Above: Cherry, in her favorite spot on the porch, basking in the sun.
We take our dog to a holistic vet, and he insists that cooked real food is better for our dog than "dog food." He says that dog food is so overly processed that no nutritional value remains, which is why they have to add so many vitamins in order to sell it. (They do this to people food too, by the way.) Of course there are exceptions, like store-bought raw dog food, but I for one can't afford it. Also, to be honest with you, it grosses me out. I gave Cherry, our Boston Terrier, raw dog food when she was a puppy, and I had to stop. Maybe if I didn't have small children (who get licked in the face—Eeeew...) I could have kept it up.
But I think most people opt for store-bought dog food because they can't/won't do raw dog food, and they think it has to be one or the other. Like I said, our vet tells us that cooked real food is better for our dog, if raw isn't going to work for us. So that's what we do.
When I think about what my dog needs to be healthy I think about what I need to be healthy. I need purified water, essential fatty acids (omega 3, 6, 9), probiotics, fat (like coconut oil and olive oil), protein, and good organic food with lots of vitamins and minerals.
Also, like our family, our dog is gluten-free. If you follow me on facebook then you know that Cherry recently got glutened while we were away on vacation, when our neighbors ran out of our homemade dog food. Oh boy was she a sick little doggie. She was a mess for a good four days after we returned, even though we put her back on her gluten-free diet the instant we got home. Some of you may relate.
So here is what I make for Cherry:
Grains/Seeds (cooked):
Quinoa
Brown Rice
Millet
Protein:
Ground Turkey, cooked
Chicken, cooked
Eggs, lightly cooked
Wild Alaskan Salmon. I use canned that I get at Costco.
Veggies (cooked or lightly cooked):
Carrots
Sweet Potato
Pumpkin
Squash
Spinach
Broccoli
What I add to the bowl at each feeding:
Sea salt
Coconut oil (Cherry adores coconut oil. She doesn't care if it's solid or liquified.)
or Olive oil (I alternate coconut and olive oil. I don't do both at the same time.)
Probiotics. I use our dairy-free people probiotics. Just open the capsule and sprinkle it on. Make sure that they don't contain xylitol—which only a chewable probiotic might. Xylitol is deadly to pets.
Fish oil
How I do it:
I make up one or two ingredients from each category at a time, so our dog gets different foods every week. One batch lasts me about five days, and I found it's best to keep each category stored separately, in it's own container in the refrigerator. When I combine everything (meat, grains, veggies) it doesn't last as long, and I only like to cook for Cherry every five days.
As a doggie treat, Zoe and Ashley give Cherry walnuts, which she loves.
I've also read that kelp is good to add to homemade dog food, and I was thinking about trying it for Cherry. If you make your own dog food, please tell us what you add in the comments :-)
♥, Kelly
PS It just occurred to me that Cherry is a small dog. If I had a big dog I would make much more at a time, and freeze it in meal size portions.
UPDATE: Thanks so much for suggesting calcium for Cherry! We got this one: Animal Essentials Natural Seaweed Calcium and I'm really excited about it :-)
27 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing! We are going to try this recipe & see how it goes!
Oh my goodness Cherry is adorable! Thank you for sharing! I might be cooking this more than every five days to feed my crew, but we'll give it a try!
Aren't Boston terriers the BEST? We feed ours a combination of EVO ("The Ancestral Diet for Dogs") and some chicken or beef & veggies. But I'm looking at an all natural raw dehydrated grain free, preservative free food put out by a Boulder company, Only Natural Pet. 2 lbs makes 13 lbs of food for less than $20
We have a small dog too. So how much is a portion of each ingredient? I have been wanting to do this for a long time.
Thanks for sharing Kelly! I've been cooking for my little dog for 2 years now, very similar recipes to this one. It's made such a difference to his allergies. He usually gets kelp on top of his food too, but I've found with some brands he gets really bad gas... So if one kind doesn't work for Cherry, try another before giving up.
