Homemade dog food

[ddluvsdisney]

I’m considering making my own food for my dogs rather than the dry kibble they eat now.
Does anyone do this? Where did you get your recipe?
I’ve researched it a lot online and see a lot of recipes even cookbooks. Martha Stewart shares what she does but not an actual recipe with measurements.

 

[proudmomof4]

I had to start making food for my dog. I started out winging it, but then my vet said my dog may not be getting all the vitamins and nutrients he needs. So, I found the Just Food for Dogs DIY nutrient powder. They provide a recipe for you to prepare at home and then you add the nutrient powder. They offer a few different blends depending on the protein you’re going to use.

You can buy the powder through Chewy, the Just Food for Dogs website or Amazon (just make sure the seller is Amazon).

 

[LoveDaisy]

I did this for my dog before she passed. It was a recipe from my vet. She also gave me a couple for dog treats. When I am out of work this afternoon I’ll do some digging to see if I still have them.

Edit: I’m not sure if size matters for nutrition and protein. I had a bullmastiff she was about 145 pounds.

 

[SteveH]

Years ago we did homemade dog food as our dog had been shot and the vet didn't want her eating any kibble. A few years ago one of our dogs appeared to have developed dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), after doing a ton of reading I was concerned that our "boutique dog food" and lack of taurine could have caused it. Our vet was equally concerned and refereed us to one of the Vet Schools at a nearby University for imaging. Thankfully it wasn't DCM in our case.

So my suggesting before you make your own dog food is to do some research on potential relationship between taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) for some dog breeds.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I had to start making food for my dog. I started out winging it, but then my vet said my dog may not be getting all the vitamins and nutrients he needs. So, I found the Just Food for Dogs DIY nutrient powder. They provide a recipe for you to prepare at home and then you add the nutrient powder. They offer a few different blends depending on the protein you’re going to use.

You can buy the powder through Chewy, the Just Food for Dogs website or Amazon (just make sure the seller is Amazon).

Thank you! Those are the kinds of things I was worried about. I am planning on talking to their vet too.

I did this for my dog before she passed. It was a recipe from my vet. She also gave me a couple for dog treats. When I am out of work this afternoon I’ll do some digging to see if I still have them.

Edit: I’m not sure if size matters for nutrition and protein. I had a bullmastiff she was about 145 pounds.

Thanks! Yeah my dogs are French bulldogs so a big difference.

Years ago we did homemade dog food as our dog had been shot and the vet didn't want her eating any kibble. A few years ago one of our dogs appeared to have developed dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), after doing a ton of reading I was concerned that our "boutique dog food" and lack of taurine could have caused it. Our vet was equally concerned and refereed us to one of the Vet Schools at a nearby University for imaging. Thankfully it wasn't DCM in our case.

So my suggesting before you make your own dog food is to do some research on potential relationship between taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) for some dog breeds.

Thank you. I will mention that when I talk to vet.

 

[citruscurtis]

Ground turkey and green beans supplement our non chicken AND non beef kibble...our Shar peis itch with high protein so we look for salmon or lamb...we made home food for awhile but rice was the culprit

 

[Suger Mag]

I’m considering making my own food for my dogs rather than the dry kibble they eat now.
Does anyone do this? Where did you get your recipe?
I’ve researched it a lot online and see a lot of recipes even cookbooks. Martha Stewart shares what she does but not an actual recipe with measurements.

my elderly dog is very reactive to corn, chicken and eggs. So because those are very common in most dog foods I have been making her food for her. She does best with soft food at this point.

I figured out the calories she had been eating and then used that to come up with the right amounts of the food I make. I used the amounts I was cooking with to figure the total calories of the food I am making.

My recipe is simple:

2 lbs ground beef.... 1 lb beef liver.... 2 cups brown rice (uncooked) and then a large canned pumpkin (29 oz)

I cook the beef and liver in the instant pot with 4 cups water... if I have some beef bones I will put those in too. 28 minutes high pressure... I cook the rice in a rice cooker... then I use a handheld blender to blend everything and add the pumpkin. I ladle it into mason jars and refrigerate. I usually make a batch a week.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I was not able to find my recipes. I must have thrown them out when cleaning. If you aren’t able to connect with your vet let me know. The cats are scheduled for their annual checkups and I would be happy ask if she can resend them to me.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

my elderly dog is very reactive to corn, chicken and eggs. So because those are very common in most dog foods I have been making her food for her. She does best with soft food at this point.

