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Almost all dogs can digest processed dairy products, so you can feed cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, and evaporated milk.
Yes I forgot to mention yogurt. good call. I mix that in as well some times. I was just cautioning the others who don't seem to have calcium in the diets they posted. But yogurt can get a bit expensive.
I still firmly believe in mixing with kibble. Soft food is terrible for a dog's teeth, they need the crunch of a good kibble that as I said also offers vital things you don't get with rice/veggie/meat home made recipes.
My dogs get a mix of fried ground chicken and lean ground beef. I freeze it in portions. We mix that into moistened dry, store bought dog food and a can of Cesar dog food. My old girl picks through it first, and my young one laps up the remains (along with a bit of extra chicken and beef)
My dogs get a mix of fried ground chicken and lean ground beef. I freeze it in portions. We mix that into moistened dry, store bought dog food and a can of Cesar dog food. My old girl picks through it first, and my young one laps up the remains (along with a bit of extra chicken and beef)
That's pretty much what we do: boiled chicken or pan-fried ground beef, except we don't freeze it. I make batches every 4th day or so, and then I mix it with Natural Balance no-grain kibbles. Tribbles gets a dollop of yogurt a couple of times a week. She is turning out to being somewhat of a picky eater, and she wants variety, as opposed to Sweetie who would eat the same thing every day, happily. First Dog would not eat the same thing three days in a row! She'd go hungry rather than eat the same (totally fresh cooked) food more than two days. For that reason we got into the habit of only buying small bags of kibbles, although that made it more expensive. We still do, because we realized that the big bags go stale, and a picky eater will not want stale kibbles!
I just started cooking for my dogs. One of my dogs had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis a week ago, and I fed her the canned diet that the vet prescribed after we were able to bring her home, but the cans from the vet were $2/each and I can't feed her that forever. Then my other dog, who was still eating his regular kibble, started vomiting too, and I decided I'll cook for them both for now.
My first batch of dog food had the meat and skin from a whole chicken, a sweet potato, carrots, celery, zucchini, brown rice and steel cut oats. The recipes I read suggested blending the cooked food into a pate-style like you'd get from a dog food can, but I skipped that step. I stored three days worth of food in the fridge and froze the rest. It worked pretty well. The dogs really liked it and now they come to the kitchen anytime anyone opens the fridge. The whole chicken was on sale for 77 cents a pound, but next time I use chicken, I might buy the cheap bag of chicken legs. I'm cooking another batch of dog food tonight, with some shredded pork and leftover turkey that I had in the freezer, and the same veggies. I bought some barley to use in place of part of the rice, because I think barley is healthier than rice.
I noticed a couple of people mentioned yogurt. I make my own yogurt for my kids and the dogs have always enjoyed it too. It's pretty simple...heat a gallon of milk to 180, cool to 115, stir in a half cup plain yogurt (add 4 cups powdered milk at this point if you want to), then pour into glass jars and leave in the oven with the light on and the oven turned off, for 8 to 12 hours. Then let it cool and put it in the fridge. After you make your first batch, you can save 1/2 cup of your own yogurt for the starter for your next batch.
I just started cooking for my dogs. One of my dogs had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis a week ago, and I fed her the canned diet that the vet prescribed after we were able to bring her home, but the cans from the vet were $2/each and I can't feed her that forever. Then my other dog, who was still eating his regular kibble, started vomiting too, and I decided I'll cook for them both for now.
My first batch of dog food had the meat and skin from a whole chicken, a sweet potato, carrots, celery, zucchini, brown rice and steel cut oats. The recipes I read suggested blending the cooked food into a pate-style like you'd get from a dog food can, but I skipped that step. I stored three days worth of food in the fridge and froze the rest. It worked pretty well. The dogs really liked it and now they come to the kitchen anytime anyone opens the fridge. The whole chicken was on sale for 77 cents a pound, but next time I use chicken, I might buy the cheap bag of chicken legs. I'm cooking another batch of dog food tonight, with some shredded pork and leftover turkey that I had in the freezer, and the same veggies. I bought some barley to use in place of part of the rice, because I think barley is healthier than rice.
I noticed a couple of people mentioned yogurt. I make my own yogurt for my kids and the dogs have always enjoyed it too. It's pretty simple...heat a gallon of milk to 180, cool to 115, stir in a half cup plain yogurt (add 4 cups powdered milk at this point if you want to), then pour into glass jars and leave in the oven with the light on and the oven turned off, for 8 to 12 hours. Then let it cool and put it in the fridge. After you make your first batch, you can save 1/2 cup of your own yogurt for the starter for your next batch.
Wow, that's the first time I've ever seen anything resembling my dad's old Scandinavian recipe for "Gelled Milk"! Except he wiped the bowls (your glass jars) with vinegar before setting the milk to "gel." That would replace the adding of the yoghurt, I guess. I will definitely pick up on the idea for us and the dog, and make homemade yogurt/"gelled milk" once in a while.
I don't currently have a dog but have had 2 hound mixes and a beagle in the past (plan to get two seniors when I move out of current apartment) and always cooked for them.
They each got one hardboiled egg (mushed up w/shell on) every morning (RAW eggs can interfere with their ability to utilize biotin, always give eggs cooked), and a homemade mix of chicken and rice in the evening.
I bought whole chickens when on sale for .79-.99 cents/lb, or chicken leg quarters in 10lb bags always cheap at Walmart, and big bags of rice.
It was so easy and I am lazy. I'd put the chicken in a big pot, boil then simmer it until the meat was falling off the bones, removed all bones, add rice, more water and simmer until rice was soft. This would last aprox 3-5 days.
At first I added mixed veg but their stools always had undigested veg in them so I stopped.
Used Cheerios and pieces of bread for treats.
Leftovers were added to the chicken mix as available.
I'd use chicken livers too when on sale.
It is definitely cheaper than dog food unless one is comparing to the cheap bags of dry food.
Last edited by VexedAndSolitary; 06-21-2015 at 06:27 AM..
Reason: TYPO and added info
Wow, that's the first time I've ever seen anything resembling my dad's old Scandinavian recipe for "Gelled Milk"! Except he wiped the bowls (your glass jars) with vinegar before setting the milk to "gel." That would replace the adding of the yoghurt, I guess. I will definitely pick up on the idea for us and the dog, and make homemade yogurt/"gelled milk" once in a while.
The vinegar would sour the milk and I guess that could thicken it. But to get actual yogurt, you'd need yogurt cultures.
when sick I do the boil hamburg with rice or egg cooked with cottage cheese also yogurt the dog loves
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