Home made dog food

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Two cans in a row of very foul-smelling wet dog food over the weekend (like, SOMETHING else must have gotten mixed into it; smelled like rubbing alcohol or vinegar) got me to thinking that we could cook meals for our dog and he'd eat better AND it'd likely be cheaper for us, too. And I'm not talking about presenting him with a choice of menus each evening. I'm talking about cooking a batch on Sunday afternoon and having enough to feed him a 1 cup serving for the rest of the week.

I'm sure there are a million home-made dog food recipies out there, but I'm interested in hearing what my BITOG friends are doing.

Here's what I'd think would be reasonable:

1 pound 80% ground beef
1 jar brown gravy
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, corn, etc)

We'd use a cup of this in place of the can of wet food, which is fed in the evening, to supplement 2 cups of the dry Purina Beneful he gets in the morning.

Thoughts?
 
Dog food from the store is only 50 or 60 years old. Prior to that dogs were fed scraps or found food on their own.

I feed my dogs (Mastiff) dry food from Sams that has "lamb" and "lamb meal" as the first two ingredients.
 
You could call up some local small slaughter houses. Here they sell organs and trimmings for much less than ground beef, some even grind it all up for you. Depending on your dogs, chicken backs are good too, whole or ground. Our dogs love crunching whole backs, crunch crunch gulp...
We feed purina green bag to our dogs as well, its a better deal than beneful in $/feeding. It seems to have 40-50% more calories per volume.
 
Take a look at Dog Food Advisor at http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

I have owned dogs and cats for over 50 years and I have found that if you feed them wet food their teeth will rot after a few years and their last years are not good ones. Dry dog food is by far the best as it cleans the dogs teeth.

Dog Food Advisor will help you learn more about what ingredients are good and what are bad for your dog.

Many cheap dog foods from discount stores and many brand name dog foods people would think are great are very poorly rated and have only one or two stars out of five. Please for your dog check this out before you buy or make your own dog food.
 
What I do for my dog is rotate between taste of the wild brands and old roy natural balance dry food. About once a week I will cook him some potatoes, chicken, oatmeal, rice, chicken, beef, pork, green beans, carrots and or feed him some berries or a banana. What ever I have extra around. He has a strong stomach and is not picky eater at all.

I am not fan of a BARF diet and do some research online and you will see why and make that determination for yourself. Also dogs have a higher carbohydrate need in their diet than many assume many tens of thousands of years of domestication and evolution has led them down this road. Despite what dog food commercial's inaccurately state FIDO is not a wolf.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7441/full/nature11837.html

http://www.foodpolitics.com/2013/03/yes-dogs-can-eat-carbohydrates-and-heres-why/
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: ram_man
Check out a raw food diet. Cooked meat isnt always good for dogs


They tried that in North Korea.


LOL
 
Raw lean meats, an egg, fish oil, a handful of carrots and potatoes; sure.

Skip the nasty processed and preserved gravy. Yuck. You don't need to feed him wet food. Give him a piece of raw chicken if he's big enough to crunch up the bones. I give my mutts a chicken led or meaty beef rib from time to time.

Taste of the Wild, Blue Wilderness, and Wellness Core are all good dry foods. If you have a Tractor Supply near you, their 4Health Grain Free (brown bag) is good and reasonably priced.
 
Home made is fine IF you do it properly. You have to make sure the dog is getting the proper vitamins and minerals etc. Also feeding part home made + Purina dry isn't going to do any good. Eliminate the Purina, and go with a natural premium brand dog food. Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Canidae, Fromm, Merrick, are all good brands. Contrary to belief, don't feed raw, dogs don't need raw food. Just because that's what wolves eat doesn't make it the best for them. Dogs aren't wolves anyway. Plus if you feed raw, your not only putting your dogs heath in danger, but also your family's health, in particular small kids.
 
Originally Posted By: callbay
I have owned dogs and cats for over 50 years and I have found that if you feed them wet food their teeth will rot after a few years and their last years are not good ones. Dry dog food is by far the best as it cleans the dogs teeth.

