Any ideas to make homemade dog food (chihuahua, vet, teeth)

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by Lola4

OP
I will try to convince you to go raw one more time. It REALLY is easier and healthier then cooked. If you are still not interested, I will go away.

This is about the easiest (and balanced) I can find for beginners.
Buy the meat you want. Run the meat only through your grinder.
Add: https://www.drharveys.com/products/d...og-food-premix plus oil.
The above has all the supplements your dog needs on a daily basis. No grains. No carp. BALANCED.
Make in batches and freeze meal size portions.

I would have guessed carp would be good for them.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I really like Dr. Karen Becker (veterinarian). Here's an article she wrote about bones for dogs:

https://www.desertraw.com/blog/what-...to-feed-my-dog

She has a bunch of videos on YouTube, too.

I'm not a pure raw food person, but she says that even if you can't afford to feed a lot of raw meat, even just adding some to their food will make a difference in their health. She also says one of the main benefits of feeding raw food, is the moisture in the food. That feeding dehydrated food to your animals causes health problems, because their bodies have to produce the moisture to digest the food and the animals may not drink as much water as they should. It's interesting. I've been feeding raw bones for quite a while to help keep her teeth clean, but have just recently been learning about feeding raw meat, and have been slowly converting over to more raw.

If I remember correctly, there shouldn't be any danger to a dog regarding eating all body parts. I think the only danger is to humans regarding handling the raw meats. And that danger to humans from salmonella, etc., would be in the guts of an animal, not in the muscle. And, as far as killing any harmful cooties for the dog, she said you just need to freeze the meat for 3 days. Assuming my memory is serving me correctly. Double check this info, though, just in case my memory is wrong.

[Lola4]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

I would have guessed carp would be good for them.

[Lola4]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

That feeding dehydrated food to your animals causes health problems, because their bodies have to produce the moisture to digest the food and the animals may not drink as much water as they should. It's interesting.

Dehydrated wouldn't be my first choice. Fresh is always better. But if a person doesn't want the worry of what supplements to add, Dr. Harvey's makes it pretty simple!

I only use the "add-on" version (I add my own raw meat) of Dr Harvey's once in while. I DEFINITELY hydrate it! I add water, as instructed, and then freeze portion size meals.

Quick OT:
For those that feed kibble, put a piece in some water. Watch it "grow." That is what it does in your dog's stomach.

Back to the subject at hand...

[Lola4]

OP

Whether you decide on cooked or raw, you will be amazed at the difference in your dog's poop. MUCH less. No stink. Less carp in, less carp out.

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by Lola4

OP

Whether you decide on cooked or raw, you will be amazed at the difference in your dog's poop. MUCH less. No stink. Less carp in, less carp out.

With two 90lb dogs I am definitely pro- "less poop."

[lkb0714]

Originally Posted by gguerra

Given the poor quality and unknown ingredients in most dog food available today, I had the idea of making my dog some food.

I am thinking I could buy some chicken leg quarters, boil and shred it and give that to my dog. I could add some other ingredients like rice or vegetables and salt or whatever to make it more palatable. The chicken is normally about .39 cents a pound so it is economical. I'm sure she would like it way more than either canned or dried food.

Another question is storage. Maybe pre-package and freeze and then defrost as you need it?

Anybody do this type of thing?

Dogs don't need salt. Don't add it.

Mix up the protein and veggies, make sure you add bone meal or a calcium phosphorous additive (the diet you have described will be deficient), add a fatty acid to it like flax seed oil, and it should be fine.

As another poster mentioned I feed raw, meaty bones or a great quality dehydrated food (Honest Kitchen) but cooked can be fine as well, just takes a bit more prep to make sure it is meeting some nutritional holes.

[lkb0714]

Originally Posted by treeluvr

The "Just Food for Dogs" products seem fairly expensive when you figure quantity needed, but the idea of using their ingredient list to make your own is a good one.

I really wonder about the amount of concern many of us have over what to feed our dogs these days. It's a relatively new thing to worry about nutrition, carcinogens, etc. for our pets. I expect a lot of it is marketing, a lot of it is the ease of internet information exchange, and perhaps just that we love our dogs.

I certainly don't think dogs evolved to eat Purina dog chow, but I do know that many dogs in the 1950's, '60's, '70's happily ate table scraps (or Purina dog chow) and lived reasonably long lives. Still, I like to spoil my girl.

It is a relatively new phenomenon use rendered meat in pet food. Rendered meat should be a concern for pet owners.

[lkb0714]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

This is exactly what I do with chicken leg quarters. I don't add salt and my dog doesn't miss it. I also keep kibble around for when I'm lazy and like someone posted above, I also know the kibble has added vitamins and minerals that I might miss in feeding her other foods.

I did some research about raw food and there didn't appear to be any real nutrient loss if you cooked the meat.

The issue with cooking the meat is you cook the bones too and you should not feed cooked bones. Raw diet naturally has the correct ratio of calcium to phosphorous due to the dogs eating the bones, which you cannot get in a home cooked diet where they do not. This can be fixed with additives to the diet, but yes, there is indeed a nutritional difference between most raw diets and cooked.

[lkb0714]

Originally Posted by gguerra

Thanks guys for ideas and recipes.

I do have a couple of other questions and that is about bones, lol.

1. I know that we are not supposed to give dogs chicken bones but I assume that's cooked bones. How do raw bones differ?

2. Someone mentioned marrow bones and cutting them up to feed the dog. Can you be a little more specific as to where these come from. Aren't these bones too hard for the dog to chew?

3. Whether we are talking about raw or cooked, how do you all process the meat? Chicken for instance, do you just shred it by hand or run it through a grinder? As for raw chicken, I would assume you grind bones and all? What about the cooked?

TIA

What type of dogs are these? Most dogs with healthy teeth can manage chicken, turkey, and other slim bones just fine when they are uncooked. Cooking the bones makes them more brittle and they will splinter when chewed rather than just break. Splinters are more dangerous to eat.

And no raw diets do not typically grind up bones for healthy dogs. I have shelties, they can crack a chicken bone with no problem. They will grab one end of say a wing, and instinctively crack it every inch or so before they swallow it. I did have a border collie who was a gulper, and I had to train him to break the bones by holding the raw chicken wing (slightly gross) with only an inch or two sticking out, and letting him bite that part off. BTW, one of the benefits of eating raw bones is their teeth. The first dog I had on raw, lived to be 18 and only had to have her teeth cleaned once. My oldest shelties is 7 and I adopted her at 2, she had to have her teeth cleaned immediately when we adopted her, her teeth are still beautiful to this point.