Interested in Homemade Diet

[chynamae]

I have 2 rescue Samoyeds. Currently I feed Nature’s Recipe Senior Lamb & Rice but I have heard a lot about homemade feeding. I’d be willing to put in the time, not too interested in saving $$$, because I figure good ingredients will be required to produce a decent product. I’ve skimmed the titles available on the subject. Not sure where to start, any ideas? Want to keep it simple, please, or I will probably just keep on with the commercial kibble, as the vet hasn’t said they have any food related problems.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi chynamae!

Are you interesting in homemade raw or homemade cooked?

I feed my three bloodhounds a homemade raw diet. It’s really pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

You want 80% muscle meat, 10% organ meat (5% liver, 5% other organs) and 10% bone – if you don’t want to include bone in the diet or are making a cooked diet you would use 90% muscle meat and 10% organ meat + 800-1,000 mg calcium per 1 lb. meat. You’ll want to keep the meat portion around 80% of the diet the other 20% will be vegetables (cooked and pureed) and supplements. Fruits and extras (i.e. cottage cheese, eggs, kefir, etc.) can be added if you want, but I’d keep it to under 10% of the meal.

For supplements you’ll need to add some trace nutrients. You can get a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement, but I think whole foods are preferable. I mix my own supplement for my dogs with equal parts, I rotate ingredients but the mix I’m currently using is: kelp, alfalfa, spirulina, chlorella, wheat grass, barley grass, bee pollen and garlic powder. You’ll need to add vitamin e as vitamin e is hard to supply in adequate quantities through food alone – for a small dog I’d recommend 50-100 i.u. every day or every other day, medium dogs 100-200 i.u. every day or every other day and 300-400 i.u. every day or every other day for large dogs. I’d also recommend adding a high quality animal-based omega 3 supplement – fish body oil or an oily fish such as sardines.

To keep it even simpler there are pre-mixes available in which all you need to add is meat – THK’s preference, Sojo’s, Birkdale, Urban Wolf, Dr. Harvey’s, etc. Or you can purchase meat/organ/bone grinds (primal, bravo, hare today, my pet carnivore) in which all you need to add are supplements.

Be sure to feed an even mixture of red meat and poultry and feed as much variety as possible. My dogs get a ground red meat meal in the a.m. to which I add their supplements and poultry rmb’s in the evening.

A sample daily menu for my three would be:

a.m. -1 lb. Red Meat Grind (80% muscle meat, 10% organ meat, 10% Bone)
-1/2 c. Cooked & Pureed Veggies
-1/4 C. Kefir
-400 i.u. Vitamin E
-1/2 tbs. Sardine/Anchovy oil blend
-1/2 tbs. supplement

p.m. -Chicken Back (approx. 8 oz.)
-Chicken Foot (approx. 2 oz.)
-2 oz. Chicken Gizzards
-2 oz. Chicken Hearts
-2 oz. Chicken Livers
-Whole Egg

*When feeding RMBs you want to add about 8-12 oz. boneless meat for each pound of RMB.

Hope that helps! 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

Using one of the premixes might be a good place to start while doing further research and gathering recipes.

http://www.dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

http://www.dogaware.com/diet/dogfoodmixes.html

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/real-food-for-healthy-dogs-and-cats-cookbook.aspx this book has cooked and raw recipes. This is the one I use. Even if you don’t end up making homemade, the info in the book is great and covers food, supplements, and fats, and nutrition. I thought homemade was difficult until I did it. Alot of meat, some veggie/fruit, done. And some supplements.

[Jackie B]

My dog loves the Sojo’s pre-mix. I added raw ground beef roast from the grocery and froze it into portions. Pretty easy! I also have a homemade dog food recipe book, Feed Your Best Friend Better. It has a lot of easy recipes that are nutritionally balanced. I looked online before I bought the book, and there are a lot of AWFUL unhealthy recipes out there. But the ones in the book are pretty good.

[jaimeg]

Hi chynamae, we are the exclusive online distributor of My Perfect Pet Food which is located in San Diego CA. The food we offer a homemade product made with proteins and vegetables purchased from restaurant/grocery vendors and lightly cook the proteins and combine with the vegetables to create the product. Vitamins and minerals are added to be balanced for the dogs. We received 5 out of 5 stars from Dog Food Advisor. Website is http://www.5thavenuedog.com.

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