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I've decided that I'm going to start feeding my dogs homemade dog food. Initially, I was only going to do it to see if my dog has allergies, but the dog food recalls (his has not been recalled YET) have me thinking that it's time to stop buying dog food entirely.
Something my dogs (and the cat, too) adore is white rice or barley cooked in regular broth on fat pork and lots of vegetables. I don't think it's very original but when I saw my cat along with the dogs virtually gobbling down the carrots, I was in shock!
As to the portions, I guess it depends on the dog. I didn't have this problem, because I just gave them the whole pot and they only ate as much as they could so next time I knew. Some dogs aren't like that, though. They would eat until they drop so it may be dangerous.
Besides, you will never be sure to provide them with all the necessary nutrients and vitamins on homemade food. My vet told me I'd need to have them monitored carefully and enrich their diet with vitamin supplements. This is the reason I decided to stick to dry food, eventually. I use Pro-Formance. I'm not sure if it's available where you live but a good equivalent would be Royal Canin. I don't think it will be recalled?
Anyway, whatever you decide, I think the most important thing would be to consult a good vet, first. They could provide you with some recipes, advise on the portions and vitamins. Especially if you suspect your dog may be allergic.
What size dog do you have, Hopes? I've fed an exclusively raw diet for about 10 years, long before raw was in vogue! I have Rottweilers, but I do have some great combos and I can tell you how much you can feed and maybe you can tweak that accordingly?
Why do you think your pet has allergies, and what are you feeding right now? Look on the bag or can - if there is any wheat gluten, corn, or preservatives in there, bang - you've probably hit it, and it most likely is corn. There was a recent thread on Homemade Pet Foods - if you do a search you may come up with some info, but I'll be glad to help you any way I can. My "glop" as it is fondly known around here came from a champion breeder of titled show Rottweilers who has been feeding raw for about 20 years.
As for nutrition, I'm not so sure it's hard to meet their daily requirements. Years ago, I had a peak-a-poo that lived to be 22 years old. She wouldn't eat dog food. It wasn't our choice, she just wouldn't have anything to do with it. We fed her cheerios and people food from all food groups. Cheerios was the staple of her diet though with all the other food groups added on throughout the day. I know it sounds crazy, but that's how she was fed. We got her when I was 6 years old, and she lived until I was 28. Granted, I'm not proposing that I feed my Lab and Beagle/Basset Cheerios plus all the food groups. I just think it's interesting that my dog lived for 22 years on that diet. And her vet thought it was interesting too. He asked what we fed her since she was living so long. When I told him, he was impressed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by markablue
I didn't have this problem, because I just gave them the whole pot and they only ate as much as they could so next time I knew. Some dogs aren't like that, though. They would eat until they drop so it may be dangerous.
My dogs are the type that would eat themselves to death! LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by markablue
Anyway, whatever you decide, I think the most important thing would be to consult a good vet, first. They could provide you with some recipes, advise on the portions and vitamins. Especially if you suspect your dog may be allergic.
The vet recommended a 10 week diet of venison/potatoes/green beans to determine allergies for the Lab. That's what got me thinking about switching them both entirely to people food. When I started researching recipes, I noticed that many people have become too afraid to use dog food because of the recalls. The more I thought about it, I figured it would be the safest way to feed them. Plus, it would be very affordable too. I can get all the venison I want for free. Mind you, saving money isn't the motivating factor---just an extra bonus.
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Originally Posted by Sam I Am
What size dog do you have, Hopes?
I have two dogs. I have a tall Lab that's 92lbs and a Beagle/Basset mix that's 56lbs. The lab is a perfect weight. The beagle/basset could lose a few pounds, but since he has a lot of basset in him, he's not really overweight. The Lab gets 2 cups per day and the BB gets 1-2/3 cups per day of dry dog food.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam I Am
I've fed an exclusively raw diet for about 10 years, long before raw was in vogue! I have Rottweilers, but I do have some great combos and I can tell you how much you can feed and maybe you can tweak that accordingly?
So you feed raw? You don't cook the meats?
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Originally Posted by Sam I Am
Why do you think your pet has allergies...
The Lab has always had allergies----licking hs paws, getting ear infections, nibbling at his skin. When I read on here that allergies can cause ear infections, I talked to the vet about it yesterday. She recommended ruling out a food allergy first since his (the Lab) allergies are year round. The BB's allergies are only during ragweed season.