Brush the dogs teeth every day with dog toothpaste, and that problem is solved. I feed mine a combo of wet and dry, and have brushed her teeth every day...she will be 5 in Feb, and her teeth are in excellent shape. The vet always comments how great they look. She has never had them professionally cleaned in her 5 years because the vet said there was no need.
 
I bought whole chickens when it's on sale for $70-80 cents a pound, cut out the legs, wings and breasts to BBQ for human and slow cook the bone few days for dogs. They like it better than any dog food in a can.
 
Hokie, I'd cook some rice & add to your mix of HB & mix veg, & go easy on the store-bought gravy. Sounds like you take good care of your dog.
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Home made is fine IF you do it properly. You have to make sure the dog is getting the proper vitamins and minerals etc. Also feeding part home made + Purina dry isn't going to do any good. Eliminate the Purina, and go with a natural premium brand dog food. Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Canidae, Fromm, Merrick, are all good brands. Contrary to belief, don't feed raw, dogs don't need raw food. Just because that's what wolves eat doesn't make it the best for them. Dogs aren't wolves anyway. Plus if you feed raw, your not only putting your dogs heath in danger, but also your family's health, in particular small kids.


Dogs don't have issue with bacteria like you and I. Salmonella for example has little effect on a healthy dog. There intentional tract is short and very acidic. Feeding raw can be dangerous to you if you aren't careful. It's no more dangerous than preparing food for your self. Raw meat is raw no matter if you are cooking it for yourself or are leaving it raw.
When you prepare food for yourself it is raw. Tons of people are getting sick from handling raw chicken and beef to cool for their families. Why would it be more dangerous to prepare it for your dog? It's like most things if done correctly and with a reasonable level of common sense it's fine. The main word there was common sense.
My dogs did best on a raw diet I took them off because bag food is cheaper and they haven't done as well, coats not as shiny and good looking, breathe smells worse even with regular brushing and our one dog had terrible gas.

I will be switching back to raw when they are done with this bag of food.

Also the debate over omnivores vs carnivores comes to mind what is a dog?
Dogs can live without meat for a long time , dogs can eat vegetables and do ok. Most dogs can eat bagged food and do ok and most dogs can eat raw and d good to. My point is no a dog doesn't need raw food to survive but they don't require bagged food to survive either.
Also do not mix the two. A dogs body metabolizes dry food and raw meats totally different feeding both together can make them sick.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Home made is fine IF you do it properly. You have to make sure the dog is getting the proper vitamins and minerals etc. Also feeding part home made + Purina dry isn't going to do any good. Eliminate the Purina, and go with a natural premium brand dog food. Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Canidae, Fromm, Merrick, are all good brands. Contrary to belief, don't feed raw, dogs don't need raw food. Just because that's what wolves eat doesn't make it the best for them. Dogs aren't wolves anyway. Plus if you feed raw, your not only putting your dogs heath in danger, but also your family's health, in particular small kids.


Dogs don't have issue with bacteria like you and I. Salmonella for example has little effect on a healthy dog. There intentional tract is short and very acidic. Feeding raw can be dangerous to you if you aren't careful. It's no more dangerous than preparing food for your self. Raw meat is raw no matter if you are cooking it for yourself or are leaving it raw.
When you prepare food for yourself it is raw. Tons of people are getting sick from handling raw chicken and beef to cool for their families. Why would it be more dangerous to prepare it for your dog? It's like most things if done correctly and with a reasonable level of common sense it's fine. The main word there was common sense.
My dogs did best on a raw diet I took them off because bag food is cheaper and they haven't done as well, coats not as shiny and good looking, breathe smells worse even with regular brushing and our one dog had terrible gas.

I will be switching back to raw when they are done with this bag of food.