We feed our 55lb golden retriever raw veggies - most of the time he eats kale, green beans and cooked sweet potatoes along with canned king mackerel. This is a "species appropriate diet" for his breed. Water dogs do best with fish. The vet says 80 percent greens and 20 percent fish is great for him. He was very sick as a puppy and changing his diet turned him around. We supplement with an immune support supplement for dogs. Liver treats above dose were given as medicine when he was recovering and now we continue them and it makes a big difference in hair falling out. Dogs need to be grain free. Beau's vet said that she has seen a golden on this diet live 18years and to keep that in mind when you feed him everyday. It isn't as convenient as prepared dog food but the rewards are great.
We do something very similar! Glad to hear we are on the right track. We avoid grains but give them meat, eggs, flax oil, kale and other veggies and veggie juices. They love it! Spoiled little dogs!
First of all, Cherry is too cute! I also add "real" food to the Girls' mix (they eat an organic dogfood with real food ingredients, but I do agree that real food is best so I add whenever I can). I've added raw sweet potato, apple, cauliflower, greens, etc. to their food for years and they are both healthy and thriving. I mean, why would our dogs want to eat the same (prepared) food every day, if we don't?
First of all, is she cute or WHAT?? :) My poodle loves raw carrots and apples. I joke that she's my little "broom" when I'm messy and dropping things on the floor when I cook. Raw garlic, onions, herbs, lettuce---she'll scarf it all down!
I've been feeding a raw diet for more than 10 years that includes organic raw skinless chicken necks or ground turkey but have to grind everything cause my schnauzers are old and missing a good many teeth. You probably wouldn't need to cook your veggies but they should be pulped (in the Cuisinart is fine) so the cell walls are broken down and the dog can get the most nutrition from them. I use mostly greens... kale, chard, cabbage, mustard greens, broccoli but also squash, cucumber, carrot, green beans, apples, celery or whatever is in season or leftover in the refrigerator. Just never use onions, raisins, avocado. I ocasionally add a little raw garlic and some unfiltered apple cider vinegar. I like to keep my veggies mix and meat mix separate too. For treats I dehydrate chicken or turkey hearts cut in pieces. Liver works well too.
I just got a new book my homeopathic vet recommended and I love it. It is Dr. Pitcarin's guide to natural health. The coolest thing I learned in this book is that you can give dogs a big raw carrot to chew on as a bone alternative. My dogs love them!
I am so glad you posted this topic. I think its so important for our best friends health. I have been feeding a raw diet to my dogs for 10 years and now for the last 2 years a cooked diet for my oldest dog. I wanted to comment because I did not see a calcium source mentioned in your post. Dogs must have a calcium source in there diet, egg shells can be used or there are several calcium products made for dogs. In fact this is the most common mistake in makeing home made raw and cooked foods for dogs and cats. Please Please make sure you are following a recipe that uses rotation and a calcium source. Good luck to all who are interested in this topic, your pets will be so much healthier on this diet.
Wow, Kelly, love your new header!
I'll have to try this type of diet for our dog. He has seizures and liver problems that the vet says are due to his inability to break down proteins correctly. Right now, he is on a very special, low protein commercial diet. Very expensive, too, I might add! Has anyone delt with this type of problem in a dog before?
i have never heard of a dog on a gluten-free diet! i had to laugh, but cherry is super adorable and lucky you have the energy to make her homemade foods!
Spunky--I got a recipe from a UCLA vet to make my own cat food when one of my cats came up diabetic. Store food is SOOOO loaded with grains that break down into sugar, he thought it best i do like you do, and feed cooked people food, specifically a high-protein, low-carb recipe complete with vitamins and minerals.
When cat #2 also showed up diabetic, she too went on the recipe. Eventually, both diabetic cats died, and now cat #3 (really cat #1 now) eats it, even tough she isn't diabetic.
