home cooked diet for doggies

[tikeyas_mom]

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?

[cali]

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.

[guster girl]

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!

[tikeyas_mom]

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

[cali]

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

[tikeyas_mom]

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

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 .

[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.

[tikeyas_mom]

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

[tikeyas_mom]

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.

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... ... 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.

[cali]

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

[guster girl]

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.

[wolfsoul]

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. 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.

[guster girl]

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!

[Twisterdog]

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

Would you please explain what you mean by this?

[wolfsoul]

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

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.