Also the debate over omnivores vs carnivores comes to mind what is a dog?
Dogs can live without meat for a long time , dogs can eat vegetables and do ok. Most dogs can eat bagged food and do ok and most dogs can eat raw and d good to. My point is no a dog doesn't need raw food to survive but they don't require bagged food to survive either.
Also do not mix the two. A dogs body metabolizes dry food and raw meats totally different feeding both together can make them sick.

It's not dangerous to prepare....it's dangerous because the dog will transfer the bacteria around your home and small kids especially will be at great risk as they will be touching their faces and or mouth a lot. Here is a good article with some pros and cons for the raw diet: http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/raw-debate/756 Now read the risks, there is no way I'm going to take those risks for the dog or the people. Dogs don't need raw, so why bother with all the extra work, cost and risks? If you want to feed homemade, simply cook the food, and it will be heather for the dog and the humans. But better yet, if your going to spend all that money on food for your dog, why not use a natural premium dog food? Mines been on a high quality food for 4 yrs now and she is in great heath...shiny coat, teeth are great, breath is great, she doesn't have bad gas, etc.
 
Ian Billinghurst was my local vet for years, and we followed his BARF diet reasonably aithfull, and it was very good. Chicken carcasses/wings, lamb shanks, and pulped vegetables, with "4x2" biscuits thrown in (where we departed)

I second the comments on food poisoning and dogs, as they can eat some very, very green stuff and not even get the runs...as could we if we were scavengers...

My Dad raced greyhounds for years, and he used a very very different path. Wheat Bix/Vita Brits (wheat biscuit cereal), with some glucose powder and milk, followed by a long walk. Weekly he would make a "stew" of cheap meat cuts (lots of sinew and fats, I think he ised to add fat from he dripping tin (which was filled from the broiler/grill residue, frying pan grease) if he thought it was light on) and offal, and heaps of vegetables, plus some calcium and salt, which he would serve with simple kibbled grain (not dry dog food).

He never fed raw meat, I will always.
He fed a lot more grain than I would have been likely to feed, and his dogs won many many races.

Do your research, and make up your own mind.
 
Thanks guys.

I will check out the other brands and links posted. Someone mentioned something from Tractor Supply; we have one nearby, so that would work well if it's quality food.

I don't have the desire at this point to go completely home-made in terms of his diet. I recognize that professional mixes are intended to be fully nutritional. And the better ones probably even are! My idea is to supplement his Purina Beneful dry food he gets in the morning with something meaty in the evening, to keep his routine the same as it is now with the retail canned meat(-like) food in the evening.

Raw is out. Nutritious or not, right or not, my wife is not on board with that. Kind of like when you find the "perfect" car and she says, "sorry, I don't want that color." The discussion , at that point, is over. Ha ha.
 
Ask your vet.

Our vet, who is also a family friend, recommended Hill's Science Diet (Adult Light Small Bites) for our schnauzer who has a sensitive stomach and had a bout of pancreatitis. Blood and urine levels are much better and her weight has come down to a better level too.

She said that many of the boutique brands often touted on pet sites are a waste of money. She also said that many times food-related problems can come from owners spoiling/treating their dog with human food.

We used to feed our dogs Purina Beneful until two separate vets said that Big Macs are the comparable human equivalent. We used Iams for a while too (we live about 8 miles from an Iams plant) but the shih tsu did not like it.
 
Hokiefyd,
I occasionally buy dog food from tractor supply. When my mini schnauzer was a pup, I used the 4Health (tractor's house brand), and then their small bites formula when he was older. I also used to buy the Wellness whitefish and sweet potato there. I stopped buying the 4Health brand, because of the recalls Diamond pet foods had. Diamond makes 4Health/Taste of the Wild, and a lot others. Presently, I have him on Sportmix Wholesomes Chicken formula....luckily he has done great on this! Relatively inexpensive for a no corn/no wheat/no soy formula. It is available at Tractor supply. FYI, Sportmix is made by the same company that produces Earthborn Holistic (which has a high rating on dogfood advisor) and this is one of the very few petfood manufacturers that has not had a recall ever.
 
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