[beagleowner]

Started making dog food for Henry beagle. Consists of ground chicken thighs or lean hamburger, sweet potatoes, kale, peas, carrots, eggs. We are feeding him 2-1/2cups per day. He did weigh 48.4 lbs. and now is at 45.6. Our vet would like to see him get to 40 lbs. We also bought marrow soup bones and after he eats one, we fill it with pumpkin, freeze it and give as a nighttime treat. It makes his stoold loose. He is 14 yrs old and of course loves to eat. We also give him two chewable glucosamine tabs a day and one omega-3capsule that our vet suggested and sold to us.. Henry has lipomas (one very large). They have decreased on this homemade diet. My problem is that he is hungry and I am wondering if his nutrition is sound. (Of course I realize hounds can be constantly looking for food). I thought I could add some organic brown rice to his meal for bulk. When I called our vet to ask, the reply was to give him Hills ID, half homemade and half Hills. Well that puts me back to manufactured dog food. We were feeding him expensive kibble before and it contributed to his lipomas. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. I don’t want to undo the good the homemade has done and yet I want to make sure he gets a good nutritious diet. We tried raw– no luck.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi beagleowner –

Is what you listed above all your dog gets? Are any supplements added aside from te glucosamine and fish oil? I’m asking because what you listed is extremely unbalanced and could result in some major issues if fed long term.

[beagleowner]

Yes and so I am searching for advice on adding nutrients or vitamins. Our vet didn’t offer any suggestions other than putting him on the Hills H/d and I would rather not do that. I did read thatvCentrum can be fed to dogs. Have you heard that.

[beagleowner]

Hi Hound Dog Mom. Need some input. Still making Henry’s food. We switched to ground turkey and read that the ratio between protein and vegetables should be 2 to 1. We are mixing ground turkey, carrots, sweet potatoes, frozen peas, kale 3 eggs with shells, apples and spinach, baking it in a slow oven for 90 minutes. We make enough for 3 was and freeze weekly amounts. We do the 2 parts turkey to 1 part combined vegetables, feed 1capsule of Aller G-3 bought and suggested by our vet. It is 1000 mg fish oil, o.1moisture, 400 iu vitamin A, 100 iu vitamin D3, 4 iu Vitamin E. we feed 2 cups a day, estimating caloric intake of 750 to 800 cal/day. We also give him 2 Gkucosamine chewables a day which provides 500 mg Glucosamine, 200 mg Chondrotin Sulfate, 100 mg MSM, 50 mg Vitamin C, and 5 mg Manganese. It does have inactive ingredients Brewers dried yeast, diacalcium phosphate, glycerin,iron oxide, magnesium sterate, silicon dioxide and steric acid.

Henry has lost 3 lbs over the past 5 mos. we weigh him at the vet every month. he is now at 45 lb and the vet would like to see him close to 40.

Henry has one very large lipoma which I had mentioned in a previous post (about melon size) and another smaller (baseball) one. I discovered a site called Pawhealer out of California and their product Dissolve made with various herbs. They also on my next order created a Custom Dissolve. He got 3/4 tsp twice a day. The vet measured his lipomas when we started the herbs. When he measured them at our last visit they were slightly smaller and they are now a soft mass. The vet said that something was working, either the Dissolve, or the food, or a combination of both. He is not on Dissolve any longer because Pawhealer suggested discontinuing the Dissolve for now and suggested a kidney formula. My husband didn’t feel comfortable with this and so we did not order.

Bottom line. Henry is losing weight, and the lipomas are decreasing very gradually. But I am wondering if I should again begin the herbs. You are so very knowledgeable I wanted to get your thoughts and opinion. There are so many sites that address diet and lipomas it makes your head spin. Sorry for this looooong post but I wanted to give a full history so you could offer feedback. Thanks for all your knowledge.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi beagleowner –

