Home-cooked Dog Food & Costs

[Frenchielover]

Hi, I'm new to forums but just taking a lot of interest in home-cooked meals as my little frenchie has been having really bad stomach upsets, runny poo and vomiting after meals.

So i'm trialing a few recipes, which seem to be helping, my only concern is; is home-cooking cost effective vs pre made dog food? And how much do you all spend on meals for your dog?

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks Frenchielover :)

[VizslaMomma]

I'll get in first..... photos are always enjoyed & Hello!!!!!

How old is your Frenchie?

Have you had a Vet check, of any sort to see what is the reason?

Part of the choice will be if any food is OK for a dog that has issues after meals.

Others will come along with more help too.

Good Luck

:D

[persephone]

Hi -

What have you been feeding which seems to work better?

what did the vet say about these episodes?

have you done an 'elimination diet' to find out if your dog cannot handle certain foods?

is the vomiting after every meal?

food for dogs is an endless thread - as every dog/household is different :) - and as everyone feeds different foods , I think it's hard to work out which is cost effective . My guess is that whichever one type of food/recipe keeps a dog healthy and happy is the most cost effective - as there are not the associated vet bills ! ;)

I have never cooked dog meals - feed a lot of raw - and some dry food ..must admit I have never worked out cost -

[JulesP]

I would suggest getting your dog's liver checked before doing anything else.

[Queen Maeby]

Hello and welcome :)

Yes, definitely get the digestion issues checked out.

This is the diet I designed for my Pug and it makes 2 kilos (ten meals of 200 grams). I have no idea how much it costs though, sorry :)

Chicken mix recipe:

1kg cooked chicken breast (1200g raw), roughly diced

1 cup cooked brown rice

2 cups low carb frozen raw vegetables, processed

415g tinned salmon or 4x 106g tinned sardines with no added salt

½ cup organic yoghurt

3 scrambled eggs

3 Tabs flaxseed oil (4800 mg)*

Contains: 72% protein, 19% carbohydrate

*1 Tab of flaxseed oil contains 1600 mg of omega-3 fatty acids.

eta

Sorry, I forgot to include bones: lamb shanks, which I feed on the weekends. You have to ask the butcher to chop them in half though.

Grover also had a Blackmores Acidophillus capsule emptied into his meal every day.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Queen Maeby

[Scottsmum]

Hey... I don't even want to think about costs of our "home made" diet. As a bit of a guide my 10 kilo adult fox terrier gets:

This works for us. He's very fussy and reacts to grains. It's by no means perfect but I try to just get him to eat.

High grade kibble, grain free, Ziwipeak, $42 per kilo - we make it last about a month.

Supermarket brand grain free kibble - to help spread the cost / make the Ziwipeak last. This is about $7 a bag. Not sure how long it lasts - as long as it needs to.

He's also being "forced" to finish off a bag of another brand which he tells me he dislikes... I mix it very very well with his mince .... at the rate we're moving through it it will last about 12 months!

I use the kibble as the basis for his nutrition and try to get a daily serve into him over two meals. I have tried a tonne of different brands but this combo of Ziwi and supermarket brand seems to work. I won't bother straying from it in the future.

On top of his dry he gets one or two of the following per meal

chicken mince, or very occasionally premium beef mince from the supermarket. $10 per kilo max

Grain free wet food - in the little 100g cases - always on sale at about 84 cents each.Will probably stop feeding this - I got a heap (like 40, last time they were on sale) and now he eats it more often I can notice a slight change in his coat and eyes - which are his two tells that he's reacting to something - so I think I'll put him back onto pure clean wet foods like mince when its done

Grain free premium wet - only if its on sale, I was also given some samples recently. Wish I could afford to feed this more often but it's like $5 per 180g can

Chicken necks and wings - don't know what I pay - always on sale and frozen til we run out

raw meaty bones from the clearance section of the meat cabinet at Woolies -don't know what I pay - always on sale and frozen til we run out

lamb shanks - the only bone I'll buy at full price. Lamb shanks are usually a full meal meal of their own

Cheese, occasional training treats - woolies home brand

greek yoghurt

Eggs - as a quick meal or when he's been off his food for a few days - he'll always have an egg. I think the day he refuses an egg will be the day I rush him to the vet!

