# Switching to Homemade Dog Food!



## iheartdogs (Jun 15, 2006)

After reading alot on dog foods, and never finding the 'right' one, I've desided it would be healthier to just make my own food at home. I read this.. http://www.ehow.com/how_12697_make-homemade-dog.html ..and it seems easier then I thought. I was just wondering how much I should put in? I know to have 40 percent meat, 30 percent vegetables and 30 percent starch (or al least that's what it says on the website) Sammy is about 40lbs. Also what kindas of meats, vegtables, and starch should I use? is there any wabsites that have actual recipies? anything useful! Also any infromational sites about Homemade Dog Foods is appreciated, like the one I posted above.


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## OwnedBySix (Jun 12, 2006)

I have this recipe that I use for my seizure-pup from time to time, but it is ok for all dogs.

*Healthy Adult Diet
*
*Below is a very simple diet for healthy adult dogs with canine epilepsy. It is easy to make and is also very balanced nutritionally. There is a success story at the end of this article. There are two ways of making this recipe. 

1. Using a crock pot which cooks while you are at work or at night while sleeping.

2. Cooking all the ingredients separately.*
*3. **For full supplementation, please read the list of supplements in the article "Supplements For Home Cooked Diet".**

And if your dog has a weight problem, you will find the weight loss diet at:
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/weight_loss.htm


1. Healthy Adult Diet - Crock Pot recipe

This can be put together in approximately 20 minutes and ready 8 hours later. It requires a crock pot or slow cooker, which can be purchased at any department store or discount chain. You can also order one through the internet for $25. Model# 3040-BC (4 quart) or Model # 33551-FW (5 quart) Here is the link:

http://www.crockpot.com/support/productshowroom.html

Click on "Traditional Slow Cookers" and select the one best for you. Or, call The Rival Co. Consumer Help number is 1-800-557-4825.

</U>You will need the following ingredients:

4 halved boneless, skinless chicken breasts - frozen. These can be purchased at any Wal-Mart. They are usually around $8.00 for a package of 10. I buy the Wal-Mart brand but Tyson also makes them. Or you can use 4 cups frozen fish, or 4 cups frozen lean ground meat (about 2 lbs)

1 cup zucchini sliced thickly
1 cup sliced carrots sliced thickly
1 cup string beans cut up
1/2 cup white potato cut in 2" pieces
1/2 cup yam or sweet potato cut in 2" pieces

Combine all ingredients (leave chicken breasts frozen) in crock pot along with 4 cups of water. Put crock pot on "Low" setting and cook all day while you're at work or all night while you're sleeping, approximately 8 hours or until everything is tender. After the mixture is cooked, put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, skim as much of the fat off the top as you can with a spoon. Then you can mix and mash everything together so that the meat and veggies are well blended together. (If your crock pot has a removable liner, put the whole thing in the fridge - if not, you can transfer the cooked food to another container to sit overnight.) Once you have mixed everything together well, you should refrigerate the food - either in the container you have it in or divided up into individual meals. Do not leave it in the refrigerator for longer than three days - if you have more than you will use in three days, please freeze the extra portions. Be sure to reheat each meal in a microwave or at least bring it to room temperature. 

2. Healthy Adult Diet - cooked separately

4 cups skinned and boiled chicken or fish or ground meat
1 cup zucchini (if zucchini is not available use summer squash)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped string beans
1/2 cup white potato 
1/2 cup yam or sweet potato

Skin a whole chicken (or 2 or 3) and put in a large covered pot with water almost to the top of the chicken. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Drain the chicken in a colander and save the chicken soup in a bowl. 
Put the chicken soup in the fridge and skim the fat when cold. You can add a little of the heated chicken soup to each meal. This gives trace minerals and gelatin to the diet. Meals should not be eaten right out of the fridge but either brought to room temperature or warmed in a microwave.

Scrub the potatoes well and cut them up crosswise into 2" pieces so the skin circles the potatoes. OR, you can peel the potatoes before you cook them. Simmer the white potatoes in a covered pot for 30 minutes and then add the yam/sweet potatoes and cook both for another 30 minutes. When cooled, remove the skins.

If using ground beef, simmer in a frying pan with a very small amount of oil. (If you dog is more sensitive to fat, you can also boil the beef, discard the liquid and then rinse it well with hot tap water.) 
If using fish, simmer/poach in a frying pan with a small amount of water until the fish is white. 

Wash the zucchini (or string beans/summer squash), carrots and celery and cut up and steam or cook in a covered pot until very tender.

