Home made dog food

[OwnedByTheCow]

We are going to be getting my dad a dog for christmas and looking at options for homemade dog food.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Some of the really good commercial brands of dog food are every bit as good, and probably better than "homemade." The reason being is that they are balanced with the proper proportions of all the ingredients. The better companies have spent millions of dollars on research.
So if you are going the direction of "making your own," you will need to stock your shelves and do a lot of research on the subject. Not as easy as it sounds to come up with a "complete and balanced" diet.
I personally would not attempt it. Good luck.


With that said, my nephew that works the canine unit for the Sheriffs department feeds his working dogs 100% raw diet. Chicken is the main thing, but he gives other supplements to make up for what the chicken does not provide. What? I do not know. It's a pain in the butt handling raw chicken all the time, and not any cheaper.

 

[OwnedByTheCow]

okay I'll look into it

 

[Chuckie]

The best dog food at the best price that I have found is at Costco. It is a dry dog food and it is made by Kirkland's. It doesn't have the ingredients that are in cheaper dog foods such as corn or wheat. It is grain free, and the main ingredient is meat. They have a lamb and a chicken both. I would give anything if Costco wasn't over 100 miles from me. I have two dogs with grain allergies and I must feed a more expensive food made from sweet potatoes and meat. Sometimes I order the Venison and sometimes Salmon. It last a long time. I feed Natural Balance, and it is so expensive, but Abbey scratched herself raw and bloody when I fed other dog foods. When I fed this, all of her allergies stopped. I was so afraid that putting her down was going to be my only option as she was bleeding all over. I wanted to cry as she constantly scratched and I put all kinds of medications to stop the itch. Oatmeal, etc...... I medicated her for a while, which helped, but I knew that it was going to shorten her life feeding her a steroid all the time. It was much cheaper paying for the extra cost of the dog food than going to buy Temaril-P at the vet's office each month. Now she has such nice skin and a pretty coat.

Here is the Kirkland's brand dog food rating. What is amazing is that it is around $40.00 for grain free dog food for a 50 lb bag. Most of your grain free dog food run that amount for a 28 lb bag so this is a great price for dogs not filled with corn and corn gluten as it usually makes the majority of the ingredients.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/kirkland-signature-dog-food/

Sometimes you will hear people say that their dogs won't eat some dog foods. I have also heard them say, "They will starve to death if they don't eat it" A lot of dogs have allergies to eating corn and such and if you see your dog throwing up, then he is having a reaction to the ingredients in the dog food. Sometimes they know that they cannot eat the dog food you put in front of them.

I also feed meat with my dog food. Walmart sells chicken leg quarters by the 10 lb bag. It is only $.79 a pound. I cook it in a pressure cooker, and it makes the bones really soft and I feed bones and all. I cook it until the leg bones will break in two with my fingers. That way when they chomp the bones, they pulverize quickly. Dogs need the calcium, and it is the perfect way to get it. Besides they love eating the bones. They love the gelatin that the liquid makes, and I put that in their bowls as well. That is what is inside the capsules we take to make our joints stronger. It helps our dogs as well. I do put salt in the meat as I find myself nibbling on the chicken from time to time. It makes a great sandwich with a little Helman's mayo with the Green Jalepeno sauce made by Tabasco. :nod:

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Road kill, deer carcasses, muskrats, beaver, and let them pick out of feed trough.


I'm one of those abusive dog owner that gives them what they want.

 

[M5farm]

Road kill, deer carcasses, muskrats, beaver, and let them pick out of feed trough.


I'm one of those abusive dog owner that gives them what they want.

shame on you! you know they prefer table scraps

 

[AllForage]

Some of the really good commercial brands of dog food are every bit as good, and probably better than "homemade." The reason being is that they are balanced with the proper proportions of all the ingredients. The better companies have spent millions of dollars on research.
So if you are going the direction of "making your own," you will need to stock your shelves and do a lot of research on the subject. Not as easy as it sounds to come up with a "complete and balanced" diet.
I personally would not attempt it. Good luck.


With that said, my nephew that works the canine unit for the Sheriffs department feeds his working dogs 100% raw diet. Chicken is the main thing, but he gives other supplements to make up for what the chicken does not provide. What? I do not know. It's a pain in the butt handling raw chicken all the time, and not any cheaper.

Come on Brangus you gotta be kidding here. How much research went into killing pets with Chinese protein supplement? It ain't brain surgery.

Dogs lived a long without scientific kibble. If you want to go through the effort cook meats and toss in some veggies. Personally doing it 365 a year to much hassle for me. Find a good grain free kibble and add some goodies to it. Nothing worse than having to eat dry a$$ kibble only for life.

Does anyone use google anymore geeeesh. All you ever need to know is just a click away....

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Road kill, deer carcasses, muskrats, beaver, and let them pick out of feed trough.


I'm one of those abusive dog owner that gives them what they want.

shame on you! you know they prefer table scraps

But that's what I get to eat!

 

[branguscowgirl]

Some of the really good commercial brands of dog food are every bit as good, and probably better than "homemade." The reason being is that they are balanced with the proper proportions of all the ingredients. The better companies have spent millions of dollars on research.
So if you are going the direction of "making your own," you will need to stock your shelves and do a lot of research on the subject. Not as easy as it sounds to come up with a "complete and balanced" diet.
I personally would not attempt it. Good luck.


With that said, my nephew that works the canine unit for the Sheriffs department feeds his working dogs 100% raw diet. Chicken is the main thing, but he gives other supplements to make up for what the chicken does not provide. What? I do not know. It's a pain in the butt handling raw chicken all the time, and not any cheaper.

