home made dog food

[pandasmom]

Hey Everyone!

 

I was wondering if anyone had any specific homemade dog food that there dog really loves, and if so, would you be willing to share your recipe?

I am so afraid of purchasing any dog food now that the food recall has grown again. I do have a recipe book for dog foods and treats and am going to start making there own food next week. So, I wondered if anyone had any "tried and true" recipes that they'd recommend for me.

I have started in the past few days giving them a combination of green beans, white rice and either ground beef or chicken. Plus there vitamins. I have heard that meat baby food is ok to give to, anyone know much about that? ANy help is appreciated. Thanks! -Amanda

[tumblehome]

Hey Everyone!

 

I was wondering if anyone had any specific homemade dog food that there dog really loves, and if so, would you be willing to share your recipe?

I am so afraid of purchasing any dog food now that the food recall has grown again. I do have a recipe book for dog foods and treats and am going to start making there own food next week. So, I wondered if anyone had any "tried and true" recipes that they'd recommend for me.

I have started in the past few days giving them a combination of green beans, white rice and either ground beef or chicken. Plus there vitamins. I have heard that meat baby food is ok to give to, anyone know much about that? ANy help is appreciated. Thanks! -Amanda

 

If it's homemade dog food you want (I assume you mean cooked food, not raw) you could check out http://b-naturals.com; I believe Lew has included four or five homecooked recipes in her diet section. Also, many people still refer to Dr. Richard Pitcairn's recipes but generally replace all or most of the grain with veggies.

Chris O

[pandasmom]

If it's homemade dog food you want (I assume you mean cooked food, not raw) you could check out http://b-naturals.com; I believe Lew has included four or five homecooked recipes in her diet section. Also, many people still refer to Dr. Richard Pitcairn's recipes but generally replace all or most of the grain with veggies.

Chris O

 

 

 

 

Oh, thank you! I actually got the pitcairn book, but im afraid to give them raw food. But i guess it's ok, since it's in the book. do you know what other veggies are good for them to eat besides green beans? Thanks for the link, Im going to check it out right now.

[Root Beer]

Canned pumpkin is a good veggie for dogs.

 

I also slice off the bottoms of asparagus stalks, cook them lightly, and give them to the dogs. In the fall, I give Speedy quite a bit of squash. I find that he does best with it sliced and lightly cooked. I pop it in a bowl with a little water in the bottom and microwave it for 30 seconds, let it cool, and it's all set!

 

I smash cucumber for him the food processor, and sometimes brussels sprouts.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

REcently Monica Segal posted the following recipes in light of current events - she normally does ONLY custom diets but bless her heart has been swamped with the demand for safe food to feed our pets. You can check out her web site and group to see her extensive experience and qualifications.

 

Here is her post:

Although I receive a lot of private email every day, today's requests are heart

wrenching. Desperate to find a home-cooked diet to feed their dogs that were

kibble fed just a few days ago, people have been emailing all day. I can't keep

up with the emails, so maybe this can help. Please find below, two diets, one

for a healthy 20 pd dog and another for a healthy 50 pd dog. These go against my

fundamental belief that generic diets aren't a good choice, but due to the food

recall, just about anything is better than feeding an unknown.

 

These diets are cooked because that's what people have asked for. I don't have

anything against raw diets - just to make it clear Please understand that I

won't be tweaking the diets if your dog happens to weigh 60 pds or 8 pounds or

whatever. The booklets on my site would help most people much more than these

recipes, but these should help in the meantime.

 

I've taken into consideration that most kibble fed dogs, especially ones eating

foods containing wheat gluten, may have different food tolerances. I've also

considered that these dogs are accustomed to more carbohydrates in the diet than

what many of us feed. For these reasons, these recipes are *not* indicative of

my usual diets. They use ingredients contained in many pet foods and are

formulated to make an easier transition. They offer no variety, which is also

not the usual way I go about things. However, people are asking for the simplest

recipe possible, and I'm trying to honor the requests.

 

You may crosspost to other lists, if the list rules allow. My goal is to help

dog owners, so go ahead and post to your breed lists, breeder lists etc - but

please post this in it's entirety, or not at all.