Mix all the above ingredients together until it is well blended. This will give you approximately 8 cups of food. Depending on the size of your dog, you can double or triple the recipe. One recipe can be made with chicken and the next time you can make it with ground meat for variety. You should only need to make this recipe once a week.

Try and feed in 3 or 4 small meals (depending on your schedule), the last one being at bedtime. Smaller meals spread apart will burn more calories. Put one meal portions in baggies and freeze what you won't use in 3 days. Then you can put them in the fridge the day before and they will be thawed out. You should be able to cook once a week and freeze what you don't use. This recipe will stay fresh for 3 days in the fridge.*
*For supplementation, use an Infant's liquid multi vitamin (use the dose for the body weight recommended). Or alternatively, you can give 150 IU's of Vit E and some raw calf or beef liver. 1 oz for each 10 lbs per week. Cut the liver up and freeze it and give pieces as a treat. Not more than 1 oz per 10 lbs a week. This gives lots of natural A and B. Or for full supplementation, please read the list of supplements in the article "Supplements For Home Cooked Diet".

Here's the link for the supplements:http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/supplements.html
*


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## iheartdogs (Jun 15, 2006)

thanx! that's great!


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## bigdawgs (May 21, 2006)

If you do switch to home made, give them sardines or mackerel 2 timnes a week or add fish oil. Make sure they have plenty of esther c and Vit e. They need the omega-3 fatty acids for their skin and coat. I raw fed my dogs for a long time, and they did wonderfully. I stopped due to time constraint when we moved. I need to go back to it.


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## iheartdogs (Jun 15, 2006)

thanx, what recipe did u use? how much of what?

ok, I think it would just be easier right now for me to feed my dog dry food. There's a feed store that sells Canidae, which I think is a great brand! The store is practicly the first store I see when I drive down the rode...pretty kewl!


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## GSD lover (Apr 8, 2006)

Homemade dog food sounds awesome, I would love to do that but I don't think my husband would go for it. He thought I was crazy when I started buying Bil-Jack.


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## bigdawgs (May 21, 2006)

In all actuality, raw/homemade isn't any more expensive than the premium brand kibbles. zit is much more time comsuming, however. The only thing I cooked was the veggies, as the cellular structure of raw vegtables are not broken down in a canine digestive tract. If the veggies were frozen, flash freezing breaks the cels enough for adequate digestion and nutrient absorbtion. Many of you will probably disagree, raw feeding seems to be highly controversial, and I am used t hearing it. I just know my dogs teeth gums and coats were much better on a raw diet than on any kibble.


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## gojo431 (Aug 20, 2006)

Read a book about a bunch of monks that raised shepards. Cool reading actually. This is a high protien diet they recommend:

Freez ground beef to kill the bacteria.
Thaw the ground beef.
Mix ground beef with raw egg and sprinkle with garlic salt.
Serve as is.

Great protien and great for the coat.

Have a collie lab mix. Tried this meal on him. Wow he slimmed down, muscled up and his coat shines like the morning sun.


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## luv4gsds (Jul 27, 2006)

I feed raw diet to my dogs. It isn't no more time comsuming than fixing your meals. You have to remembers that dogs need 50/50 calcium and phosphorus ratio when it comes to the meat. I feed my dogs 85% meat with bone, 15% veggies & fruits. I give a pound and half of meat with bone along with the veggies and fruit pulped I add linatone plus (daily essential fatty acids supplement), one cup of brown rice, one egg with shell to their food. I give organ meat ones a week. I rotate my meat and bone from chicken, beef and pork. Meat is phosphorus and the bones are calcium you have make sure this is 50/50, like chicken wings, chicken backs, chicken legs, ribs and so on.


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## RoadDog (Aug 22, 2006)

I used to work for a lady who made her own dog food. She raised fox hounds. She would take a huge bucket, put in shredded beet pulp, shredded alfalfa, meat and bone meal, liquid pig fat, crushed corn, and flax seed. mix it all with water until it made a slop, and give it to the dogs. It was pretty nasty, put all her dogs looked really good. Google homeade dog food, and see what you can come up with.


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## Chrissie (Sep 14, 2006)

check out the pitbull forum..there are tons of threads on feeding raw, or homecooked diets..


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## Pitbull (Sep 24, 2006)

This is a great website to help you out when adjusting your portions, or trying to figure out how much calcium vs phosphorus a certain food item has, etc. Its a great aid:

NutritionData's Nutrition Facts Calorie Counter

There are also a few good books that I can recommend for you...you should do quite a bit of research before you get into a home made diet...it requires some time, patience, balancing, adjusting and variety. Here are 2 of the books that I like best in terms of home cooked food:

K9 Kitchen by Monica Segal
Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog by Volhard and Brown


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