Other meat to use in training (roast chicken, leg ham) I avoid sandwich meats such as devon or anything spicy as they've got too many other things in them, and I read that bacon is too salty but otherwise I give him pretty much any meat we eat. I also try to get a few veggies into him occasionally (like broccoli stalks - cooked, and mashed into his dinner) and a (human) probiotic.

Anything else which I know he likes and doesn't react to (e.g. rice).

All meat is raw, I usually cook the eggs. He's not a fan of fish.

Like I said - not perfect but he looks great, his energy levels are great and most of the time he'll eat whats served.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Scottsmum

[Queen Maeby]

I'm interested in trying ZiwiPeak... A lot of Pug people use it.

Here is a link to their air dried dog food on the ZiwiPeak website. The lamb sounds like it might be good for dogs with allergy/digestion/kidney issues.

http://www.ziwipeak.com/air-dried-dog-food-ziwipeak-daily-dog-air-dried-cuisine/

Edited June 22, 2014 by Queen Maeby

[Dogsfevr]

Are you feeding what the breeder suggested or did you change it ??

Have you asked the breeder for advice ??

Diet changes can cause issues to & never solve your issue,you need to start with a very bland food to settle the stomach & then slowly add form there BUT this als means no treats often the bigger cause of issues than the actual food .

[aussielover]

I love frenchies :)

As other have said, you should get the dog fully vet checked before considering dietary changes. This would include full blood panel and possibly even xrays as he may have something like a partial obstruction in his gut somewhere.

Often when dogs have a mild tummy upset vets recommend cooked chicken and rice, however this is a temporary measure and is not fully nutritionally balanced so not appropriate for long term use.

I wouldn't be feeding a dog with vomiting and diarrhoea any raw meat or bones until the cause of the problem has been identified.

A Raw diet can be more cost effective then kibble but i'm not sure exactly what you mean by home cooked. I guess it would depend on the ingredients you use as to whether it would be cost effective.

I spend quite a bit on my dog- she is a large breed though. Previously she was on a premium brand kibble, but I've just started feeding a raw based diet which at the moment I'm probably spending a but more on than the dry food. It seems to be worth it though. Her coat is a lot shinier and healthy looking, and she seems to have more energy, and of course she just loves the food!

[Scottsmum]

I'm interested in trying ZiwiPeak... A lot of Pug people use it.

Here is a link to their air dried dog food on the ZiwiPeak website. The lamb sounds like it might be good for dogs with allergy/digestion/kidney issues.

http://www.ziwipeak.com/air-dried-dog-food-ziwipeak-daily-dog-air-dried-cuisine/

Hey Maeby, we're pretty fond of it here. Use it as training treats too. The only one he'll eat reliably is the venison and fish. It is expensive, which is why we try to stretch it out - but I'm fortunate that he's only a foxie. I have a friend with a Wolfhound who is fussy and he loves it but - goes through a lot more then my Scottman.

[Queen Maeby]

I'm interested in trying ZiwiPeak... A lot of Pug people use it.

Here is a link to their air dried dog food on the ZiwiPeak website. The lamb sounds like it might be good for dogs with allergy/digestion/kidney issues.

http://www.ziwipeak.com/air-dried-dog-food-ziwipeak-daily-dog-air-dried-cuisine/

Hey Maeby, we're pretty fond of it here. Use it as training treats too. The only one he'll eat reliably is the venison and fish. It is expensive, which is why we try to stretch it out - but I'm fortunate that he's only a foxie. I have a friend with a Wolfhound who is fussy and he loves it but - goes through a lot more then my Scottman.