 

Please note that I have no way of knowing what supplements someone may have

access to, or what those supplements may contain. For this reason, the

supplements in these recipes are ones from my site, however, I am not offering

these recipes in order to boost sales of my supplements. You can go to my site

to look at what a supplement provides and buy a product that's the same, or as

close as possible, from another source. Just be sure that you are not adding

more minerals, and that includes the iodine is various brands of kelp.

 

The amounts of foods and supplements are per day unless noted otherwise. The

weight/measure of a food is the *cooked* weight/measure, not raw. Where weight

is noted, use a kitchen scale, not cup measurements. Cups measure volume, not

weight,

 

For a 20 pd dog:

 

4 oz chicken dark meat with skin, stewed

1 oz beef liver - every 6 days

3/4 cup enriched egg noodles

1 TBS carrot (optional)

3/4 tsp bone meal

1/4 tsp. NoSalt (found in grocery stores next to table salt)

1/16 tsp kelp

5 mg zinc citrate or gluconate

2 capsules, vitamin E -- per week

500 mg wild salmon oil or flaxseed oil

1 3/4 capsules magnesium citrate

2 capsules, Multi Mineral Complex -- per week

1/2 tablet, vitamin B compound, per week*

 

* B vitamins are water soluble and excreted through urine. They should be

provided often, so feed 1/4 tablet twice weekly. Also, B vitamins can upset an

empty stomach. Always feed with food. Best bet: tuck it in a hand held piece of

food and feed as a treat.

 

 

For a 50 pound dog:

 

8 oz ground beef, lean, 15% fat

1/3 oz beef liver

7 oz brown rice (boiled as 1 part rice in 3 parts water until very, very soft)

1 oz zucchini

1/8 tsp NoSalt

1/8 tsp kelp

1 capsule, cod liver oil

1 3/4 tsp bone meal

2 capsules, Multi Mineral Complex -- per week

1 tablet, vitamin B compound -- every 2 weeks

2 capsules, vitamin E 200 IU -- per week

 

These diets meet 2006 NRC recommended allowances. Nutrient requirements are not

linear to body weight. That is, a 100 pound dog does not have the requirements

of a 10 pound dog multiplied by ten. So, these recipes would need tweaking to

suit the weight of dogs weighing more or less than noted, but they're a start.

Feed as required to maintain healthy weight - until you can change the diets to

a more suitable profile for an individual dog.

 

Monica Segal - AHCW

http://www.monicasegal.com

Author of: "K9Kitchen" and "Optimal Nutrition"

Seminars by Invitation: Email monica@...

Consultations ~ Diet Analyses ~ Quality-Tested Supplements

 

Please note, I'm not an animal nutritionist - use this recipe or adapt it at your own risk. Be sure to consult your veterinarian, especially if your dog hasa pre-existing medical condition. And always get a thorough physical including complete bloodwork before starting any major diet change.

[pandasmom]

Thank you so so much everyone! I really appreciate this. I, like so many other people am just terrofied of the pet food out there and am not willing to take nay chances, so thanks a bunch.

 

oh, one question though - i noticed one post mentioned that the dogs needed to be seen by a Vet before switching there diets, why is that?

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Switching from processed food to homeade food is a major change and you want to get a checkup on your dog before you do it. That way, you can seperate any subsequent problems from pre-existing issues more easily. Trust me, your vet will almost certainly try to blame the homeade for any little thing that comes up.

[tumblehome]

Oh, thank you! I actually got the pitcairn book, but im afraid to give them raw food. But i guess it's ok, since it's in the book. do you know what other veggies are good for them to eat besides green beans? Thanks for the link, Im going to check it out right now.

 

You have to understand that dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates. So if you want to feed vegetables, you should add them after the essential meal itself has been created. While they may offer trace minerals--and this is why (I think) people continue to feed them--they should not be a significant part of the basic diet.

 

Green beans are probably not the best choice but lots of people sure do rely on them for filling up dogs. Depending on what else is on the menu, green beans range from harmless to intrusive. A meal that is already quite loaded with grains and other veggiesfor example has no need for even more plant material. A meal that is substantially meat can take extraneous vegetation.