Come on Brangus you gotta be kidding here. How much research went into killing pets with Chinese protein supplement? It ain't brain surgery.

Dogs lived a long without scientific kibble. If you want to go through the effort cook meats and toss in some veggies. Personally doing it 365 a year to much hassle for me. Find a good grain free kibble and add some goodies to it. Nothing worse than having to eat dry a$$ kibble only for life.

Does anyone use google anymore geeeesh. All you ever need to know is just a click away....

Nope, not kidding. I HAVE done extensive "research" on dog foods. I wouldn't buy anything with "Chinese protein" in it. You buy American made products that are made with (tested) minimal, quality, ingredients.
Kind of like finding the proper balance of minerals for your cattle isn't it?

 

[AllForage]

Those who used the melamine stuff did not label it. When I took my first heeler that was 10 years old into the vet when she had a lump we talked cancer. My girl had rib cancer along with a large tumor pressing on her heart and other organs. He said the incidence of cancer in dogs keeps rising and at many ages. So I don't think all the science is great.

A dog doesnt need anything we don't. Most commercial dog food is over processed and heat treated. Adding some sort of fresh is good.

The mineral thing is given too much credit a lot. Once again all cattle were developed in areas that had done deficiency below optimum. I would wait to see if it cures your problems first before hailing it is the solution. I hope it does.

 

[TexasBred]

The first five items on a dog food ingredient list are the most important. Dog food manufactures are required by federal law to list all of a product's ingredients in descending order of their pre-cooking weights. That automatically… and mathematically… makes the first few the most abundant items anywhere in a product. Anything beyond these five items with the exception of the necessary vitamins and minerals are little more than "window dressing" along with a fancy package.

Since companies rarely divulge the actual amount of each ingredient in a dog food, the consumer is left to try to figure out the proportional break-down for herself.Trying to make heads or tails of a dog food's proportional content is nothing less than a game… a game of odds and probabilities. Look for meat products as the first items. No meat "by-products" or "meat meal". These can be anything. Avoid the grains with the exception of rice (a billion chinese can't be wrong).

Contrary to what some may believe there are numerous dog foods which are much more complete diets than straight red meat....higher in protein, more digestible, higher in energy and much more cost effective than even low cuts of meat. BTW...dogs don't like chicken every meal either. ;-)

 

[OwnedByTheCow]

We if my dad brings the dog hunting with him he can hunt for his own food!!
Since it will be a bird dog does that mean he can eat wild bird?

 

[branguscowgirl]

The mineral thing is given too much credit a lot. Once again all cattle were developed in areas that had done deficiency below optimum. I would wait to see if it cures your problems first before hailing it is the solution. I hope it does.

Well, I seem to have had very good results giving Selenium injections to Selenium deficient cattle. The worst cow no longer has tremors and is staggering around! The cow with the weak back legs is grazing the entire field with the rest of the herd. So yes, it has "cured my problems"! With in 48 hrs. of Muse injections they were back to normal.

 

[branguscowgirl]

The first five items on a dog food ingredient list are the most important. Dog food manufactures are required by federal law to list all of a product's ingredients in descending order of their pre-cooking weights. That automatically… and mathematically… makes the first few the most abundant items anywhere in a product. Anything beyond these five items with the exception of the necessary vitamins and minerals are little more than "window dressing" along with a fancy package.

Since companies rarely divulge the actual amount of each ingredient in a dog food, the consumer is left to try to figure out the proportional break-down for herself.Trying to make heads or tails of a dog food's proportional content is nothing less than a game… a game of odds and probabilities. Look for meat products as the first items. No meat "by-products" or "meat meal". These can be anything. Avoid the grains with the exception of rice (a billion chinese can't be wrong).

Contrary to what some may believe there are numerous dog foods which are much more complete diets than straight red meat....higher in protein, more digestible, higher in energy and much more cost effective than even low cuts of meat. BTW...dogs don't like chicken every meal either. ;-)

:nod: :nod: :nod:

 

[ranchersswiss]

Hi, I really appreciate all your suggestions about homemade food for dogs. I am actually wanting an idea about it to feed him. The only fave food of our dog are cheese and boiled pork liver

 

[branguscowgirl]

Contrary to what some people believe, dogs can develop deadly pancreatitis from eating many "people" foods.
Also certain "raw diets" are not balanced. A dog can literally starve to death eating say, just chicken. If you want your dog to live a long healthy life I suggest you talk to you vet about it.

 

[branguscowgirl]

As for what allforage said about "dogs living along time without scientific kibble", you are correct sir. But not long enough. The average life span of our pets has increased considerably from the knowledge that we have gained over the years. And I for one will take advantage of every bit of it to keep my dogs healthy and around as long as I can. :tiphat:

 

[chippie]

We if my dad brings the dog hunting with him he can hunt for his own food!!
Since it will be a bird dog does that mean he can eat wild bird?

You do not want to let the dog do that. It will ruin it as a bird dog and can make it sick.

I have a friend who cooks for her dogs (makes their own food). The cost does not matter to her, and it can get expensive. She supplements with vitiamins.
I agree with branguscowgirl. Find a good quality commercial dog food. And I agree with dun. Read the labels and then determine what is the best for your dog.

This link is helpful.

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/homemade-dog-food

Talk to your veterinarian about your dog's diet and health care.

ETA another link: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/is...Dog-Food-Nutritional-Information_20568-1.html