frozen raw food is HPP (high pressure processed) which is like sinking it to the deepest part of the ocean which kills all bacteria, without altering the quality of the ingredients. Only downside of that is you may need to add a probiotic back in kuz it kills good bacteria too, so far I haven’t had to. It’s real food like home preparing, but done for you, and bacteria removed. Of course you need to treat it like any food that rots because it’s real food, and you need to wash your hands and dog dish after but that is just common sense :-). I am willing to bet you will see a huge improvement all around after like 1 month on it.

[Carolyn P]

The tomato sauce in Hilary’s recipes is between 5 & 15% by weight. It poses no risk to dogs and in fact is virtually the ONLY food source of the anti-cancer phytonutrient lycopene.

My dogs have been on Hilary’s for 3 years and are healthy, with no issues.

I had one that had liver issues and was sickly, at the recommendation of a Veterinary Hospital, they suggested I leave things as they were food wise (not switch from Hilary’s) and she now has no issues – no liver issues, no oxalate issues.

One hour in the kitchen (not sure what you’re doing that takes you 3 hours) once a week is a small amount of time to spend if it ensures my pack is healthy.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Carolyn P.

[Carolyn P]

No Frills also sells Safflower Oil and the Cod Liver oil is cheapest at Rexall. I use Eicosaderm for the salmon oil and that has to be purchased at the Vet’s.

[Carolyn P]

Hi Carl L:

I feed my pack of Chi’s twice a day, and they each get approximately 100 grams twice a day.

The 700 ml jar of supplement lasts me just over a month. I cook weekly.

I haven’t ever added up the cost of using Hilary’s, perhaps I should one day. But the cost didn’t really matter to me if it meant my dogs were healthy, which in turn meant fewer trips to the Vet. After spending a year in emergency clinics with the sickly one, I didn’t think twice about the cost to feed, I only knew I was never going to feed commercial again.

I started her on Orijen and it nearly killed her, too high in protein. The Wellness, then Taste of the Wild, the ONLY thing that righter her ills was Hilary’s. I feed R12 for the most part with a transitioning recipe thrown in periodically just for a change.

My one chi is a chubby wee thing with a heart condition, so she gets an entirely different diet altogether (still Hilary’s).

I swear by it. As long as I’m able, I’ll be homecooking.

[Bunny B]

If you can afford the price of Hilary’s and the time to make it is reasonable then it’s a great way to feed.

The recipes I was using were, Prep and cook time equal 2 hrs. Assemble, package and clean up equal 1 hr. Total, 3 hrs.

Tomatoes, great if your dog can handle. Tomatoes promote acid in the gi tract which is not good for dogs with acid reflux, been there done that.

I cooked for a 60lb dog who has a high metabolism and had to eat 1500kcal a day. This equalled lots of kitchen time and lots of money spent. If I had to I would switch back if there were Specific reason why like needs low sodium levels etc but there are other foods out there that are JUST as healthy as Hilary’s, like Natures Variety frozen raw. Real raw meat, with no preservatives, no additives except other fruits and veggies, no colours, it is just like you made it yourself and threw it in a fancy bag to sell.

Saying all that I am actually thinking of starting one of her recipes again, but leaving the meat raw. And choosing one that does not contain tomato sauce or any grains.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Bunny B.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Bunny B.

[Carl L]

Great discussion.

Coming full circle: We love the idea of homecooking. I will pick up Hilary’s book from the vet this week.

But if the cost of home ingredients and the supplement per month for a 60 lb, high energy our young dog – like Bunny B – turns out to be much more expensive that getting a high quality “cooked frozen” which is complete and balanced, it seems silly not to consider it.

Buddy’s Kitchen is in Ontario, and it is sold by Global Pet Foods as “Nature’s Harvest”. We could do this for under $200 a month ($6.70 a day). There is also Rayne Cooked Frozen, but I don’t have a price yet.

If Bunny B’s estimate of $16 a day is even close for a Hilary Diet, it is completely out of whack. I would be freezing some of the home cooking anyway. Could home cooking be THAT much better than a quality cooked frozen at two or three times the price?!

Maybe it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Maybe some home cooking and some commercial frozen.