I’m glad to hear that Henry is having some progress. 🙂

As far as the diet goes, there are a few recommendations that I would make. First, I would recommend rotating through a variety of proteins rather than feeding just turkey. It would probably be a good idea to work in a red meat protein source occasionally or if you continue to feed predominantly poultry add 1 tbs. ground flax or 1 tsp. flax oil per pound of meat to help balance the fats. The ratio of protein to vegetables doesn’t have to be 2 to 1 – I personally feed much more protein and much less vegetables than that, about 85% – 90% meat/bone/organ to 10% – 15% plant ingredients (vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc.). It’s fine to feed the amount of vegetables that you’re feeding though – anywhere from 50:50 to 90:10 meat to vegetables is okay although I recommend keeping towards the higher end of the meat ratio. Based on what you’re feeding I think it would make much more sense to omit the vitamin a, d and e and add a multivitamin – any one a day type multi formulated for humans with 10% or less DV calcium would be fine, I would give a dog his size one half the recommended human dosage per day. It is possible to balance the diet with whole foods alone but it’s a lot trickier – I do this with my dogs’ recipes which are posted in the raw menu thread. How much meat are you using per 3 eggshells? You want to be providing between 800 and 1,000 mg. calcium per pound of boneless muscle meat to balance the calcium to phosphorus ratio. When using eggshell calcium you want to add about 1 tsp. finely ground eggshell per pound of meat. Why did your vet suggest a kidney formula and not suggest using the “dissolve” supplement that you were using previously? I’m not familiar with the dissolve supplement and don’t know what’s in it so I can’t offer any input but if it was working and it’s something your vet supports you may want to go back to it. I’ve heard good things about the use of turmeric (or curcumin) for dogs with lipomas – combining with bromelain can increase the effectiveness. I’ve also heard good things about IP-6 and Inositol for treating lipomas.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[beagleowner]

I just read about the turmeric. The vet did not suggest the kidney formula but the herbalist at Pawhealer did. I wrote to her and told her that my husband had some concerns about switching to the kidney formula and I asked for a list of ingredients to let my vet look at it before I ordered. She became very irritated and sent a nasty reply. That made me a little uncomfortable. She also told me to massage the lipomas. I asked the vet about massaging and he adamantly said no. By massaging could rupture the mass and cause severe damage. I understand the tumeric is spicy and wonder if the food will disguise that and also how much to give Henry. And educate me on cur cumin and bromelain.

thanks for the insight.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Personally, I would forget the herbalist and stick with your vet’s advice.

Concerning turmeric, this is from DogAware:

http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjlipomas.html#herbal

[Bill Rogan]

Hello!!! Beagleowner? Hope you feel better than before because your dog is gradually progressed.

You should bring diversification in you dog food menu. You should ensure that the diet you feed meets your dog’s requirements. It’s important that the diet you feed your dog is “complete and balanced,” meaning it meets all of your dog’s nutritional needs. It is not important, however, that every meal would be completed and balanced, unless you feed the same meal every day with little or no variation.

Following are the guidelines for feeding a raw or cooked homemade diet to get a healthy dog. No single type of food, such as chicken, should ever make up more than half the diet.

You should keep the followings in your consideration while cooking your dog food. Proper balanced dog food includes:

Meat and other Animal Products:

Raw meaty bones (optional)
Boneless meat
Fish
Organs
Eggs
Dairy

Fruits and Vegetables:

Starchy vegetables
Leafy green and other non-starchy vegetables
Fruits
Grains

Supplements:

Calcium
Oils
Fish oil
Cod liver oil
Plant Oils

Other Vitamins and Minerals:

Vitamin E
Iodine
Green blends

Hopefully you be benefited. Best of luck of you with your beloved dog.

[theBCnut]

That was less than helpful.

[omar zafar]

Hi,My homemade recipe is beef Turkey: 1st i cut fresh beef in little small pieces and marinate with oil. Then apply some oil to pan and worm it up.Apply salt as needed and place it on pan. cook it for 1 hour then flip it to other side and cook for again 1 hour. After that keep pieces in pan for half hour and serve. So simple and easy to make.

[theBCnut]

Do you add this to other food or is that all you feed your dog?

[Eldee]

My homemade recipe:
One large slow cooker
Only buy marked down items or on sale items remember they are dogs not children
Stewing beef and skinless boneless chicken breasts
chicken giblets
turkey giblets
beef liver
low fat low sodium chicken broth ( 1 box )
Green beans
carrots
sweet potato
frozen blueberries, apple pieces, garlic powder, ground flax seed,
cubed squash
throw it all into the slow cooker and cook all day add more water later on if it appears dry
Remind husband not to touch it, it is for the dog.
I buy those dollar store plastic containers ( probably full of Chinese lead paint ) I think they are 6 for two dollars.
I fill them up and keep them in the freezer and add my stew to their kibble.
Which by the way is Back to Basics and Orijen.

[Author]

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