home cooked diet for doggies

I want to start Tikeya on a home cooked Diet...
I am willing to go through with the costs involved. ;)
I would love some recipes and tips :).
Maybe some links
Tikeya ate last night *her first home cooked meal* it consisted of Whole wheat flour, broccoli, carrot, apple, water, milk, egg whites, garlic, OXO beef flavoring, chicken *cooked* celery, Nutro weight control, corn flakes, mashed plain potatoes, and peas *cooked*..

I know I need some vitamins, but I am not sure what...
What eles should I get for her home cooked meals?. :)

Has anyone fed home cooked meals to their dogs before?

I am not an advocate of cooked but I would eliminate the flour. grains may be predominant in kibble but that is exactly WHY kibble is bad. with home cooked you can feed a little grains but do NOT make it a predominat part of the diet thats bad. :)

There's a book called "The veterinarians' guide to natural remedies for dogs" by martin zucker. There are lots of recipes in there, and, several of them specifically call for brown rice or oats, millet, etc. I know they all call either for cooked or raw meet, and veggies. Finn loves his food! :) I've never heard that rice and oats were bad, though. I'll double check with my vet and see what she says. I think that is awesome that you're making homemade food! I definitely agree that it's the way to go! Good luck!

how do i make the gravy if i dont use flour???? :confused:

why would you make gravy? gravy is EXTREMLY fattening, the food should NOT need extra flavour.

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Originally posted by cali
why would you make gravy? gravy is EXTREMLY fattening, the food should NOT need extra flavour.

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have you met Tikeya... She is a very picky dog lol she wont eat anything inless it is tasty. if she can tast the veggies or fruit she wont eat it :(.

You should talk to your vet about what to feed Tikeya. I do know that sometimes just adding water will help. Process the veggies and mix it up with the chopped up meat and it will be harder for her to avoid eating it. But, if she needs flavoring, there HAS to be a way to make "gravy" without making it bad for the dog. I'll let you know if my vet has any suggestions, too.

the dog food i am feeding her right now is groose Iams weight control.. BARF.. BUT on Friday *tomorrow* I am going to get her a bag of Nutro light dog food. then her and my rats can share it :).. I very much dislike the iams company...

ingredients in Nutro light:
- Ground Rice (min 25%)
- Dried Lamb Meat (min 14%)
- Rice Bran
- Beet Pulp
- Wheat Flour
- Sunflower Oil (min 3.0%)
- Poultry Fat (min 3.0%)
- Dried Yeast
- Dried Egg Product
- Dried Kelp

Iams Less Active/Weight Control Formula:
*top ten ingredients..*

Corn Meal
Chicken
Chicken By-Product Meal
Ground Grain Sorghum
Ground Whole Grain Barley
Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed)
Fish Meal
Natural Chicken Flavor
Dried Egg Product
Brewers Dried Yeast


I think i will go with Nutro thanks

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Originally posted by guster girl
You should talk to your vet about what to feed Tikeya. I do know that sometimes just adding water will help. Process the veggies and mix it up with the chopped up meat and it will be harder for her to avoid eating it. But, if she needs flavoring, there HAS to be a way to make "gravy" without making it bad for the dog. I'll let you know if my vet has any suggestions, too.

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ok I have a food processor so i can do that thanks.. I was just cutting the veggies up with a sharp knife before... lol I am so weird... I should have used the food processor...
I made my gravy out of water and whole weat flour for Tikeya... :o... my vet is weird.. they get Science diet and try to sell it in their store.. YUK.. no offence to anyone who feeds that... I just rather not.

oo ok, yes veggies and fruits have zero value for a dog unless its pulped. my dogs wont eats veggies chopped either! lol they get veggy slop for breakfast but we have to mix hamberger, or liver, or kidney in with it, you mix the veggie slop and chunks of meat so that the meat is covered in veggis, making it impossable for the dog to avoid the veggies :)

Well, I've been reading more and more online, and, it doesn't sound like grains are a good idea at all. :( It was just a couple of the recipes in the book I have that called for oats or rice, but, I'm going to check with my vet still, but, it's not sounding good. I've only fed him oats today, so, it won't be that big of a deal to not feed them. I'll do more research, though, for sure.

I'll give you the updated version of my dog recipe list. :)

Most homecooked sites will say to feed 50% grains, 25% meat, and 25% vegetable. I'd rather do 50% meat, 25% grain, and 25% vegetable, but that's just me lol. :p Then there are BARF sites that will usually say virtually no grains. I think you should do whatever you're comfortable with. I've seen dogs on homecooked and BARF diets, and personally I think the results of both diets are great. :)

I thought grains (like brown rice) would be ok. The recipe I was going by from the book I got said 50% grain, 25% meat, 25% veggies. But, then, I went to yahoo and typed "grain for dogs" and all that came up was negative information about it. So, I'm really not sure now if I should start Finn off eating grains. Ugh. I'm going to talk to my vet and find out more. As an advocate for feeding your dog grains, can you educate me a little more on why they're beneficial or direct me to a site that will educate me? I'd really appreciate it. Just tryin' to do the right thing! :)

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veggies and fruits have zero value for a dog unless its pulped

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Would you please explain what you mean by this?