[theBCnut]

If you are making the diet, you can choose which meats you use. Hamburger is cheaper than steak, leg quarters are cheaper than boneless skinless chicken breasts. Whole turkey is cheaper than turkey breast. Ask a butcher what the cheap cuts are and look around for different sources, like friends who hunt.

[Dr. Rakesh K]

The dog has unique nutritional requirements which can neither be fulfilled by home cooked food or by commercial food, this nutritional deficiency leads to numbers problems. In my experience there’s one product named ZEALX-OP which contains almost all the essential nutritional ingredients required for weell being of dog.It is available online on Snapdeal. It’s results are amazing.

[Frances A]

Has anyone tried Natures Variety Raw Daily Boost supplement?

[Sarah L]

Hi there everyone,
Just wanted to drop a quick line as I searched with much frustration for months in regards to home made food as we have one schnauzer with seizures. The lack of information and conflicting information out there about home made diets is enough to make you bang your head against a wall …….. very frustrating !!!! We heard a lot about the raw diet, but I just could not bring myself to feed my dog raw meat, just my personal preference, but found a fantastic alternative to feeding raw. After much searching and many trials I was afraid we were not giving the girls enough nutrition and I was always concerned if they were getting enough of the nutrients they needed and a well balanced diet with cooking at home. We came across this company called U-Stew and we have not switched to anything else since. Basically you add this supplement to cooked protein and if you choose some veggies and voila !! It looks and smells like canned dog food …. our girls love it and we make it in big batches and freeze it in jam jars, very convienient. After the girls being on this diet for just a year we had all their blood work done to ensure they were getting all the nutrients required in their diets and they both passed with flying colors !!! …… Amazing !!! Here is the website we found the product https://www.knowbetterpetfood.com/U-Stew. Maybe not for anyone, but if I can help anyone with this tidbit of info, I am happy for that.

[crazy4cats]

Hey Sarah-
Thanks for the tip! This might be just what I have been looking for! I was using the See Spot Live Longer Dinner mix and unfortunately, it has been discontinued for the time being. It was a very simple mix, much like the one you are using, and my dogs loved it. Most of the other premix or base mix formulas I’ve been checking out have too many other ingredients for my dogs’ liking. I might just give this mix a shot. Thank you!

Has anyone else out there tried this mix?

[jakes mom]

C4C, I tried the cat food from know better a few months ago when I was trying to transition the brats to raw. Easy to do, good fast delivery. Of course the cats didn’t eat it but Jake enjoyed it very much, lol. Let me know if you try it, I might add it to Jake’s rotation. Right now he’s eating a bit of everything, NV kibble and frozen raw, a few other quality kibble brands, raw meaty bones. And as you know, he’ll be finishing up the Darwin’s cat food!

[Dori]

Hi Sarah. Thanks for the post. I’m wondering how large a batch do you make at a time? I know the instructions on the site call for 2 lbs. of meat so do you just double or triple the recipe, or more?

[Sarah L]

Hey there !!
We go to costco and buy the meat depending on what is cheapest and then we make six times the recipe and then freeze it in jam jars that hold about one cup. Very efficient and effective for our needs…… hope this helps !!! The company is great with fast delivery and customer service is great.

[Dori]

Thanks Sarah L. for the reply. I placed an order for the trial size and am going to give it a try. With the raw food recalls of the last few weeks I’m looking for alternatives. I appreciate your getting back to me and will do like wise in making larger batches and freeze. I only have the freezer at the bottom of fridge so I’ll use the Food Saver bags so that I can lay them flat since dear hubby insists we have some frozen people food also. Really, all he wants is some ice cream in the freezer and frozen fruits and veggies for the smoothies I make when fresh is not available.

[Kristin C]

I have tried the trial size on the Better in the Raw products and although my dogs did fine on it, by my calculations it can be expensive to use on a regular basis. Has anyone else found this?