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Originally Posted by Sam I Am
....and what are you feeding right now?
Purina One Lamb & Rice. They've always eaten Lamb & Rice (a more expensive brand when they were younger) and the lab has always had allergies regardless of which Lamb & Rice brand we used.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam I Am
.... Look on the bag or can - if there is any wheat gluten, corn, or preservatives in there, bang - you've probably hit it, and it most likely is corn.
Next time I buy a bag, I'll make sure to look. I dont have a bag because I dump it all into a food storage bin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam I Am
There was a recent thread on Homemade Pet Foods - if you do a search you may come up with some info,.....
Thanks for the tip!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam I Am
.....but I'll be glad to help you any way I can. My "glop" as it is fondly known around here came from a champion breeder of titled show Rottweilers who has been feeding raw for about 20 years.
I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have. I'm not planning to start the diet until the end of November. I have to wait for deer season because nobody has any venison left from last deer season.
Hopes, I'll answer in more detail if you need it...Marka is correct, Royal Canin is a great food. Another one that is venison and potato and very easy on the system, with no corn, wheat, preservatives, or by-products or fillers is by Nature's Recipe. You might try changing over to that and seeing if it helps any. Purina does have wheat, wheat gluten, and corn gluten in it...you may have nailed it on the allergies. You can get that Nature's Recipe brand at Petsmart or online either one.
When changing kibble, or from kibble to raw, I've always done it a little at a time (I fostered Rottweilers a lot, so we were always switching diets from crud from a shelter to something more nutritious). You might try getting one of the venison blends and mixing it 75/25 and then reducing the amount of Purina until you're feeding straight raw or straight top grade kibble. Keeps their stomachs from going haywire. I've had that, too. It ain't pretty.
The basics? I feed raw chicken backs - I buy them in 40 lbs. cases @ 49 cents a pound - the grocery store auto orders them for me once every 7-10 days, but bear in mind I feed 6 Rotties and a mutt. We do a lot of chicken. Just the raw meat - the Rotties get 1/2 chicken back twice a day and about a cup of glop. For snacks they get a carrot slice or an apple slice or whatever is handy - I steer pretty clear of any dairy other than yogurt, which does keep the stomach and intestine enzymes balanced.
My glop is free...we cut a deal with the grocer that we can have all the vegetables they've taken off the shelf because they aren't quite as pretty...nothing spoiled, of course, but there's nothing wrong with it. If you can work out the same deal with your grocer it sure is a lot cheaper. I run spinach (or any kind of greens I can find), carrots, apples, melons, squash, zucchini, green beans, bananas - mostly just whatever is available that isn't poison to them - through the food processor real quick and chop it down. Save the juice that comes out of it. I do this with raw veggies and fruits (no avocados, tomatoes, grapes, onion, citrus, mushrooms - not very many strawberries...just google foods poisonous to dogs and you'll get quite the list)...anyway, I grind it up kind of fine in the food processor. You can always use frozen veggies, but dogs' stomachs aren't like ours, they don't process quite as well, so I do grind it whether fresh or frozen. The chicken backs are fine raw - just don't cook them at all because the cooked bones are dry and sharp and can pierce their mouth or belly or intestine. I leave them in halves and my dogs chew on them - it cleans their teeth - but I do know people who run their chicken parts through a meat grinder. Anyway, I put the glop in a stewpot or canning pot and add a container of yogurt, some boiled eggs, maybe some applesauce or something unless there's a bunch of apples in the mix...and I add fish oil to mine, some glucosamine tabs since I have some older dogs, and maybe a few vitamin tablets if they are handy. I make a BUNCH at one time and freeze it in gallon bags. The night before I just thaw one out, put about a cup of glop in the bowl with a half chicken back twice a day, and everyone is happy. This would be for my dogs that are 90 lbs. and up...the muttsky is a 45 lbs. terrier, he might get 1/2 C...the senior Rottie weighs about 70 but she doesn't get much more than the mutt because she does nothing but sleep and I'm trying to keep the weight off her hips.