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Originally posted by Twisterdog
Would you please explain what you mean by this?

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I think she means that a dog can't digest the foods properly if the layer (I forget what the layer is called lol) over the fruits and veggies isn't broken down. If it isn't digested properly, the vitamins and whatnot can't be extracted from it. I believe that you can also get rid of the layer by cooking and steaming...I can't remember though.

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Originally posted by Twisterdog
Would you please explain what you mean by this?

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Dogs lack something that makes it possible to break down the cellulose walls of veggies (I don't know about grains). That's why people who feed a natural diet pulp the veggies in a blender and sometimes slightly cook them, to mimic how they would be if a wild dog got them from the prey animals stomach.

I don't think I explained that well, but I hope you know what I mean....LOL

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Originally posted by Shelteez2
cellulose walls

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That's the word! I kept thinking "It sounds like cellulite..." LOL

Don't worry, you explained it better than I did. :p

lol shelteez2 and wolfsoul about covered it! lol:p

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Originally posted by wolfsoul
That's the word! I kept thinking "It sounds like cellulite..." LOL

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Gosh, Veggies with cellulite walls would be horrendous. :eek: LOL

This site may prove useful?
A step-by-step 'how to' prepare raw food for dogs and cats

I got it from this site. Scroll down to find information and links to other sites with recipes.
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/sampleraw.htm

:D

Wow, that is a lot of work! Geez, and a lot of money! That equipment (the grinder!) is massive! Is there anyone here that does anything that major for their pets? I'd like to, but, I just don't know.....And, I feed my cat raw beef, but, I've never given him veggies....A juicer might be cool to puree the veggies I do give to my puppy. And, I like the idea of freezing the puree like that....But, I could probably find the time to puree fruits and veggies in the morning before I go to work......I'll ask my vet about the veggies for the cat, too. That site is a little overwhelming, but, informative and interesting. Thanks for posting it!

you can puree the veggies in a blender, and grinding the bones dont exactly do the dogs any good, the grinder is only for people who refuse to believe that dogs can chew. and its not a lot of work or a lot of money, our dogs diet is a heck of a lot cheaper then kibble ever was. we dont have any equipment that we bought just for the diet, we get our bones either free from big bobs meats, or really cheap from fellingers and sons. for breakfast we just toss veggied in the blender at the same time that we prepare veggies for the guinea pigs, pulp the veggies, poor in dishes, maybe add and egg or two, toss in some hamburger, or organ meat. and sometimes yogurt. stir, hand out. dinner pull bones from fridge, eye them for size and hand out. breaky only takes 10 minuts of my time for 6 dogs, and supper only takes 5.

I feed the raw diet, with veggies and meat, I just was referring to that particular person's recipe and everything else. I think I'm going to do the flaxseeds, though. I've heard a lot of good things about the oil, and, it seems like it would be better to use the seeds ground up. I have a small food processer that I use right now, and, it's sufficient, because Finn is so little, but, I know when he's eating more, I'll need to use something a little more size appropriate. A juicer would be something cool to get, though, and, that Juiceman Jr isn't that expensive, from what I remember. Anyway, it sure looked good, though, on the site. Talk about some happy pets. :) I think it's awesome.

I don't grind bones either, I feed them whole.

For their mush meal... I take a whole bunch of veggies and some organ meats and put it all in the food processor. I make a huge batch at once then I pour it into muffin tins and freeze them. Once frozen I remove them from the tins and put them in a container in the freezer. So when my dogs get fed raw I just defrost a veggie "muffin" and they have that for breakfast, and then they get their bones for supper.

I've always known about beef bones, or oxtail, or whatever. But, chicken bones are ok to feed whole? I like the idea of the freezer cubes or muffins. :) They mentioned including the egg shells when you feed eggs, anyone have an opinion on that? I'm just trying to get as many ideas as I can!

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Originally posted by guster girl
I've always known about beef bones, or oxtail, or whatever. But, chicken bones are ok to feed whole? I like the idea of the freezer cubes or muffins. :) They mentioned including the egg shells when you feed eggs, anyone have an opinion on that? I'm just trying to get as many ideas as I can!

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Raw chicken bones are okay. Mine have had chicken backs and necks, and they also get turkey necks. I do always supervise them when they get raw bones though.

Here's a pic of them enjoying a turkey neck.

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/...3123368839.jpg

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/...1587302519.jpg

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/...1157150995.jpg

Oops, forgot to comment on the eggshells. Eggshells are a good source of calcium and a lot of people will add them to the dogs food if there is a higher meat to bone ratio. Some people wash and dry them and crush them in something like a coffee bean grinder. My dogs think they are yummy treats and just crunch them down when I offer the halves.

Thanks for the ideas! Finn will thank you! I've been thinking about most of the things mentioned anyway, but, just wanted to get more opinions than what I had. :) I need to buy some plain yogurt too. Thanks again....