[Colby C]

Hey guys! I also researched homemade dog food for my bulldog and there isn’t a lot out there. He’s doing great on the homemade and loves it. Right now I’m using lickochops and dinovite supplements but I want to switch to something else because they make his breath smell awful!!!!!! I might try the u stew. I also agree homemade is pretty expensive and time consuming in the kitchen but he lovesssss it. I am still struggling with allergies with him and I’m pretty certain it’s the weather and him allergic to something outside

[InkedMarie]

DogAware dot com has info on homemade. I don’t have the time or inclination to homecook. I feed ground raw (has meat, bone, organs & most have tripe). Can’t get any easier: put bowl on scale; tare it. Scoop food in. Add salmon oil (plus joint supps for one), eggs 3x weekly aand feed.

[C4D]

Hi Colby C,

There are several sites that have balanced homemade recipes, including dogaware, as InkedMarie mentioned. Whole Dog Journal has recipes. I’m a subscriber but I think the articles can be accessed for free. Balanceit is another helpful website.

There are also several books with balanced diets including See Spot Live Longer and Dr. Becker too.

The most important thing is to make sure the diet is balanced. I tend to use premixes like Grandma Lucy’s, The Honest Kitchen, etc to add to the cooked meat at feeding time. I cook enough meat to last several days. Crock pots are great for this purpose. InkedMarie is right, commercial raw is very easy, but it is expensive when you have multiple large dogs. Good luck with it!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by C4D.

[Colby C]

Thank you guys so much all the info was very helpful!!! I read A LOT today!!!!! Has anyone tried the fresh pet? I know it’s not homecooked but I’m just wondering what you guys think of it.

[C4D]

It’s a decent food. I use it occasionally in my rotation.

[TAMMY C]

First, I have to comment on those who disagree with cooking and pureeing vegetables, not sure on fruit but I do puree anyway, I follow my Dogs stools, they are the first clue that there is something not right going on with your Beloveds. I tried both raw veggies and slightly steamed without pureeing them and what went in came right back out in their stools, their body cannot digest them. So, it is, well….waste, in all accounts.

My dilemma is this…..I use to rescue animals and I have a pack of canines. In the last year my Dobes came down with cancer, two died from the symptoms cancer creates in their body (histamine is nasty!) and two are cancer survivors. My Dobes have ALWAYS had skin problems, sparse coats and digestive issues, until I decided to try home cooked meals. My Dogs cannot handle raw meat or eggs, it creates havoc in their digestive systems, very sensitive. One would not believe how many times I have had to switch kibble, before moving in my area where I am limited to two brands of kibble (Sam’s and Kirkland), after awhile they start throwing up or their stools look poorly. Anyway, I have 9 Dog’s, ranging from 110 pounds (Dobes), medium size (around 45 pounds) and my 3 little ones 5 to 20 pounds. I found that all I accomplished all day was cooking their meals and washing their dishes and nothing else got done, I certainly do not have a life beyond this either (someday I would like to date again, ha). Before I started trying the homemade diet I was supplementing their kibble (Kirkland grain free Salmon and Sweet Potato) the best available to me in my area (sadly). Anyway, their coats flourished and skin not so itchy. What I have found in my research is there is a wide range of opinions about kibble, while I would LOVE to feed my Dogs only home cooked meals, it is not feasible budget wise on my retired income, nor time wise. I did find some AWESOME vitamins, the first post you may be interested in these, I researched and researched, bought in mistake after mistake and finally found a truer vitamin for helping my Dogs immune systems, NuVet Labs, and WOW what a difference they also made for my clan. I have bought just about every book on Amazon on home prepared meals, except the two mentioned I will look into them (thank you). Anyway, I got off topic of my kibble quibble, the wide range of opinions feeding kibble or not, I find there is a truer medium said to this and that is…..a good kibble does “not” cause cancer, cause havoc in their bodies…..what they do however is lack a “real” complete diet which this in itself creates the cancer and havoc in their bodies (except when there are food allergies involved of course my Dobes can’t handle grains). No matter what AAFCO has to say by placing their logo on the bags of Dog food stating they approve of the kibble (which Kirkland is one of them they place their logo “approved by AAFCO guidelines” what does this really mean?????), it “is” lacking. Although, I was happy Kirkland did have their stamp of approval but in research the kibble “is” lacking and my Dogs are proof of this, their immune systems were gone and couldn’t fight off cells mutating into cancer (talk about researching…Dog cancer…..I know way to much about it now). My Dogs are all of different breeds and mixed, yet they all have issues with the kibble used alone. Some, I did take off completely and won’t give them kibble, they just throw it up anyway and they are doing great on home cooked food coming from my kitchen.

