Homemade Dog Food- cooked or raw

With all the topics on great commercial raw, I was just wondering if anyone does a combo or does homemade dog food.

I havent been giving LuLu canned the past few days. I have been giving her a cooked mix of chicken breasts, sardines squash, peas, carrots, green beans, brown rice cooked in minimal seasonings and broth and she's been a happy and more alert girl.

I've been seeing a lot of other dog boards have people who make food. Wondering if theres any good mix in vitamins out there....or if people think to mix a commercial base like Honest Kitchen preference with choice foods.

I'm leaning to doing half commercial and half foods from my fridge for LuLu, but doing my final research to really get the idea of all the pros and cons, cost efficiency, etc. Trying to feed her the best I can without us having to live on ramen, but will make sacrifices to make sure she is going to be cared for.

Hilary (I believe she's pugpillow over here) is our raw food expert, and I know that she does a homemade raw "breakfast slop" in the morning and raw meaty bones at night. I'm pretty sure that Blanche does a home made raw also.

I cooked for Tilly for about 18 months. I think it really helped her allergies. I quit because I was driving myself crazy second guessing myself about the proper balance of everything. I belonged to a Yahoo group that is especially for homecooked dog food. I also bought a couple books on the subject. Remember they always need either bones or bone meal or an equivalent. I cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot until the bones turned to mush.

Getting the balance right to assure complete nutrition is what is difficult about cooking homemade. That and the time involved is why I chose to go with raw. There's lots of info out there if you search for BARF diet for dogs.

About 4 years ago I was asked to "test kitchen" some recipes from Dr. Pitkarin's revised book and my pugs just thrived on it. So....I now cook dinner for them and they get kibble in the AM to cover their vitamins (except Bailey who has been such a picky little boy..but my vet said it would take him 5 years to die from malnutrition and he is 14 1/2 ans can't walk so I think we are OK on that one.)

I have to hand feed Bailey and Timmy so I have started making their food into a meatloaf and they all love it! I mix ground turkey, chicken and a little beef with oatmeal, eggs, a little ketchup, and various veggies and then bake. You can slice it up and freeze it too so you only have to cook every week or so.

For me, there aren't a lot of things that pugs get to do in life that they really enjoy but food is one of them. I want to give them food that they truly love in addition to it being good for them. JMHO

I've been feeding my girls a homemade raw diet for almost 3 years. I researched for about 6 weeks before I switched them. They need a certain percentage of RMB (Raw Meaty Bones), a certain percentage of Muscle Meat and a certain percentage of Organ Meat. Some people choose to give veggies and some don't. I do give them veggies but only 5% of their diet is veggies. Also, there is a "formula" on how much to feed. They say to feed anywhere from 2%-3% of their body weight. Pugs, being that they are not that active, usually get the lower end. I think my girls are right at 2%, they may even be at 1.9% of their body weight because they got so fat when I switched them. They both are at 20 pounds. I really noticed a difference in their fur and skin when I switched them. There are MANY good books out there that I read that I would suggest to look at just so you know what your doing before you start. And there is a wonderful Yahoo group too. I'm at work so I don't remember all the books but I'll post the ones I can remember. And the Yahoo Group is called K9 Nutrition and they are FULL of wonderful information and advice on how to get started. Another good website is http://www.b-naturals.com/
They have really good newsletter with some good info and they also sell vitamins, fish oil, etc. And one other website is http://www.dogaware.com/

The books that I can remember off the top of my head that helped me was Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy Schultze, The Barf Diet by Dr Billinghurst, and Dr Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. I'll try to remember to look at all the other books I have at home and post what I have but this will at least get you started. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

great topic. I've never cooked for my dog, I'm not a very innovative cook , but I can follow books and recipes well. I've been debating if I should start cooking for my doggie...hmm...

GracieNEmma wrote:And the Yahoo Group is called K9 Nutrition and they are FULL of wonderful information and advice on how to get started.

Another good website is http://www.b-naturals.com/
They have really good newsletter with some good info and they also sell vitamins, fish oil, etc.

And one other website is http://www.dogaware.com/

Three of my favorite online sources for info! I order supplements from B-Naturals all of the time, too.

GracieNEmma wrote:Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy Schultze and Dr Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats.

I have these two as well. Switching to Raw by Susan K. Johnson is another good one that I've got. It's very easy to understand for beginners. I have Hilary's raw outline printed out & tucked inside that one.

If you email me, I can send you the Breakfast Slop recipe that Hilary and a bunch of us use. My email is blanche.axton@gmail.com