Home made dog food

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Most people know how much I LOVE my boys. I lost one last fall and I sure hope it wasn't due to the food recall. I have decided to play around with some recipes and make my own dog food. Has anyone else ever made their own dog food?

The rule as I understand it, is 40% meat, 30% vegetables, and 30% starch. The best starches for dogs are brown rice, potatoes, and oatmeal. Tiny amounts of COOKED garlic are okay for repell fleas, but NEVER give a dog raw garlic as it is poisonous. I will post my recipes as soon as I make something successful.

I am thinking along the lines of boiled chicken or turley, or cooked ground beef, mixed with baby food of carrots and such and mixed with rice, oatmeal, or boiled potatoes.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I made the dog food today and my picky chihuahuas ate it like they haven't eaten in days! They absolutely loved it! I will talk to the Vet soon to ask his opinion about what he thinks.

Here is my recipe:
1 1/2 cups brown rice
1/4 teaspoon or a tad more of COOKED garlic (I cooked it with the rice)
1 jar baby food carrots
1 jar baby food green beans
2 1/2 cups finely diced boiled chicken
2 boiled eggs, finely diced as you would for egg salad
the egg shells from the boiled eggs, finely pulsed into powder for minerals

Mix all incredients together. This will only keep for 3 days and no longer!

[cat lover]

DeBora I have several dog and cat food recipes that I have been wanting to put in a cookbook form for myself as they are scattered in all my files! I've made several over time and the dogs and cats all seem to enjoy them. Recently due to the pet food recall I was making most of the 12 cat and dogs foods. Two of their favorite things have been what I call beef and chicken stew. For the beef stew I take abot a 10 pound combination of beef stew meat and minute steaks cut up into large size pieces. Fill a large soup kettle with that and cover about 2" above the meat with water. I boil the meat till almost done. Then add some garlic powder, and carrrots, peas, and potatoes, and fresh steamed green beans. Cook this till veggies are tender and then add 2 cans beef broth and cornstarch as a thickener. Beef Stew!

For the chicken stew I use wings, and thigh meat unskinned and boil it till cooked. Then debone it leaving all the meat and skin; just minus the bones.Add cooked rice with some additional chicken broth if necessary, I add steamed peas to it and usually on this one I don't need to thicken it any. Chicken Stew!

Not spicy or like a people recipe, but the dogs and cats have enjoyed it a lot. I usually continue to add some dry cat or dog food per serving to keep them interested in that food though! I also bought a bottle of multi vitmains from my vet that I add to each servings to be sure they are getting what they need. Then since they ar eating more soft food this way I give them more chewable treats to help with keeping their teeth clean.

Once I find some of more other recipes I havre used I'll post them here. I even have some doggie biscuits that they love and they aren['t hard to make. I picked up a dog bone cookie cutter somewhere along the line that I use, but you could make them any shape really! (they don't care! ---LOL)

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I have read that organ meat is the best. Next time I go to the store I will have to look into buying that and test more recipes. I think this recipe will make 3-4 days worth for my little chihuahuas.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

The Vet told me the Science Diet is one of the few dog foods on the market that hasn't caused problems for dogs. However, I told him that my dogs were finicky eaters, as are most chihuahuas. He gave me several diets for dogs and for cats. He recommended the following for mine, if they have no health issues.

Canine Restricted Protein Diet

1/4 pound beef (do not use lean round chuck)
2 cups cooked white rice without salt
1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
3 slices white bread, crumbled
1 teaspoon calcium carbonate (you can use ground egg shells or purchase this from the health food store)

Cook beef in skillet until lightly browned. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix well. This mixture is somewhat dry and its palatability can be improved by adding water (not milk). Keep covered in refrigerator. Yield 1 1/2 pounds.

I will probably substitute chicken gizzards for the beef though or alternate meats depending on their tastebuds. You can use the other recipe if your dogs have healthy kidneys. You should supplement with a canine multivitamin, which I am.

I also have diets for ultra low protein diets for kidney failure, higly digestible diet, reducing diet, hypoallergenic diet, and liquid diet if anyone is interested.

[cat lover]

Here is one of the dog biscuit recipes I use

1 cup flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup powdered milk
6 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Combine first five ingredients. Cut in margarine till mixture looks like cornmeal. Stir in sugar with egg and add to dry ingredients. Add water to make a stiff dough and knead dough on a floured board till smooth. Roll till 1/2" thick and cut with cookie cutter. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees on a greased cookie sheet. Makes about 2 dozen biscuits depending on size of cookie cutter you use.