I figured out the calories she had been eating and then used that to come up with the right amounts of the food I make. I used the amounts I was cooking with to figure the total calories of the food I am making.

My recipe is simple:

2 lbs ground beef.... 1 lb beef liver.... 2 cups brown rice (uncooked) and then a large canned pumpkin (29 oz)

I cook the beef and liver in the instant pot with 4 cups water... if I have some beef bones I will put those in too. 28 minutes high pressure... I cook the rice in a rice cooker... then I use a handheld blender to blend everything and add the pumpkin. I ladle it into mason jars and refrigerate. I usually make a batch a week.

Thank you! I also put a teaspoon of pumpkin in my dogs’ food.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I was not able to find my recipes. I must have thrown them out when cleaning. If you aren’t able to connect with your vet let me know. The cats are scheduled for their annual checkups and I would be happy ask if she can resend them to me.

Aww thanks so much!

 

[Suger Mag]

I did this for my dog before she passed. It was a recipe from my vet. She also gave me a couple for dog treats. When I am out of work this afternoon I’ll do some digging to see if I still have them.

Edit: I’m not sure if size matters for nutrition and protein. I had a bullmastiff she was about 145 pounds.

oh wow.... 145 lbs, that would be a lot more food than what my 15 lb Schnauzer eats... I would need a larger instant pot....

 

[jec6613]

I did this for my 90 lb Labrador near the end of his life. He was on a special kidney diet that tasted awful (at least at the time the google autocomplete for, "homemade dog food recipes" was, "for dogs with kidney disease." And being a reasonably large dog, it presented some challenges: he had to get enough nutrition for his body to keep running properly, and the quantity of food he ate increased tremendously - good kibble has much better nutritional availability than fresh dog food.

I would cook large batches at a time, then portion into deli containers and freeze, then thaw in the fridge and re-heat for him. He was ridiculously happy about this arrangement, which quite aside from anything else made the whole thing worth it.

One thing of note: start with whole fresh ingredients as much as practical, and fresh frozen when that's not, my only exception to this rule was the one recipe that took beets, because they're a nightmare.

Also, our old boy's food volume tripled, and other dogs can take that even further. Our new puppy is a Newfoundland (140 lbs with about 60 more to grow) who eats about 3 cups of kibble every day (side note: cheaper kibble would bring this to 6-8 cups per day), but if we switched to fresh food would require over a gallon by volume, so much that it will cause secondary health issues.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I did this for my 90 lb Labrador near the end of his life. He was on a special kidney diet that tasted awful (at least at the time the google autocomplete for, "homemade dog food recipes" was, "for dogs with kidney disease." And being a reasonably large dog, it presented some challenges: he had to get enough nutrition for his body to keep running properly, and the quantity of food he ate increased tremendously - good kibble has much better nutritional availability than fresh dog food.

I would cook large batches at a time, then portion into deli containers and freeze, then thaw in the fridge and re-heat for him. He was ridiculously happy about this arrangement, which quite aside from anything else made the whole thing worth it.

One thing of note: start with whole fresh ingredients as much as practical, and fresh frozen when that's not, my only exception to this rule was the one recipe that took beets, because they're a nightmare.

Also, our old boy's food volume tripled, and other dogs can take that even further. Our new puppy is a Newfoundland (140 lbs with about 60 more to grow) who eats about 3 cups of kibble every day (side note: cheaper kibble would bring this to 6-8 cups per day), but if we switched to fresh food would require over a gallon by volume, so much that it will cause secondary health issues.

Thank you!

 

[tazdev3225]

My daughter's dog has a ton of allergies and sensitivities. I know she makes some of his food as chicken is a huge culprit for him. I'm not 100% sure of all the ingredients but I know she uses 93% ground meat, rice and I think mixed vegies. The vet recommended the ingredients. I'd ask her but she's on vacation in Alaska right now.

Hope you find a combination that works

 

[lilmc]

Don’t do it unless you’re working closely with a boarded veterinary nutritionist.