# Home-Cooked Meals For Dogs :)



## lynngraves

Just tossing this out there for general discussion...

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who cooks for their littles. I currently have 2 Chi's, 2 Chi/Pugs, and one Jack Russell/Poodle cross that I cook for (I have a couple of other dogs, but they eat regular commercial kibble for now). 

For my "special" littles, I use the following recipe:

1 pound hamburger (or any meat, really, as long as it's ground up; sometimes I'll get chicken, pork, or other beef cuts on sale and run them through the food processor before cooking)
1 can beets
1 can peas
1 can green beans
1 can pumpkin
1 can carrots
4.5 cups oats

I cook the meat on medium heat, and leave the grease in the pot. Then I add in all the veggies (pureed), and stir it all together well. Then I add in 9 cups of water, bring it to a boil, and add in the oats. Once it's cooked, I let it cool a bit, then package it in the fridge. This recipe feeds all 5 kids for about a week, which is really as long as I would want to have it in the fridge anyway.

Up till now, I've been using store-bought canned veggies, but this spring I hope to expand the garden enough to can my own veggies for the kids. I'm going to add a couple of different varieties of beans, instead of the standard green beans, and grow some sweet potatoes too. My kids like variety, lol.

I add supplements to some of the kids' food as well. They all get 1 Vitamin E capsule, 1 Fish Oil capsule, 1 half dose of echinacea, and a sprinkling of food grade diatomaceous earth. Some of them get extra "goodies" as well.

Scrappy, my 4 lb rescued LH boy, has a heart murmur, so I add in 1/4 dose of Hawthorn. Kaity, my 10 lb Chi/Pug, has demodex mange, so she also gets 1/2 dose of a multi-vitamin, 1 capsule of extra virgin coconut oil, and 1 small teaspoon of aloe vera gel.

All of this is the result of lengthy conversations with my vet, who is a holistic practitioner with 30+ years of experience in using acupressure, acupuncture, herbal and homeopathic remedies, and qigong on animals. What's funny about all of this is that I often spend over an hour cooking a batch of dog food, then turn around and scarf down a cold Pop-Tart for breakfast, lol...

Anybody else go through a similar regimen, to satisfy their little monsters?


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## Hollyg123

I think I will try that! Do you think it would be good for dogs with skin/coat issues? 


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## pjknust

yes I do, I feed a crock pot chicken and veggie for breakfast, and ground beef, wh rice and veggie for supper. I use sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin. Pumpkin is reserved for treats or loose stool. Most of mine get it as a topper to their dry kibble. The bigger pigs in dog suits get just dry kibble. 
pam in TX


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## Brodysmom

Where is the calcium???????


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## lynngraves

Hollyg123, the main reason I started feeding this regimen was because my Kaity has demodex, which is a non-contagious form of mange tied to a genetic auto-immune disorder. Long story short, yes, it will help a dog with skin issues, but ALWAYS discuss any diet changes with your vet first. 

Brodysmom, the calcium is in the multi-vitamin Kaity gets every day. My vet is keeping an eye on the others to make sure they're getting enough vitamins, but so far everyone looks good. They've been on this diet for a little over a year now. I'll have to go back and double-check, but I believe the diatomaceous earth actually provides quite a few minerals, calcium among them. Aside from a dietary supplement, DE is often also used as an organic garden fertilizer (although my kids get the food grade version).


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## CHITheresa

I used to make Amberleah lou lou but did do well. I would not use anything canned frozen is better. Are the veg mashed? They need to be if you don't. They need more supplements added to it. Good book is Dr. Pitcairn's Complete guide to Natural Health for dogs and cats.


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## Wicked Pixie

Personally this way of feeding seems like a lot of effort, when all the vitamins, minerals etc come out of a capsule. Have you considered modifying it by just blitzing the raw veg in a food processor and combining with bone-in minces? (Ideally home-made as well.) Cooking will be removing a lot of the nutrients. I used to make up little patties like that for my skunk, bound together with a raw egg (including shell) which I would freeze and just defrost as needed.


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## lynngraves

I've read a bit of Dr Pitcairn's book; there's a lot of good information in it, I just haven't bought my own copy yet. I've also thought about the various raw diets, and to be quite honest, it just grosses me out. 

Once we've expanded the garden, and we start preserving our own veggies, the quality of the ingredients will be much better.  Also, I am hopeful that within a couple more years, we will be able to also raise our own cows and chickens. Thank God we live on a farm, and have the room to do this! Once we can raise the majority of our own food, I plan on switching all my dogs over to a cooked diet. 