 

If I were going to add vegetables to my dogs' menu, I myself would choose dark leafy stuff in an attempt to replicate browse. That said, as long as you limit veggies to topper status, whatever you want to blenderize or cook (steaming is probably least destructive), you can use.

 

It doesn't make sense (to me) to be fearful of food that dogs were eating long before kibble was invented. Raw meat is easily digestible, it is uncompromised by rendering or grains or organic chemistry, it retains more of its nutrients than cooked does. But if you need an alternative to commercial dog food and raw meat doesn't do it for you, following some well-researched and written cooked recipes isn't a bad way to go.

Chris O

[WWBC]

Here is a link to a raw food provider who happens to be in the Southeast. They are in NC, GA and FL. They have been in business for 30yrs. Their beef is raised and processed at their private facility. They have pure ground beef, a natural mix, raw green tripe, ground whole chicken(bones too), ground rabbit, kitten grind, trublue puppy, and beef heart. All available in 2# and 5# rolls and 30# cases. They have wonderful RMBs, a 30# case(which has apprx 50 bones in it) runs around $20. They also have Sojos and Europa mixes to go with the raw. The Sojos mix has grains like rolled oats, etc and the Europa mix is freeze dried veggies.

 

www.blueridgebeef.com

 

Wonderful people to deal with and are available to talk to when you need help.

 

WWBC

[pandasmom]

Switching from processed food to homeade food is a major change and you want to get a checkup on your dog before you do it. That way, you can seperate any subsequent problems from pre-existing issues more easily. Trust me, your vet will almost certainly try to blame the homeade for any little thing that comes up.

 

 

 

no way! you would think that a vet would be all for homemade food! that's dissapointing to know that they do that. But thanks for explaining that to me. I guess it's like when we, ourselves, switch from processed crappy food to organic, it's an adjustment, and that makes complete sense. Guess I better go call the vet! haha! Thanks again.

[pandasmom]

Here is a link to a raw food provider who happens to be in the Southeast. They are in NC, GA and FL. They have been in business for 30yrs. Their beef is raised and processed at their private facility. They have pure ground beef, a natural mix, raw green tripe, ground whole chicken(bones too), ground rabbit, kitten grind, trublue puppy, and beef heart. All available in 2# and 5# rolls and 30# cases. They have wonderful RMBs, a 30# case(which has apprx 50 bones in it) runs around $20. They also have Sojos and Europa mixes to go with the raw. The Sojos mix has grains like rolled oats, etc and the Europa mix is freeze dried veggies.

 

www.blueridgebeef.com

 

Wonderful people to deal with and are available to talk to when you need help.

 

WWBC

 

 

 

 

what's green tripe? and thanks for the link, ill go check it out. i am a little nervous about the whole raw diet, but seems like alot of people on these boards totally belive in it, so it must be ok!

[smileyzookie]

I am switching my cat and dog to raw, and its been fairly easy. If you research the prey model diet, it really makes a lot of sense. Basically, I'll just second everything Chris O said lol.

 

If you need help or need websites ect.. lemme know. I'll be happy to forward links and suggestions people sent me. Also the raw feeding group on yahoo has been SOOOOOOO helpful.

[doubleofarm]

I am involved with a canine epilepsy group and we always suggest a homemade diet for the epis. Click on the link below and about half way down the page on the left is the Nutrition section. There are a few diets and a section on supplements. These diets have been well researched as our founder is a doctor in metabolic nutrition. Many of our dogs have been on them and do very well. One caution is that they usually have fewer calories and fat than kibble so you need to feed more, sometimes up to 50% more. I can tell you that my dogs love the taste and smell of the home cooking.

 

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/site_map.htm

 

Tina DeAngelo

[pandasmom]

I am involved with a canine epilepsy group and we always suggest a homemade diet for the epis. Click on the link below and about half way down the page on the left is the Nutrition section. There are a few diets and a section on supplements. These diets have been well researched as our founder is a doctor in metabolic nutrition. Many of our dogs have been on them and do very well. One caution is that they usually have fewer calories and fat than kibble so you need to feed more, sometimes up to 50% more. I can tell you that my dogs love the taste and smell of the home cooking.

 

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/site_map.htm

 

Tina DeAngelo

 

 

Thanks so much Tina! I am going to read up on that so I can get the "kids" on the right supplements.