Yes, I'm lucky that Pugs only weigh about 10 kilos :)

[Guest hankodie]

I would suggest getting your dog's liver checked before doing anything else.

Yes I second this. I have a Frenchie and she had all the symptoms that you mentioned and it turned out that she had liver shunts. Getting a blood test some would probably be a good idea before you make any big dietary changes.

[denali]

I raw feed my dogs now. It works out cheaper for me than biscuits, but i was buying super premium biscuits like Taste of the Wild, earthborn and Ziwipeak.

I buy as much on special as i can, and try to not buy anything over $9/kg. I did work it out once, how much it was roughly per dog per day but i cant find that spreadsheet,

They get a rotation of things:

chicken: mince ($2/kg so they get a lot of this!), necks, wings, drumsticks, frames, hearts, giblets, liver

lamb:shanks, cutlets when on sale, got a bunch of 'BBQ chops' cheaply the other day, liver, kidney, roasts when on sale and cut into pieces. But lamb is one of the more pricey meats, so not a staple in my house.

beef:mince, neck bones, tongue, heart, liver, cheeks, other cuts of steak type meat when on sale

pork: boneless roast cut into chunks and frozen, ribs

fish: sometimes given freezer burnt fish from friends who fish but wont buy fresh fish, canned sardines

roo: chunks, tail bones

eggs- i usually just give them raw, but sometimes scramble them :)

And a fish oil supplement every other day. They are looking good, teeth are nice, and energy levels good :)

No complaints so far.

I will share the veggies i eat at dinner with them, but rarely as treats, not as a portion of their meals.

I did have to buy a freezer though to store all of it, it also means that i can buy things when on special and not worry about using it straight away.

I just got a second hand one.

ETA: i went the raw route as one of my dogs is horribly allergic to grains and just itches like crazy and chews sores into himself.

He hasn't had any issues since switching, and fingers crossed it stays that way!

I'm interested in trying ZiwiPeak... A lot of Pug people use it. Here is a link to their air dried dog food on the ZiwiPeak website. The lamb sounds like it might be good for dogs with allergy/digestion/kidney issues.http://www.ziwipeak.com/air-dried-dog-food-ziwipeak-daily-dog-air-dried-cuisine/

I used ziwipeak when i just had the one Cav, and he loved it!

But now that i have 3 it was just a bit too costly. I still use it as training treats though :)

Edited June 23, 2014 by denali

[Queen Maeby]

That's a good idea, using the ZiwiPeak as training treats... I was using diced, cooked chicken breast, but air dried ZiwiPeak would be much easier :)

Edited June 23, 2014 by Queen Maeby

[trifecta]

I haven't read all of the thread, it is of little interest to me as I choose to feed raw.

However, I noticed a couple of posters have mentioned lamb shanks - I never feed these to my dogs, they are hard, can cause slab fractures & are prone to splinter. I do not feed any weight bearing bones at all, not even kangaroo tail.

[BC Crazy]

The breeder of my guys told me the exact same regarding no weight bearing bones . I did try roo tail only once but my boy nearly choked so a big no to those too. Just not worth the risk IMO.

Edited June 23, 2014 by BC Crazy

[denali]

I only have little dogs, and they aren't gulpers, so all they do is chew the meat off and leave the bones when fed roo tails.

Otherwise i too probably wouldn't feed them.

[MouseR]

I agree also that feeding raw will be more beneficial then feeding cooked as cooking it pretty much destroys anything useful in the meat and dogs do not have the digestive system for digesting grains and such, they are carnivores after all!!!

It is not expansive and I feed a border collie and a pointer. My border had lots of issues on kibble so made the decision to move to raw and I will never look back. No more upset tummies and no more skin issues. I highly recommend a FB page called raw feeding rebels if you would like some more info and some friendly advise. Good luck with whatever you choose :)