 MIX AND MATCH Meat and Rice RECIPE – Use your dog’s favorite lean ground meat, and interchange the rice with pasta, or other carbohydrate. (Make 4 portions for a 20 pound dog @ 2 servings daily)
Precook rice, meat and make a veggie/fruit mix ahead of time Use any lean meat such as chicken, turkey, venison, lamb, beef. Remove fat. Use brown or white rice (or subsitute cooked macaroni potatoes) For the fruit/veggie puree I usually stick with the favourite of carrots and apples. I mix 3/4 vegetables to 1/4 fruit. Cook fruit, cool and puree in food processor. Mix meat, veggie/fruit puree, starch and salt together, drizzle with oil and serve. Separate into 4 equal servings and feed 2 servings per day. (This equals 2 days worth of food.) Make bigger batches when you have the time and freeze in portions for easy meal time.  |
BASIC TOP TEN TIPS FOR MAKING AND FEEDING HOMEMADE DOG FOOD
I am not a pet nutritionist, and am doing this through investigating, educating myself, and reading about the horrible commercial pet food industries disgusting manufacturing for profit mentality.
Always check with your vet before starting your pet on a new diet. If cooking for a dog does not seem to be something you want to start doing, there are many recommended commercially made foods such as :
NOTE: *TABLE SCRAPS are not “homemade dog food” and are not nutritious or healthy for your dog.
HEALTHY HOMEMADE DOG FOOD RECIPES: TOP TEN BASIC TIPS.
- I checked with my veterinarian, and am doing this with his approval. Always check with your own professional.
- Slowly wean your dog onto the new food. A sudden switch could cause stomach upset. Let him/her get used to the new food by gradually mixing in the new food while slowly decreasing the old food. Once adjusted to one new food try another using this method. You will find that your dog will tolerate many different types of foods, just as we do. A variety diet is much more enjoyable than the same bowl of dry kibble every day!
- Ensure a well balanced diet by mixing 40% protein, with the balance consisiting of fruit and vegetables and carbohydrates, in their daily diet. Following this basic formula will ensure a well balanced, healthy nutritious diet.
- I always cook the meat before serving, and let it cool off to room temperature. I found that feeding my dogs their food hot or too warm seemed to cause them stomach upset. (Lady always vomits if her food is warm – yuck) Raw Meat can be used instead of cooked if that is your preference.
- Organ meat (liver, kidneys etc.) and occasionally adding eggs are very good for your pet, and as we all know variety in our diets is always nice.
- Feed your pet the daily amount as recommended by your vet, according to the animal’s size, or you can use this dog food feeding chart, that gives you the proper weight to food amounts. I separate their daily requirement into two portions – morning and evening.
- Rotate food for variety. I buy the meat every week that is “last day” sale. At my meat market this is the meat that is still for sale for human consumption, but has to be sold by today. My butcher sells this at 50% off the sticker price. I then bring it home and use it the same day, or freeze it and make the freshly cooked meals in batches later.
- This is actually cheaper than the inexpensive dog food that I used to buy. I had a week’s worth of fast fry steaks for my two 80 pound Labrador retrievers that cost under $20.00. Just look for and stock up on sales. I made a big batches of meat, rice and veggie stew for them and freeze it in individual portions. Simple as when we grab for a frozen dinner on those nights when we’re too tired to cook, but nutritious, healthy and homemade.
- Use unprocessed oatmeal, brown rice, bulgur, millet, whole wheat couscous, barley, pasta or potatoes as the starch requirement. I slightly overcook this ingredient, as raw grains are not properly digested by dogs.
- Use fresh or frozen fruit and veggies and cook until tender. Make a puree after cooking any combination of veggies and fruits that your dog likes. Don’t add extra salt when cooking veggies. Use more veggies to fruits (3/4 to 1/4) Start with basics such as carrots/ green beans and apples. Get creative by trying new tastes and flavours as your dog will tolerate, such as: tomatoes, peas, corn, blueberries, bananas, peaches etc.
DO NOT USE GRAPES AS A FRUIT PORTION AS THEY ARE TOXIC TO DOGS.
***Don’t forget All-Natural Nutritional Health Supplement, when MAKING PET FOOD AT HOME!***
Adding vitamins and supplements to our home made dog food is essential as the food will be deficient of certain necessary vitamins and minerals for optimum health.
Bone meal (Calcium) is essential to a homemade dog food diet. Dogs calcium requirements are given according to body weight. The calcium is to replace bones that wild dogs originally ate when feeding in the wild.
This necessary addition can be found in human grade bonemeal, which is available through pet supply stores, health-food stores and of course speciality on line pet stores.
Make sure you NEVER use the garden grade bone meal as this contains toxins, such as lead.
I also give my two Labs, Lady and Lola a daily multi-vitamin for dogs, according to their weight also when they are on their homemade dog food diet.
Peas and corn count as a starch, not a vegetable.
Crushed egg shells can provide calcium substitution.
[...] is generally caused by your dog ingesting chemicals and preservatives, rather then an all natural homemade dog food diet. Just by changing your dog's diet, you will likely see a much healthier, more energetic and [...]
[...] is generally caused by your dog ingesting chemicals and preservatives, rather then an all natural homemade dog food diet. Just by changing your dog’s diet, you will likely see a much healthier, more energetic [...]
I’m concerned about the “human grade bonemeal.” Many years ago, Adele Davis, a nutritionist and author, touted the wonders of what she called Tiger Milk that contained bone meal. She ended up with bone cancer. I think it’s important to know from what cows, living under what conditions, feeding off what soil are contributing to the manufacture of bone meal. If the soil is contaminated, the chemicals will go into the bones. To me that would be too much of a challenge, so I will forgo bone meal. There’s plenty of plants with calcium such as spinach that contain good amounts of calcium. I would like to know what you think of adding agricultural grade diatomaceous earth to pet food to control parasites?
[...] is generally caused by your dog ingesting chemicals and preservatives, rather then an all natural homemade dog food diet. Just by changing your dog's diet, you will likely see a much healthier, more energetic and [...]
It’s always a relief when someone with obvious eperxitse answers. Thanks!
Thanks Patty
Jane
I would not recommend CORN as part of your dog food recipes as it has been noted to cause allergies in pets.
Fresh corn, cooked and mashed is not the culprit in dog allergies. ( See # 10 above)
The general consensus is that the over processed corn which is used as a filler in cheap dog food is the ongoing problem. When fed this type of diet daily for years, some dogs become allergic, sick or worse.
Here is my article explaining commercial dog food ingredients that are undesirable.
About unwanted ingredients in commercial dog food here.
Here is a list of people foods that are toxic to dogs, and should never be fed to them.
Thank you for visiting
Jane
[...] is generally caused by your dog ingesting chemicals and preservatives, rather then an all natural homemade dog food diet. Just by changing your dog’s diet, you will likely see a much healthier, more energetic [...]