Annual blood/urine testing shows the normal cat to be doing just fine, and the vet always remarks that she's never seen a healthier cat!
She eats chicken breast, egg, psyllium powder, a One-a-Day Max vitamin (vet recommended), minerals (taurine, calcium, lysine, and potassium chloride (salt sub), and finally, a fish oil cap---meat and eggs cooked, all blended together, and served over the course of a week. It's actually cheaper per serving than canned cat food, and much healthier!
I hate to say this but this recipe should not include any grains. Dogs are carnivores - they are simply not designed to digest grains whether GF or not. Veggies are debatable as well. Dogs' natural diet would be very much similar to wolves (they are virtually identical DNA-wise) and wolves don't eat much vegetation. Their diet should be meat-based. Meats, organs, bones, eggs are all fantastic for dogs. I would urge you to investigate raw diets - but not raw premade (as they are ground up and provide no chewing action which is essential for keeping a dog's teeth clean). Raw diets in their natural state: raw meaty bones, organs, etc. are what dogs are made for eating.
Aww. Cherry looks so smug basking in the sun. Like she knows she's gonna live a long, healthy life with such a good mommy taking care of her. :) What a cutie.
Magda, domesticated dogs are NOT carnivores. They are omnivores. They can thrive on a vegetarian diet, or an omnivorous one. But they should be getting some vegetables into their diet. Even when being fed a species appropriate diet, they are still very well known for raiding the garden for vegetables (mine did this as well.)
Dogs have been known (not often, but they have) to live beyond 20 years when on a plant-based diet, probably because they weren't on the awful crap that most domesticated breeds eat (i.e., processed dog food.) I think Cherry will do just fine on this diet.
We have an 11 year old boston terrier and we feed him a gluten free diet. It's the only thing that's helped his terrible skin problems. Poor guy would scratch himself until he bled. Not anymore though!
I'm in college and living on a limited income, and would like to say that sounds VERY similar to my average meal. Only difference: I'll add beans for a complete protein and homemade a homemade dressing. :)
i would add a calcium source such as ground eggshells. dogs need lots of calcium......otherwise sounds great! i have been cooking for my dogs for years!
Thanks for the dog food recipes! I also have a boston terrier! They are the cutest, funniest little snorters.
Thanks Kelly! I do agree with everyone, Cherry is too cute! I have two vizsla's and have been considering cooking their food, they are currently on a grain-free dog food. I have two questions though. Do you find it's less expensive to cook than buy by the bag and how much cooked food are you feeding that is comparable to what you would have feed dry?
Cherry is adorable. We had several Boston Terriers when I was a kid, and they have such amazing personalities. My two doggies got homemade dog food for a while, but I wasn't doing what you were doing - I was making a batch every other day of stuff already mixed together, because it wouldn't last longer than that, and got exhausted trying to cook for the family AND the dogs. I like your ideas - I could probably swing that. They currently get a nice, grain-free, high-end dog food, but it's still processed...so if I made them something it'd still be better. Of course, they do get raw veggies whenever I'm prepping - they LOVE carrots!
While our dogs main meal is a commercial food, they love veggies! They especially love yellow summer squash and broccoli stems. My girl eats gooseberries straight off the bush. We feed them eggs with the shell. I also give them green smoothies - when I make mine, I use the extra that doesn't fit in my mason jar, and add nori and olive, coconut or flax oil. They love it!
Also, when I use young coconuts, I give the shell to my girl dog, and she'll lick it more than clean (makes a bit of a mess though)!
My husband saves and freezes deer scraps from hunting, and they get those for treats.
Please, do tell, for each of the 4 categories, how much should be used? I have a Boston Terrier as well. She is 7 months old and the bestest friend I have ever had! My dog will not eat any dog food, and I need to try this ASAP!
Thank you so much for the recipe...we just found out that one of my miniature pinchers needed to go on a glutn free diet, and its very expensive especially with more than one dog! This is def. A money saver! Thank you again
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