Home Cooked Dog Food

• The pros and cons of home cooked dog food
• Basic rules to follow when making your own dog food
• Foods to include in a home cooked diet for dogs
• Amount of home cooked food to be fed to our dogs
• Supplements needed to add to our dogs' food
• Switching over to home prepared dog food
• Homemade dog diet recipe books

Pros and Cons of Home Cooked Dog Food

• Unlike processed dog foods (such as kibbles) which have lost a lot of their nutritional value during the course of processing, home made dog food is fresh and wholesome, and can provide nutrients in their more natural and complete form.
• You have more control over the ingredients to be included in the food, making it easier to avoid any foods to which your dog may be allergic. It is also easier to adjust the diet as needed based on your dog's weight, lifestyle, activity level, health conditions, and other needs.
• Home cooked dog diets (particularly those with few or no grains) are higher in protein which supports the skin and the immune system and are easier for dogs to digest, which in turn can improve the health of the digestive system.
• Many dogs with health problems such as allergies, IBD, chronic ear infections, arthritis, etc. have seen their symptoms reduced or eliminated after they began eating a home cooked diet.

• Perhaps the most difficult part in making your own dog food is to design a diet that provides all the nutrients needed by your dog. It takes a lot of time and commitment and sometimes some dog parents may take shortcuts in the preparation, resulting in a poorly designed home cooked diet. It is important to remember that while fresh, home cooked dog food is better than processed foods, a good commercial diet is better than a poorly designed homemade diet.
• Problems may also occur if the home cooked dog food is either under- or over-supplemented with certain vitamins and minerals. (The most common imbalances in home prepared dog food involve calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, and iron.)
• Getting high quality ingredients (especially organic ones) can be more costly.

Basic Rules to Follow When Making Your Own Dog Food

• Variety: Home prepared dog food should include a variety of ingredients, not just one meat and grains. It is best to feed many different types of meat (e.g. beef, pork, chicken, lamb, turkey, fish, etc.), as well as other foods such as organ meat (heart, liver, etc.), eggs, cottage cheese, and yogurt. By feeding your dog a wide variety of ingredients, your dog can, over time, get a more balanced diet with nutrients coming from different sources.
  In addition, if you keep feeding your dog only one type of meat for a long time, your dog may start to develop allergy to that meat. Therefore, feeding your dog different types of meat and other ingredients can help prevent your dog from developing allergy to a certain of food.
• Balance Over Time: When you feed a wide variety of different foods, there is no need to make each meal "complete and balanced". You just have to make sure that your dog gets everything he needs over a week or two, not at every meal.
• Calcium: When making your own dog food, you MUST add calcium if the dog diet does not include bones.
  Adult dogs need about 800 to 1000 mg of calcium per pound of food fed. Calcium must be supplied in a proper proportion to phosphorus. The ideal calcium:phosphorus ratio is between 1:1 and 2:1. Meat contains a lot of phosphorus, so if your home cooked dog diet includes a lot of meat, you need to include more calcium to reach the correct calcium;phosphorus ratio.
  Sources of calcium include ground eggshells, bone meal, and calcium supplements.
  Some people add raw bones to a home cooked dog diet to supply the calcium needed for the dog. If you include raw bones in your dog diet, then you do not have to add calcium to the diet.
  NOTE: DO NOT feed cooked whole bones to dogs as they are brittle and prone to splintering, which can cause tooth fractures, intestinal obstruction and intestinal perforations.

Ingredients To Be Included in Home Cooked Dog Food

• Meat and other Protein Sources
  Protein sources (e.g. meat, eggs, dairy products) should make up at least half of the diet, and preferably more. Meat should include both muscle meat (such as lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, pork) as well as organ meats (e.g. kidney, liver, heart). Because organ meats are nutrient-dense, it is best to feed small amounts daily or every other day, rather than large amounts at one time.
  You can also include canned fish, such as pink salmon, sardines, jack mackerel, once or twice a week.
  Dairy products such as yogurt and cottage cheese offer good nutritional value. These should be added after the food is cooked.
  Eggs can be soft-boiled, hard-boiled, gently scrambled, etc.
• Grains
  Carbohydrate sources such as grains, legumes (beans), and starchy vegetables (such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squashes) are usually included in home cooked dog diets, but they should be a small percentage of the diet (around a quarter or less). At a maximum, carbohydrates should not be more than half the diet.
  Grains that are good for dogs include oatmeal, white rice, brown rice, barley, bulgur, millet, etc. Just as with other foods, feeding a variety of different grains and carbs is better than always feeding the same kind.
• Vegetables and Fruits
  Veggies are optional but are actually beneficial to our dogs. Leafy greens are the healthiest veggies for dogs. Other good veggies include broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, and more. Steaming is the best way to cook vegetables.
  Fruits can be added to the dog diet in small amounts. Good fruits to feed include apples, bananas, papayas, berries, and melon. DO NOT feed grapes or raisins for they are toxic to dogs.

Amount of Home Cooked Dog Food to Be Fed

Supplements to Add to Home Cooked Dog Food

• Fish Body Oil
  The most important supplement is fish body oil (not liver oil since liver oil contribute too much vitamin D), such as salmon oil.
  Fish body oil supplies Omega-3 fatty acids which provide a lot of benefits to dogs and are hard to find in any diet, whether homemade or commercial.
  The recommended dosage for healthy dogs is around 1,000 mg of fish oil per 20-30 pounds of body weight.
  Whenever supplementing oils of any kind, you need to supplement with vitamin E, or the dog's body will become depleted of this vitamin over time.
• Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics
  Digestive enzymes are especially helpful for dogs with gastrointestinal problems. Heat destroys digestive enzymes; therefore, home cooked dog food is best supplemented with enzymes to help the dog digest and absorb the food.
  Probiotics is beneficial especially if your dog is stressed or ill, has been treated with antibiotics, or has had diarrhea.
• Minerals
  Minerals are most safely supplemented in whole food form. Green blends, such as Only Natural Pet Super Daily Greens for Dogs and Cats, that contain foods like spirulina, kelp, fenugreek seed, and alfalfa are an excellent source of trace minerals.
  Other trace mineral sources include organic apple cider vinegar, nutritional or brewer's yeast, and dark molasses.

Switching Over to Home Cooked Dog Food

Homemade Dog Food Recipe Books

• Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (by Richard H. Pitcairn an dSusan Hubble Pitcairn)
• Dr. Becker's Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats (by Beth Taylor and Karen Shaw Becker)
• The Healthy Dog Cookbook: 50 Nutritious and Delicious Recipes Your Dog Will Love (By Jonna Anne, Marry Straus and Shawn Messonier)