Homemade Dog Food

[Rusty's Dad]

I'm feeding my dog a mixture of premium kibble, raw meat and cooked meat and veggies (obviously I'm not a fanatic about any particular diet). I want to move to a homemade cooked diet for both economic and health reasons.

Anyway, I'm wondering what the proportion of food groups should be. Would 70% meat, 30% vegies do it? 50% meat, 30% vegies, 20% oats/rice? All of the above? None of the above? Just feed him Pal? (I'm kidding with the last one). I understand variety is necessary for good nutrition if I do this, but just wondering the proportions at this stage.

I'm also wondering if anyone has read 'Dog Food Secrets' by Andrew Lewis. It looks a bit hyped but is all over the internet. I guess I'm after good nutritional advice for making homemade more than anything.

(P.S. I know this is a frequent question; I've looked around the forum and internet, but no answer to my specific question.)

Thanks

[Staffyluv]

All dogs are different and the proportion that suits one dog, may not be good for another. It depends on the type of breed, the exercise it gets, the health and condition of the dog.

Sorry I know that is not what you wanted to hear :rolleyes:

Cereals/grains etc (carbs) are not necessary for dogs - they are just used as fillers in commercial food.

My old stafford eats about 3/4 cup of meat (fresh and usually organic beef, chicken, roo, turkey etc) and 1/3 cup of mixed veges (at the moment he is liking sweet potato and zucchini - but we chop and change) every night. He has a couple of chew things of a morning and some of my breakfast (usually porridge, toast - but just a bit).

He also gets fish oil. glucosamine, milk thistle, ester C power, and numerous other meds (he has cancer) and he is still with us way longer than anticipated. He gets yoghurt with a little manuka honey, and some commercial dog chews as well as commercial dog choc treats (makes it easier to get the tablets down if he thinks he is getting something good).

Is there a reason you wanted to cook the food? As opposed to serving a raw diet? Both are popular here and as you discovered there are numerous threads about it.

Good luck

Jodie

[felix]

In my opinion homemade is fine, but cooked is not.

Raw meat with bones should be the most of the diet (like 80%). The vegetables about 10% of the bulk, if included at all (there are different opinions on this), should be raw, but minced (in the blender or something like that). I normally mix small proportion of vegies with minced meat, but not always.

The rest should be offal, maybe some fish and an egg now and then.

That's one way to do it. And there are many more.

Cheers

[Lab_Rat]

Hey Rustys Dad, as Staffyluv and felix have said, there are so many differing opinions and practices - you just have to decide whats right for you and you dog/s ;)

I feed premium dry food, raw/cooked meat,tinned fish, veges - cooked, rice (white ONLY) and premium canned food.

They are fed twice a day and their meal is usually made up of dry food, raw lamb mince (RR has protein intolerances/allergies), cooked veges ( differing assortments containing carrot, sweet potato, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, pumpkin), and cooked white rice. They get fish once or twice a week, occasional chicken wings, natural yogurt in the mornings sometimes, and sometimes table scraps - depending hugely on what they are! The kelpie has a cast iron gut and can eat anything, but the ridgie has a very sensitive tummy and any slight deviation from her normal diet can upset her quite a bit - from both ends :rolleyes:

Another peculiar thing with my ridgie girl is when she is having her "phantom pregnancies", she will NOT eat raw meat of any kind (that is if she eats anything at all!!!), she will physically wrinkle her lips up and poke out her tongue in almost disgust if its offered to her - so for some days she is fed cooked mince - with nothing else added while its cooked.

They are both fed tinned Natures Gift sometimes too, and this is the ONLY tinned food my dogs will have.

I have stopped giving rawhide treats, pigs ears or any dried chewy treats since our kelpie almost lost her voice with a throat injury a few months back. They get Natures Gift chews or Liver treats.

I think the main thing to remember is try not to feed grains if you can help it, or cooked bones of any type, and if your dog is doing okay on what you feed him, dont change it. I also reckon no to get TOO stressed about what you feed you dog - that is, its okay to not be on the BARF diet, or the RAW diet, or the WHATEVER diet. But do some research, you will discover some very interesting things about commercially made dog foods, whats good for them and whats not. I am in the midst of researching a few different things, mostly about how components in foods react within the dogs digestive system, and the damage these things can do long term!!

Good luck with your dog.

RG

[puggy_puggy]

Include bones as part of the meat portion. Chicken necks, lamb bones etc. Include fish and offal once a week.

No rice or oats.

Put the veggies and fruit through a food processor instead of cooking them.

Do a search on here for BARF abd Raw diets and I am sure you will get some tips.

[Tiggy]

The diet you're feeding sounds fine. I feed my dogs a raw diet with no grain or vegetables.

Edited July 11, 2008 by Tiggy

[Rusty's Dad]

Thanks everyone, sounds like be as informed as I can and use my best judgment.

The reason I want to cook the meat is that it comes frozen in sizes that my dog won't get through before it starts going off. I guess I could try to chop it into sections while frozen, but it's in pretty thick slabs. I'll be mixing it up with some other stuff, but this would be the staple.