making your own dog food

[haydukelives]

my 3 dogs have done well on kirkland dog food at 60c a pound.
i just got an english setter beauty and the breeder recommended iams.
i looked at the label. the ingredients sucked.

then i started reading.
the higher end dog foods have better protein, but cost $2 a pound or more.

i can get chicken breasts for $1/lb and flanksteak or chuck for $2 /lb. why not make homemade rice or potato with chicken or steak and add vitamins?

or use a medium grade dog food for the essential nutrients and add more and better meat?

[bushman]

Back in the old days (50's) the folks that had my kennel used to boil horse meat for protein and mix in the grain. They said it was good but a pain in the ass to do. The people at FROMM'S foods figured out how to kibble dog chow and there ya go, its in a bag and keeps for weeks. Call a dog food company and try and get a kennel price, it makes a difference.

[haydukelives]

i had not heard of fromms.i looked it up. good ingredients. you dont even want to know the price with shipping. 2.50/lb.and that is for the basic chicken.

so better to buy chicken breasts for $1/lb and add the cheaper ingredients. with 3/4 rice, that would be 60c/lb or less

[bushman]

I have never paid shipping on dog food. I've been buying from Nutrasource for a couple of years min 25 bags a time ,the best they have I think I pay in the neighborhood of about a $1.00 per pound. You may need to recruit a couple of friends with dogs. Performance or Super Performance will do for a setter type dog. Good luck

[schindlerpiste]

carrots, blueberries, celery, sweet potatoes, brown rice, broccoli, egg, apples, bananas, yogurt, turnips, and raw meat (chicken, venison, lamb, rabbit) will help make your better 1/2 healthy, handsome and happy.

Of course, it is not necessary to use all of these all the time.

[drjoyous]

carrots, blueberries, celery, sweet potatoes, brown rice, broccoli, egg, apples, bananas, yogurt, turnips, and raw meat (chicken, venison, lamb, rabbit) will help make your better 1/2 healthy, handsome and happy.

Of course, it is not necessary to use all of these all the time.

Excellent "recipe"--we do the same. Our dogs are incredibly healthy, act like young pups, roll around in the snow, play constantly...and they're 15 and 16 years old. We've always cooked their food for them--and the love it and us.
It's cheaper than that granulated dry stuff you buy...and they are much healthier for it.
People are always amazed when we say how old they are--because they don't act like it.
Oh and btw, we're both vegetarians...but dogs are carnivores, so we give them what makes THEM healthy

[Shin-to-Win]

My brother in law owns a fru-fru kennel where they make all of the food from scratch. I can probably get my hands on their tried and true recipe. Send me a PM if you're interested.

[haydukelives]

I am especially interested in what essential vitamins etc that must be added to the meat and potato base.

bushman,that is a great price.

schindler/drjoyous .....do you add anything like vitamins/fish oil/etc or is your recipe sufficiently varied to supply all needs?

[XXX-er]

an old GF had this siberian husky that was WAY finicky about eating and we made dog food mostly to entice the dog into eating ... table scraps , oatmeal ,rice ,ground beef or whatever

we cooked it up in a big pot on the stove and then froze it in muffin pans to make muffin sized pucks of dog food which were then stored in the freezer

nuking a hockey puck in a cereal bowl with a cup of water made some tantalizing gravy which when mixed with a cup of dog food was irresistible to the princess of siberia

[skifishbum]

a good book
Amazon.com: Give Your Dog a Bone: The Practical Commonsense Way to Feed Dogs for a Healthy Life (9780646160283): Ian Billinghurst: Books
We use a good kibble eagle pack and suppliment w/ bannas applesauce and yogurt in am
night kibble with raw meat and http://www.sojos.com/food.html
salmon skin mushroom tips brocalli stalks etc.

[The Reverend Floater]

I love my dogs. Love them. One is 12 and is still crushing and the other is almost 7 and is my hunting dog who works harder than almost any dog I know...we've been through a lot together and they are literally my family.

That said, I cannot even begin to imagine taking the time to cook for them! I mean, I'm impressed that folks do this sort of thing for their dogs but both mine have been on Iams since day one (the bird dog gets Blackstone during duck season because he can't keep fat on otherwise) and they're both super healthy. Bella, the 12 y/o, has never been to the vet, save shots and one porcupine. Paco has more energy than even he knows what to do with. I guess I'm just asking, "why?"

[haydukelives]

I love my dogs. Love them. One is 12 and is still crushing and the other is almost 7 and is my hunting dog who works harder than almost any dog I know...we've been through a lot together and they are literally my family.

That said, I cannot even begin to imagine taking the time to cook for them! I mean, I'm impressed that folks do this sort of thing for their dogs but both mine have been on Iams since day one (the bird dog gets Blackstone during duck season because he can't keep fat on otherwise) and they're both super healthy. Bella, the 12 y/o, has never been to the vet, save shots and one porcupine. Paco has more energy than even he knows what to do with. I guess I'm just asking, "why?"

the breeder recommeded iam's, and looking at the ingredients got me started on this.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-ratings/iams-premium-protection-dog-food/
iam's premium is chicken meal and corn. not even as good as kirkland.


last night i bought 3 whole chickens, 20 #, for $13. and 20# of potatoes.

it took very little time or effort to make 40# of dog food base fit for humans,(and dinner for me too)not full of waste product and chemicals. at half the price of iams.

i plan to add vegetables as schindler et al recommended.