I love raw. A lot of people fancy it up with all kinds of vitamins, but I just vary their meat source a little - about once a week I will give an organ meat in place of the chicken, and another night I give jack mackeral or tuna - and the grocer will make you a heckuva deal on fresh fish he's getting ready to throw away, too. Just throw the whole fish in the bowl, head and all - they don't care. If you notice your dog starting to eat grass or dirt you may need to throw in a vitamin for sure - mine have never had that problem.
My dogs do not smell bad. Their allergies they developed when we lived in the Caribbean and had to feed kibble are gone. They have no gas, which Rottweilers are known for! As disgusting as it might sound, they poop very little - and when they do, it simply dries up like a white ash and blows away within a couple of days. There are no fillers in their food - everything is being metabolized, so there's very little waste matter. They don't have to have their teeth cleaned...and they are as healthy as horses.
I just try to remember that dogs in the wild don't get vitamins added to their food - but I do stay in touch with my cousin the hunter for venison, rabbit or any other game or fish parts he's going to throw out.
Hope that gets you started - I just do my glop once a week on Sunday afternoon and we're good to go for a week at a time. Since the veggies and fruits are free, all we pay for is the chicken - and I guess we spend $1.50 a day on that...work out the kibble costs for 600 lbs. of dogs per day and now you know why we go the free route!
I've decided that I'm going to start feeding my dogs homemade dog food. Initially, I was only going to do it to see if my dog has allergies, but the dog food recalls (his has not been recalled YET) have me thinking that it's time to stop buying dog food entirely.
Does anyone have any recipes they can share?
How do I figure out portion sizes?
I have a great grinder that I use to make dog food. I grind up an entire chicken along with a bag or two of Yams already cut into cubes and maybe half a bag of organic frozen spinach. I add saflower oil and ground flax seeds. You want to make sure your dog is eating bones because they need the calcium. You can grind the bones (chicken or rabbit) in a grinder like I do or you can add human grade bone meal to the diet. I freeze my food and take it out when needed.
Something my dogs (and the cat, too) adore is white rice or barley cooked in regular broth on fat pork and lots of vegetables. I don't think it's very original but when I saw my cat along with the dogs virtually gobbling down the carrots, I was in shock!
As to the portions, I guess it depends on the dog. I didn't have this problem, because I just gave them the whole pot and they only ate as much as they could so next time I knew. Some dogs aren't like that, though. They would eat until they drop so it may be dangerous.
Besides, you will never be sure to provide them with all the necessary nutrients and vitamins on homemade food. My vet told me I'd need to have them monitored carefully and enrich their diet with vitamin supplements. This is the reason I decided to stick to dry food, eventually. I use Pro-Formance. I'm not sure if it's available where you live but a good equivalent would be Royal Canin. I don't think it will be recalled?
Anyway, whatever you decide, I think the most important thing would be to consult a good vet, first. They could provide you with some recipes, advise on the portions and vitamins. Especially if you suspect your dog may be allergic.
Good luck
You don't need to enrich the food with vitamins if you feed quality raw food. I would never feed my dog dried kibble again. It truly is crap that been sold to us by the pet food companies and all the millions they put into marketing.
You don't need to enrich the food with vitamins if you feed quality raw food. I would never feed my dog dried kibble again. It truly is crap that been sold to us by the pet food companies and all the millions they put into marketing.
greenie
Yes, I thought about it, too. Then, I thought about all the chemicals that are put even into the best "natural" human food. Quality raw food would probably be awesome but it's hard to get where I live. I really can have no idea what they fed the animals with. Now, if I had a ranch and bred my own animals, I'd probably go for it.
I have a great grinder that I use to make dog food. I grind up an entire chicken along with a bag or two of Yams already cut into cubes and maybe half a bag of organic frozen spinach. I add saflower oil and ground flax seeds. You want to make sure your dog is eating bones because they need the calcium. You can grind the bones (chicken or rabbit) in a grinder like I do or you can add human grade bone meal to the diet. I freeze my food and take it out when needed.
greenie
Wow - yours sounds much simpler.....! Mine just sounds much ... free-er, LOL!
I forgot to say that I added cooked brown rice to the glop I make - we eat a lot of brown rice, so I just save the leftovers and throw them in when I make a pot of food for the dogs.
Greenie, I've always put some olive oil in too, although the fish oil seems to be fine - is there a reason for the safflower oil? Just curious...I live ina town that is a wide spot in the road and I don't know that I've ever even seen safflower oil here. Most likely I wasn't paying attention though....
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