[Coll]

My dad gives his dog a lot of chicken. He boils it and pulls it off the bone. I think he gets thighs when they are real cheap. Sometimes he'll add some rice and veggies like carrots and peas. He gives it to her in her dish. Doesn't make it look like actual dog food or she won't eat it.

[Bilby]

What is the shelf life of these recipes I take it they have to be used within a few days?

I was told by the vet raw bones are the best for dogs, don't know about cats, as the bones when cooked splinter to easily and they choke, also raw is more easily digestible. My dog loves to lick the marrow out of the raw bones.

My dog hates peas and no matter how few, or how tasty the gravy is she will actually lick the gravy off the peas and leave them LOL

[cat lover]

Bilby,for the homemade foods I use the same time period as if it was food we were going to eat. Sometimes I freeze portions in zip loc snack size bags which works out to a nice portion size for most.
I don't give any animals chicken bones as they splinter easy, but anything else works.

Coll, I usually always look n the reduced meat section and pick up what I can; if I don't need it right then I freeze it immediaely and use later. If I have the need for protein and don't see any marked down or have any in the freezer I buy whatever meat is on sale. I also shop at a processing plant where I get soup bones for 70 cents a pound. They call them soup bones, but there is so much meat on them you could actually mince it and make stuffed peppers from all the meat! But I leave them as is and boil them and each dog gets one and the outdoor cats like to chew the meat off them.

I even get a whole rack of ribs at walmart reeduced once in awhile and they are all in heaven when they get those!

[Barb]

Receipe sounds interesting, but how much does it make up? how much do you feed them at one time?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I found a recipe for Barky Burgers (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_37015,00.html?rsrc=search) on Foodnetwork yesterday. These are grilled burgers, which are edible for humans, are made for dogs. There was a Vet on the show that created these so that he babies could enjoy BBQs too.

Barb, I am still playing around with recipes, so I don't know how much they make. I give my dogs 1/2 cup of homemade dogfood per day, but sometimes I also give them a little of the store bought dry. I supplement with a vitamin to be safe as the Vet suggested.

[tater03]

I never thought of making my own dog food until all this stuff with the recalls. But I had no clue how to do it. I am going to try some of the suggestions mentioned above.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Tator and Barb, I will tell you that it would be best to ask your Vet how much food you should feed per pound of dog, of that makes sense. lol My already obese oldest has already put on weight. I need to look up the recipe for the food for dogs watching their weight. I am home from school and my dog has all this run and play room and yet he has till gained weight.

In everything that I have read and also from what my Vet told me, you should give your pet the proper multivitamin for his weight.

The important thing that you should know about making your own dog food is that it is labor intensive. I have made mine in large batches. I do not buy the minerals that are in egg shells since I ground my own up in a blender, which takes time and makes an extra mess.

So, if you make your own dog food. It will be a labor of love. ;)

[Barb]

I guess what I really wanted to know was more how much does a batch make? Or other wds is this for one meal, a week long or what?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

The recipe that I posted makes approximately 4-5 cups. If my dogs each eat 1 cup each per day, that would last me a little over 2 days. It lasted my dogs 3. However, my dogs are chihuahuas and they don't eat as much as a German shepherd.

The other day, I made the dogfood out of chicken gizzards because they are cheaper and better for dogs than other meat. You can also use oats instead of rice. I used mixed vegetables instead of baby food becuase it is cheaper. I aways cook garlic and put it in the food as well to help chase away the mosquitoes and ticks. I first cooked the gizzards. After I took the meat out of the water, I cooked the rice in the water along with the garlic and mixed vegetables. After I diced up the gizzards, I mixed everything together. When it cooled, I put the food in baggies and froze them. I take out one bag every 2 days becuase there is 2 day supply in each bag. But, I used 3 quarts of gizzards and 2 boxes of rice and 1 large bag of mixed vegetables.

I am still experimenting with the recipe so I really cannot give you a definate answer on total amounts. As far as how much to give your dog, it depends on his size and age. Smaller dogs require more food and older dogs require less meat and more carbs. Your Vet should have a recipe chart for your dogs. I asked mine and he gave me a whole list of recipes.

[cat lover]

Here is a recipe for some dog treats

Apple Oatmeal Treats

4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup apples, minced
3 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp ground cloves

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix till combined. Roll out dough on a floured surface to about 1/4" thick. Use a cookie cutter and cut into desired shapes. Combine dough scraps and reroll and cut out more treats till all dough is used. Place treats on an ungreased foil lined baking sheet. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Makes between 5 and 6 dozen treats depending on the size cutter you use.