I've also been reading a lot lately about the healthy effects of raw goat's milk. We already have four wethers (castrated male goats), so adding a couple of does and one buck wouldn't be much of a stretch. Then we could actually have the goats we raise cut up and stored as well, when they're old enough, and I could use the goat meat for variety...I'm very much in favor of having as natural and organic a diet as possible, both for me and my fur-kids; I just can't stand the thought of having them give me "kisses" after they've been chowing down on raw meat, lol...


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## Wicked Pixie

LOL raw isn't to everyone's liking, but it is definitely the most natural way to feed a dog 
I have just taken on two adult girls who were fed on home cooked chicken and rice plus kibble and after just one week on raw the difference in them is amazing. They no longer smell doggy, their breath is sweet, teeth are already cleaner, and coats are much more silky. Plus their poos are half the size they were before.


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## Brodysmom

If I was going to do a cooked diet, I would find a way to incorporate the bones. Maybe a pressure cooker? Cook until the bones are soft? 

I wouldn't trust calcium tabs or bone meal. Bone meal often contains lead. I know you didn't say you used bone meal, but its one that lots of home cookers use so I thought I'd throw that out there. The multivitamins made for dogs have substandard ingredients. Pet Tabs used to be the industry standard until a study showed how much lead they contained. If I had to use a multivitamin, I would use a childrens liquid vitamin. At least with human pharmaceuticals, you know that they have some quality control. That is not so, unfortunately, in the pet industry.

Have you thought of using dried eggshells for calcium? Its a natural product and basically 'free'. You also are able to control the dosage. 

I don't home cook. Too complicated for me. Too hard to get the ratios correct and of course, you don't get the benefits of raw foods. I know you said that feeding raw grossed you out? Hmmm.... dogs do all sorts of things that I would consider unappetizing including eating poop, and licking their private parts. Most dogs would consider bugs, roadkill or decaying, rotten food a delicacy.  

I know feeding raw isn't for everyone. But if you are going to all the trouble to prepare a home cooked diet, you might want to consider doing partial raw at least. They would get some of the benefits of the raw foods and it would be a LOT less work for you!


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## KittyD

We don't and won't feed raw here either, that said my dogs eat a mix of kibble & home cooked meals, it's always worked wonderfully for us 
Not sure if that's an option for you as well!

Then you know they are getting some balanced vitamins etc and the benefits of good home cooking!


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## lynngraves

Brodysmom, all of the supplements that I use are human grade, and I either purchase them from our local "Vitamin Shoppe" store, or the local health food store. I agree that the regulations/oversight on animal grade supplements are extremely lacking. My vet advises me on the portions I need to use for each dog; for example, my 4 pound Scrappy gets 1/4 of a single adult dose of Hawthorn supplement for his heart murmur. I make sure to buy a brand that uses the gel-caps, open the capsule, shake about 1/4 of the enclosed powder onto his food, and pop the capsule back together, saving the remainder for the next three meals.

Yes, this is a lot of work, I suppose, as someone else mentioned, but my dogs are my kids (since I'm not capable of having human children). So, I look at this as doing what is necessary. I had not thought of the dried eggshells, actually, although I may look into that. Still, I think between the DE and the multi-vitamin, there's enough calcium. And the dogs do get pork and beef bones on a pretty regular basis as well.

I have debated about contacting local hunters for their "leftover" bits of venison and rabbit, basically those parts they don't want to use for steaks, jerky, stew meat, or sausage. I don't know how much response I'd get, but I'm wondering if that might not be a good additional source of variety in their meals. I know that I would hate to eat the same thing day in and day out, lol... I'd be afraid to feed my kids any fish that was caught locally, because our water is still really nasty, ever since Hurricane Floyd came through in 1999 and hundreds of hog waste lagoons flooded. The water supply still hasn't cleared out yet.


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## whipandchi

I feed homecooked as well but my mix is somewhat different than yours, a higher percentage of meat to veg and grain - about 4 cups of meat to 1 cup of fresh or frozen veg and 1 cup of cooked rice. I do use ground eggshells for calcium (1/2 tsp per lb of meat) as well as adding an egg or 2 and canned salmon or sardines to the mix. I also add oil (safflower or sunflower) depending on how fatty the meat is and about 2 oz of liver. For supplements they get 1 capsule of fish oil in their evening meal and prebiotics/probiotics/digestive enzymes and Missing Link in both their morning and evening meals. I have been feeding my dogs this way for quite a few years and find it is not that time consuming. I cook the rice and the meat separately, whirl everything else up in the food processor (except the eggshells which are ground in a coffee grinder) and then mix it all together, cook it a bit more and then freeze it in plastic containers in 3 day portions.

For health reasons of my own, I am not able to feed raw but this works well for my dogs- they are 9, 11, and 15 years old and are healthy with shiny soft coats. People are surprised when they hear their ages - they generally think they are all much younger than they are.

Here is a site with some links you might find useful

DogAware.com: Homemade Diets for Dogs


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