Anyway, is there such a thing as being able to home prepare your Dog food for a pack without being wealthy and doing this all alone with no help (no partner just me and my clan). I appreciate your feedback in advance. Blessings to everyone!!!! Tammy.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by TAMMY C. Reason: To make more readible with flow of words

[TAMMY C]

P.S. One last comment, variety is “key”, in my research it is said (a happy medium here in the wide range of opinions) variety is key, you do not want to feed your Beloved the same thing day after day. This is important to know, for those who only have a Dog or two it makes your life easier in preparing meals, it is important for you to know because with this knowledge you’ll understand that you don’t need to try a fit every food type in a feeding to try and meet the Beloved’s requirements. In reality, in the wild, or even for us humans, as long as we are getting say within a given week a portion of many varieties of foods you get what your body needs. When you feed the same ingredients meal after meal that is where one can get into problems trying to meet the dietary requirements and of course the frustration trying to do so. Yes, I learned the hard way, hahahaha. I was trying to fit every food group in a given meal and it was not feasible for me. Than, reading a book I bought recently, “Home Cooking for Your Dog: 75 Holistic Recipes for a Healthier Dog” showed me the way……not trying to create the perfect meal of ingredients every single meal of the day, I was exhausted. And, where I live, very limited on available ingredients. Along, with available kibble.

[Jennifer T]

Just thought I’d mention…with some of these homemade diets, you can source your meats from highland packers on stoney creek mountain. They supply all sorts of products for raw feeders, and yiy xsn just cook the meat etc for home cooked meals. Just call or email them to ask for their list if what they offer. This makes homemade diets much more cost effective. Grocery store etc meats would cost way too much.

Another good book is Raw and Natural Nutrition for dogs by Lew Olson.

[Marie P]

Homemade dog food with salmon and this supplement; Here is the recipe we use for a balanced meal using salmon. Let me know if you have questions, http://bulldogvitamins.blogspot.com/2017/04/salmon-dinner-for-dogs-woof-food.html

[aimee]

Hi Marie,

This recipe even with nu vet supplement looks to be very deficient.

For example for the entire recipe using the usda nutrient database for nutrient information and Wild caught Atlantic Salmon and medium grain brown rice I calculated out it contains 363 mg calcium. The nu vet supplement reports 100 mg Ca

NRC recommended requirements for a 50 lb dog are 1300 mg Ca/day Even if the 50 lb dog ate the entire recipe in one day plus the supplement the total Ca intake would be 463 mg Ca, falling far short of the required 1300mg.

Looking at another nutrient Vit A. The recipe contains 1100 IU and the supplement 1000 IU. NRA recommended amount ~1716 IU/day for 50 lb dog. If the dog ate the entire recipe along with the supplement the need would be met. But from feeding guidelines it appear that eating 1/3 of the recipe /day is more likely which doesn’t meet the requirement. To meet requirement the dog has to eat about 3/4 of the total recipe/day.

I don’t consider Nu vet to be an appropriate supplement for home cooking. When I tried to get a full nutrient profile for the supplement I was told it was proprietary and only the nutrients they post are available. This makes it impossible to use as a supplement for a home prepared diet.

Note: I had to make some assumptions when making the recipe so different values can be calculated. I used cups measured fresh not cooked and I didn’t add in the garlic.

[Gary W]

There certainly researched required before finalizing the best dog food. Feeding your dog a high-quality well-balanced food is one of the best things that you, as a pet owner, can do to keep your dog healthy. A good food will keep your dog’s hair coat shiny and sleek. It will strengthen his immune system. It will keep his digestive system in good health. But when it comes to choosing a dog food, the options seem almost endless.

I have gone through to one of the research article who gathered industry’s best dog food brands and it is always good if you have many good options in one place as recommended through amazon. So you can pick any one from here according to your requirement. Source: https://www.criticthoughts.com/pet/best-dog-food/

Though i preferred Purina Pro Plan as it has all the healthy ingredients and it Made with high-quality protein, including real chicken as the first ingredient. Also, Contains rice, an easily digestible source of carbohydrates, which help fuel energy

[Author]

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