Home Cookers can you please post what you feed

[Nikki's Mom]

I tweaked my recipe a bit. After listening to Animal Essential's Webinar, I've decided to use their stuff exclusively for a while. Remember, this is what I feed my dogs. I am posting it for information purposes only. I am not a veterinary nutritionist or medical professional.

Here's the updated recipe:

The recipe should make enough for 14 days for one dog.

Protein, choose one:
2 pounds (after cooking)

• Ground beef sirloin
• Ground bison
• Mix of white/dark ground chicken or turkey
• Roasted chicken breast
• Wild Codfish
• Wild Alaska Salmon – canned is okay ONLY IF it is Wild-caught Alaska Salmon. Whole Foods has a couple of decent ones without bones.

I usually cook about 2 ½ pounds of protein to get 2 pounds of cooked meat. I cook the meat/bake the fish in organic butter or organic coconut oil. For canned fish that is already cooked, I add a little extra coconut oil/butter to the food batch.

Veggies:
3 cups after cooking, of steamed fresh, or frozen organic veggies – Choose one or a combination of several:
Zucchini
Bok Choy
Yellow squash
Carrots
Artichoke hearts - canned is okay

Spinach
Broccoli

Exceptions: We don't feed grains like corn or legumes like peas to our dogs. Onions are harmful to dogs. Please limit spinach and broccoli.

Carbs:
Rotate 2 cups of roasted sweet potato, (or steamed organic rice is okay occasionally)


Fruit:
1/2 cup of raw fruit. I use mostly pureed apples, pears, frozen cranberries or blueberries. Never use grapes or raisins. Raspberries and Strawberries do not agree with my dogs. If you don’t have time, buy organic baby food jars of pureed fruit.

Salt:
½ teaspoon of sea salt. (I use Celtic gray sea salt)

After cooking, place the food into a big bowl, or add it directly to the food processor bowl.

Add Oils/Fats. (Optional, but very healthful)
1 tablespoon of

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. I use Nutiva.
1 tablespoon of organic UNSALTED real butter, like Kerry Gold or Organic Valley

Calcium: Weigh the food on a food scale, then add 1 teaspoon:
Animal Essentials Calcium from the Sea, PER POUND of food. .

Fold all the food together a little, and then add food in batches to the food processor. Process it only until the veggies (and rice, if using) are pureed. Do not over mix it. You want it to be a just a little coarser than wet dog food. Divide up the food into daily portions – 4 ounces total food per day, per dog. Unless you are good at eyeballing it, you'll have to use a food scale and weigh each storage container before and after filling it up to make sure you are portioning out properly.Freeze all but 3 days worth of food. Keep 3 days worth of food in the refrigerator. I usually warm the food in the toaster oven for a few minutes before serving.

At Feeding Time:
For this recipe, you must add vitamins, probiotics, Omega Oils and Kelp (Kelp is optional) to the food at feeding time, after the food is warmed up, so that the supplements are never subject to heat. I use the following:
1. Animal Essentials Multi-Vitamin Herbal Supplement
2. Animal Essentials Plant Enzymes and Probiotics.
3. AnimalEssentialsOcean Omega Supreme (When feeding salmon as a protein, you don’t have to add this oil)
4. Animal Essentials Organic Ocean Kelp
The dosage is on the label of the products. Available at: www.animalessentials.com,

[Morkie4]

Why no peas??? I don't feed mine peas as I tried once and it gave all four the runs! So I stick pretty much to just four different veggies.

Thanks for the post; it was very helpful in maybe making a few changes to my homecooked meals.

[elly]

Originally Posted by Morkie4

Why no peas??? I don't feed mine peas as I tried once and it gave all four the runs! So I stick pretty much to just four different veggies.

Thanks for the post; it was very helpful in maybe making a few changes to my homecooked meals.

Ellie's diet from UCDavis had Pea's, she loved them.

[Ladysmom]

Peas and corn both have a high glycemic load compared to other vegetables. The body treats them like a carbohydrate so proponents of low carb diets wouldn't use them. They are not harmful to dogs, though.

[Nikki's Mom]

Originally Posted by Morkie4

Why no peas??? I don't feed mine peas as I tried once and it gave all four the runs! So I stick pretty much to just four different veggies.

Thanks for the post; it was very helpful in maybe making a few changes to my homecooked meals.

We don't eat many starchy legumes or feed them to our dogs. Many people mistake peas for veggies, that is why I commented about peas. Corn is a grain and we don't eat grains at all, except for rice occasionally. Corn and peas are safe for dogs, but not a personal choice of mine.

Everyone is free to do whatever they want, though. It's a personal choice. I'll correct my post to make it clearer for everyone. Thanks!

[tamizami]

i just saw this today and will create a separate thread, but there is a bison meat recall right now:

CIDRAP >> Illness cluster triggers bison meat recall

[lepetitecosette]

Wow...I finally finished reading through this thread, but I need some advice on where to buy the supplements AND how much i should give...


I have two gals, one just over a year and one just under a year. I usually cook a little chicken, or ground beef or salmon and mix one tablespoon of cooked protein in with their kibble. we often eat rice, so I sometimes mix a tsp of steamed rice or sweet potato in with this 1 TBS of chicken. I would say their diet is less then 50percent cooked.

How much probiotics, fish oil etc should I give? is there one great source to buy all the supplements? do they need supplements??? I thought I read somewhere that they would get their supplements from the kibble???

My gals enjoy bits of carrots, banana, apple, etc when we are snacking on fruits...

[Nikki's Mom]

If you home cook, they should have supplements. In my recipe, I indicated that I use Animal Essentials supplements, which I purchase directly from them online, at Animal Essentials - Premium quality supplements for dogs and cats The dosage is on the product.

[Ladysmom]

Originally Posted by lepetitecosette

Wow...I finally finished reading through this thread, but I need some advice on where to buy the supplements AND how much i should give...


I have two gals, one just over a year and one just under a year. I usually cook a little chicken, or ground beef or salmon and mix one tablespoon of cooked protein in with their kibble. we often eat rice, so I sometimes mix a tsp of steamed rice or sweet potato in with this 1 TBS of chicken. I would say their diet is less then 50percent cooked.

How much probiotics, fish oil etc should I give? is there one great source to buy all the supplements? do they need supplements??? I thought I read somewhere that they would get their supplements from the kibble???

My gals enjoy bits of carrots, banana, apple, etc when we are snacking on fruits...

If more than 15% of their diet is homecooked, then you need to add supplements. Adding calcium is especially important because the correct calcium to phosphorus ratio is critical.

Calcium & Phosphorous in Dogs* - Chinaroad Lowchens of Australia -

I would have no idea what to add if I were doing half homecooked and half commercial kibble. I would consult a nutritionist.

[MaxnMinnie]

I can't believe I home cooked Max and Minnie's meals today

I prepared for both fluffs each
protein 1/4 cup of diced boiled chicken breast
carbs 1/4 cup steamed rice
1/8 cup mixed veggies (carrots, peas, green beans, corn mix)
twice today
I based this recipe off of one in this thread
Does this seem ok?

I know I should be feeding them supplements as well and was wondering if I could give them human multi-vitamins. I read somewhere that they are acceptable if portioned correctly.

I also wanted to make sure I had my supplement list correct .
calcium
probiotics
omega 3 - 1000mg per 10lb

Am I missing anything?


thank you in advance I really don't want to do any harm to my two babies.