[Nick G]

I started cooking for my dogs recently and would like to know if the recipe I came up with is suitable for my dogs’ nutritional needs.

2 pieces of wild caught cod (about 1-1.5 lbs.)
2 7.5 oz can of low sodium pink salmon
4 eggs(shells included)
1 16 oz bag of split peas
1 cup of quinoa
1 cup of brown rice
1 16 oz half bag of broccoli
1 1/2 sweet potatoes
1 1/2 cup of blueberries
2 tablespoons of flax seed
2 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil
probiotics and vitamin supplements added

This feeds a 120 lb and 50 lb dog for about a day and a half.
I give my big guy human grade glucosamine.

I think my portions in the recipe may be off. If anyone spots other problems please let me know.
I’d like to alternate fish proteins only as I don’t approve of the inhumane treatment and filthy farm factory environments on which poultry, beef or pork are processed . If anything I may consider adding free range chicken as a supplemental protein along with the fish if necessary. I bought some wild caught mahi mahi for my next batch. I was unable to find information about that type of fish’s benefits or detriments in a dog’s diet.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[chris]

http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.ca/2012/06/home-made-diy-dog-food-recipes-grain.html

This is the site I use to make sure I have the right amount of food needed to sustain the right nutritional value the dogs need. It explains down to each measurement of each category. Hope it helps!

[Nick G]

Thank you, Chris. That link is very informative. Looks like I’m on the right path but need to add some spices and herbs.

[chris]

Nick G- Glad that worked wonders for you as it did for me! I spent countless hours on there reading.

[C4D]

I didn’t check everything, but if you include the eggshell from both eggs, you’ll end up with too much calcium. Whole Dog Journal has several articles on home made diets. Karen Becker has a book as well.

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_7/features/Home-Prepared-Dog-Food-Nutritional-Information_20568-1.html

[Nick G]

@C4D
Thank you for the link. A bit confused though because the author says that a dog should have 800-1000 mg of calcium per lb of food but you said to not use the egg shells because they’d get too much. Do eggshells have that much calcium? I’m feeding a 120 lb and 50 lb dog by the way.

Thank you,
Nick

[Julie g]

the ingredients look good but as far as the egg shell goes grind it up separately. I cook for my dog and I use eggshell calcium for him…he is a 85 pound Doberman he gets a half a teaspoon (kind of heaped up) in the morning and a half a teaspoon at night. I wash the shells before and after cracking them set them out to dry usually at least 24 hours. then I use a coffee bean grinder and grind it into a powder. I keep mine in a clean dry glass container and use as needed.

[C4D]

Hi Nick,

I tried to find the info on eggshells as we had this discussion on another forum. I can’t find it, but yes, they are essentially all calcium plus essential minerals and if you use the entire eggshell, it throws off the calcium/phosphorus ratio. That’s why you dry the egg and grind it up. I’m including a couple of other links regarding eggshell as they really need to be cooked to kill the possible bacteria, particularly if you store them.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/490605-eggshell-calcium-as-a-source-of-calcium/

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1145333/2

This is a good site for recipes as well. This is the calcium discussion:

http://dogaware.com/articles/dwcalcium.html

This is a cat site but it discusses the calcium/eggshell quantity:

http://www.holisticat.com/en/raw-feeding/2-esp.html

Good Luck with it! 🙂

[Author]

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