im just not sure about other things to add.....like minerals and vitamins. my guess is that i human vitamin a day would exceed what is in commercial dog food


also fromms looks good as recommended by bushman,but i cant find his excellent pricing

[smthgfshy]

as for vitamins.....vitamin E is your best bet. a glucosamine additive is great as well. as far a cheap good dog food...try "distance dog food". I currently am a musher for the owner of the company and have fed all major brands of high quality food (annameet, caribou creek, redpaw, blackwood, momentum, eagle pack). Distance is rated as a 32/25 and costs half as much as any of the above brands. many of the top iditarod finishers this year used it. after mushing for 10 years now distance offers the best quality for the buck. I have worked for mushers who make their own food. chicken, beef, lamb and fish are used for the bulk meat. rice is used for the bulk filler. add beet pulp, egg powder, glucosamine, bone meal, brewers yeast, and some olive oil. although many have thier own vege based reciepes, I'd only recommend homemade concoctions that mimic the top ingredients in the above mentioned brands. good luck!!

[schindlerpiste]

Sojo's is the shit!

[haydukelives]

sojos.....8lbs for $78.no thanks

[stuckathuntermtn]

Costco dog food is the shit. It compares to any premium brand dog food. Look at the ingredients list. And besides, ground up animal parts that humans don't eat aren't really bad for dogs, corn meal is.

[dk_alaskan]

Iams is NOT a quality dog food anymore. You are buying a food that is a much lesser grade than Kirklands and paying the premium price because of the name--Think Dewalt cordless tools vs. Ryobi....The dewalt is ok, but for the price they are charging, ryobi kicks there asses

[haydukelives]

i have been reading "feed your dog raw meaty bones"by tom lonsdale. i could share it.

[irul&ublo]

get a slow cooker. put in meat (chicken works well, as does turkey), brown rice, veggies (pumpkin, other squash, sweet potato and greens), water, cook on low 3-4 hours. separate meat, mix all veggies together. Use to supplement quality dry food.

[54-46]

quality dry food
ground turkey
rice
brewer's yeast
safflower oil
egg

cook turkey/rice about 2-3x/week & mix w/rest daily = healthy/happy dog. not too expensive either.

[haydukelives]

quality dry food
ground turkey
rice
brewer's yeast
safflower oil
egg

cook turkey/rice about 2-3x/week & mix w/rest daily = healthy/happy dog. not too expensive either.

That is pretty much where i am headed.
bought whole chickens for 67c/lb though. and grilled them. then i can eat too.

if you are starting with dry dog food, why add more rice? just asking. why not just add meat.

[XtrPickels]

Why grains?


Additionally, the Kirkland food (and iams and others) have Beet Pulp as a filler, which is controversial.

[pisteoff]

We feed our beast Innova kibble plus one homemade meal a day. The ingredients are pretty much whatever we have on hand for ourselves meat and veggie-wise plus salmon skin once or twice a week.

When we started cooking for him, I got the following list of supplements from a breeder in case we decided to go 100% homemade:

Kelp and alfalfa (fine powdered)
Vitamin C (powder)
Essential Fatty Acids - Cod liver oil, Salmon oil OMEGA 3, and Flaxseed oil
Glucosamine (powder)
Vitamin E

[haydukelives]

interesting
why kelp and alfalfa?
fish oil and E i have seen often listed
vit C......dont dogs make their own?

any pros and cons of "raw meaty bones"?

[pisteoff]

^^^ Actually, i don't know. It was just a list of the supplements that they mixed into their homemade food. I did a little googling at the time, and recall that nothing on that list was bad for a dog (or person), but don't remember what the supposed benefits are.

We give him a raw bone every once in a while too. Makes him crazy (in a good way)

[DeathVan]

Cats + dog shit = cheap dog food

[54-46]

if you are starting with dry dog food, why add more rice? just asking. why not just add meat.

The list I generated was our vet's recommendation and worked out well over the course of 20 years/2 large dogs. I never questioned the rice because we ate rice anyway and had it around.

On the dry food, the easiest thing is to be sure the dog food has little/no corn. We used to buy Nutro, but I haven't looked at dog food in a while, so I don't know the good brands now.

[pisteoff]

Oh, and when we were researching this (about a year ago) the theory was that a dog's diet should be 20% to 30% protein, and no more than 20% fat. From our experience over the last year, our guy gets a little hyper when his protein intake gets over about 25%

The kibble + homemade combo seems to be working for him. Our vet says he's one of the healthiest and fittest dogs he sees.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4479810382_2f82a26290_o.jpg

[fallguy]

don't know if it's available in all areas, but ACANA brand kibble works well for our golden ret.s. also look at getting a quality meat grinder and grind up chicken wings ( bone and all ). i make a " veggie glop" out of:
low fat yogurt
eggs ( shell and all )
black strap molasses
apple cider vinegar
garlic gloves
and whatever veggies are at the end of their life; broccli, carrots, celery, bananas, lettuce, ...etc
throw it all in the blender and make a smoothie. serve with gound chicken wings.
also google BARF diets and a book called See Spot Live Longer. good resources

[cbrpaul]

I've had my 12-year old German Shepherd on turkey (ground turkey from Costco) and rice for the past couple of months. It's easy enough to do, and she's never been happier, and is much healthier than she was on Eagle Pack Duck & Oatmeal. Eagle Pack was purchased by another company last year, and something changed in the formula.

I wish I had been cooking my dog's food all along, after seeing how she's been on the new diet. And, her breath smells like fresh air, almost.