Can you make your own dogfood?

Fire_Fox

Ivana_B_Rich wrote: »

Sorry to hijack, lots of you are feeding raw chicken and raw chiken bones is there any risk of salmonella (sp)?

Thanks

Not really providing you buy from a reputable source and practice good food hygiene: less than half a percent of eggs and six percent of fresh chicken has salmonella in the UK anyway. I am not comfortable giving Noah whoopsied raw chicken, always long dated and I split and freeze right away. Chicken wings frozen individually defrost really fast which is good for safety.

As carnivores, cats and dogs have a different digestive system than we do: stronger stomach acid and much shorter guts, so the bacteria have little chance of taking hold. Dogs eat such disgusting things - each others poop, rotten food out of the bin - that a raw chicken wing wouldn't be my main concern! Feeding raw bones can help prevent dental problems: gum disease and dental caries have been linked to many other health problems in both animals and humans due to bacteria from the mouth flooding the system!

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/faq/salmonellaeggsqanda/
http://www.food.gov.uk/science/surveillance/fsisbranch2009/fsis0409

Ivana_B_Rich

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Not really providing you buy from a reputable source and practice good food hygiene: less than half a percent of eggs and six percent of fresh chicken has salmonella in the UK anyway. I am not comfortable giving Noah whoopsied raw chicken, always long dated and I split and freeze right away. Chicken wings frozen individually defrost really fast which is good for safety.

As carnivores, cats and dogs have a different digestive system than we do: stronger stomach acid and much shorter guts, so the bacteria have little chance of taking hold. Dogs eat such disgusting things - each others poop, rotten food out of the bin - that a raw chicken wing wouldn't be my main concern! Feeding raw bones can help prevent dental problems: gum disease and dental caries have been linked to many other health problems in both animals and humans due to bacteria from the mouth flooding the system!

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/faq/salmonellaeggsqanda/
http://www.food.gov.uk/science/surveillance/fsisbranch2009/fsis0409

You're not wrong :eek::eek::eek: He's snaffled some truly disgusting things in his time _pale_.

Thank you very much for the reply and the links, he'll be most happy now there's a raw bone or two on the way

Hintza

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Loobyloo if you remove all the skin from the chicken wing (bit of a faff admittedly) then you remove almost all the fat and thus the excess calories.

Not much left after that and remember dogs treat fat differently from people. So I wouldn't be unduly worried about it.

Fire_Fox

Hintza wrote: »

Not much left after that and remember dogs treat fat differently from people. So I wouldn't be unduly worried about it.

Certainly humans primarily use carbs for energy, dogs and cats prefer protein and fat. However calorie intake over and above the BMR plus exercise will be deposited as fat, regardless of whether the calories are from carbs fat or protein. Since fat has over twice the number of calories per gram as either protein or carbs, removing the skin is an easy way to substantially reduce the calorie content. My Noah is indoor so gets less exercise than the average moggie and he gets plenty of essential fats from oily fish and raw mince mixes.

stardrops42

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Not really providing you buy from a reputable source and practice good food hygiene: less than half a percent of eggs and six percent of fresh chicken has salmonella in the UK anyway. I am not comfortable giving Noah whoopsied raw chicken, always long dated and I split and freeze right away. Chicken wings frozen individually defrost really fast which is good for safety.

As carnivores, cats and dogs have a different digestive system than we do: stronger stomach acid and much shorter guts, so the bacteria have little chance of taking hold. Dogs eat such disgusting things - each others poop, rotten food out of the bin - that a raw chicken wing wouldn't be my main concern! Feeding raw bones can help prevent dental problems: gum disease and dental caries have been linked to many other health problems in both animals and humans due to bacteria from the mouth flooding the system!

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/faq/salmonellaeggsqanda/
http://www.food.gov.uk/science/surveillance/fsisbranch2009/fsis0409

Feeding a raw food diet also has the advantage of less "waste" out of the other end;) It's also less smelly, and reduces the possibility of having the anal glands done at the vets as motions are firmer, so does the job as nature intended;) Sorry not a nice subject but true:D

Fire_Fox

stardrops42 wrote: »

Feeding a raw food diet also has the advantage of less "waste" out of the other end;) It's also less smelly, and reduces the possibility of having the anal glands done at the vets as motions are firmer, so does the job as nature intended;) Sorry not a nice subject but true:D

This is soooooo true - we are down from three times a day to once a day, and no more stinking out the entire flat. Bring on Gillian McKeith!

Tahir_Malik

My dog (neggie) is quite choosy when it comes to food. He love to eat home make food, I make special food for my neggie. I am going to tell you the recipes.
4 cups water, 1 pound beef (should not make up more than 10% of the total amount of meat per meal), 2 cups rice (brown or white), 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 16ounce package frozen broccoli, carrots and cauliflower combination. Now Place the water, ground beef, rice, and rosemary into a large oven. Stir until the beef is broken up and evenly distributed throughout the mixture; Boil over high heat, add the frozen vegetables, and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Freeze it until using. I bookmark thepetsdir.com for future help.
Hope your dog like it.

Aputsiaq

budgeteer wrote: »

WE eat home-made, high welfare, organic, frugal foods, but what about our dogs? At thge moment we have been feeding them an all-in-one dried food mix. It seems to be full of nasty additives and they are bored with it anyway.

So, I know there are recipes for dog-biscuits, but any ideas for wholesome, frugal dog-dinners that we can make at home? We do supplement their food with leftover chicken and stuff but don't like to vary their diet too much as I know it's difficult for their digestive systems.

I'd love to hear some suggestions from those who have tried making their own d/f

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No you cant. meat is not available to buy in this country and there is no way you can get your hands on bones, offal, pasta, rice or veg either. :rolleyes:

Sequeena

You can but it will take a braver person than I to do it. My dogs have raw bones/meat/offal etc but they also have their complete dry. I would be terrified of not getting their nutrients right and making them ill, not healthier.

On the subject of IAMS that all came out in 2003 - 7 years ago. Yes they were involved in animal testing (or rather the lab they comissioned was) but they don't do anything like this anymore. I will never be a customer though as their food is full of cheap fillers and not much else. It amazes me how people are willing to pay the price for this food when all they have to is open a pack of porridge oats :rolleyes:

Deesimpson

Re the BARF feeding method, try Sharda Baker's website. She obviously expects to be paid for her books, but there are many free discussions and tips, and she did any article on BARF feeding a short time ago. She also sells an ebook of home made dogfood recipes.