Can you make your own dogfood?

ladymunroe

Hello
I cook for my dogs, rightly or wrongly i dont know but everything seems to be working just fine!
usually beef/lamb/mince/salmon or chix thighs (skinless/boneless), mixing in a bit of rice (brown), carrots celery and sometimes a tin of sardines (smells odd but they lurve it!;))
They dont like tinned food and will just about tolerate royal canin as treats on the walks.
We do get bones from the butchers (rib) on occassions but he told me to cook them!!!??? So i dont think I'll be doing that anymore!
So with Chicken Wings - you just give them as they are? Raw? Is that ok for their bowel?
Loving the site!

loobyloo2

Yes, just give them raw.
Watch them though as some dogs won't chew them properly and swallow them whole, which is not too bad until you see them throwing up a couple of whole wings an hour later:eek:
To avoid this, you can hold one end of the wing so they have to munch on it before swallowing, it doesn't take long for them to get used to eating them.

paddypaws101

I came across a web site www.holisticvet.co.uk and he sells an all round food supplement for dogs designed to complete any diet, but especially raw.
There is also lots of interesting information on the site about various supplements and neutraceuticals ( sp?) for animals, written by a vet for other vets...useful if you wanted to run any of these ideas past your own vet.

Fire_Fox

ladymunroe wrote: »

Hello
I cook for my dogs, rightly or wrongly i dont know but everything seems to be working just fine!
usually beef/lamb/mince/salmon or chix thighs (skinless/boneless), mixing in a bit of rice (brown), carrots celery and sometimes a tin of sardines (smells odd but they lurve it!;))
They dont like tinned food and will just about tolerate royal canin as treats on the walks.
We do get bones from the butchers (rib) on occassions but he told me to cook them!!!??? So i dont think I'll be doing that anymore!
So with Chicken Wings - you just give them as they are? Raw? Is that ok for their bowel?
Loving the site!

Welcome to MSE!

Our pets need the essential fatty acids in the chicken skin and minerals from regular intake of bone - meat fish rice and vegetables is a balanced diet for a human but not complete for a dog. I would suggest you spend some time reading up on BARF so that you get the right balance between muscle meat, fat, bone and offal.

Never feed cooked bones as they splinter, only raw as they would eat in the wild. They should crunch up the bones: if not buy some poultry shears and/ or a sharp cleaver and cut the bones up yourself. Chicken and turkey necks are good bones for starting a pet out as they crunch up easily and safely.

pinklover

Just to say that I've just started to feed my two dogs (1 big Japanese akita inu and one toy Shih Tzu crossed Bichon) on the BARF diet and they've been loving it since. They used to be on dried biscuits mixed with half tin of wet food but have gone off it completely.

After reading more about BARF diet, it started to make sense as that's what they eat before the invention of dog food. It doesn't necessary cost a lot more either, I order them in packs of mince (Chicken and Beef at the moment) and also their vegetable nuggets (all natural fruits and veg blended to cubes) and also get chicken wings and other bones (must be raw!) to chew on.

I can always forward the site where I order the food from but not sure if it's allowed, can always PM me if interested.

One other thing is to add oil supplements to their diet, I'm adding royal jelly and cod liver oil to make sure their coat and joint are in good condition.

UsFour

If you want to learn about feeding a raw diet and what to feed and in what proportions ... and to find out where to get the best food join this British list .. all from people who have been doing it for years and can testify how healthy their animals are

pets . groups . yahoo . com / group / BritBarf /

Do not include the spaces (I'm not allowed to post a proper link :A)

::j

Fire_Fox

Don't use cod liver oil which is low in omega 3 essential fats and high in vitamins A and D (both toxic in excess), use fish body oils, usually sold as fish oils or salmon oil (doesn't have to be from salmon, any oily fish is good).

Doberwoman

aargh i just wrote a really long post but baby on my lap kept crying and i got logged out- so sorry for slack typos now!

Basically, i was saying this is a great post as we turned away from wet food due to packaging waste and meat origin concerns (plus dental health- too much mush, nothing crunchy).

We went onto cereal mixer which is way cheaper and enables bulk buying (like 25kg). It also has to have simple basic ingredients. We add to this meat scraps, glucosamine and tiny bit of cod liver oil* (last 2 for promoting healthy joints). This works for us (and the dog i hope!), and the mixer provides an element of convenience if we have a dog sitter for the day.

*also not good idea in excess for some humans- vitamin a is teratogenic so avoid overdosing on codliver (is that possible- its disgusting!) in pregnancy

my big gripe with most dog food (and human food actually ) is additives. BHT was suggested as potentially carcinogenic at a natural preservative conference i attended a couple of years ago. i concede the reporters of this would indeed be biased. however with posher brands using rosemary or vitamin e instead, and cheaper cereal mixes not bothering with antioxidants/preservatives at all, at least I'm happy. i have known an unusually high number of dogs diagnosed with liver cancer and therefore am somewhat suspicious. pl;ease do note, that this is my own personal neurosis- BHT is a permitted ec additive (but i think sunshine yellow tartrazine was :-( )

Basically, making your own dog food reduces packaging waste, and you know exactly whats in it, and approached correctly it may reduce costs too and give a more varied and healthy diet.

Greenbynature

UsFour wrote: »

If you want to learn about feeding a raw diet and what to feed and in what proportions ... and to find out where to get the best food join this British list .. all from people who have been doing it for years and can testify how healthy their animals are

pets . groups . yahoo . com / group / BritBarf /

Do not include the spaces (I'm not allowed to post a proper link :A)

::j

Definitely recommend this site I've been a member since I started raw back in 2002

ladymunroe

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Welcome to MSE!

Our pets need the essential fatty acids in the chicken skin and minerals from regular intake of bone - meat fish rice and vegetables is a balanced diet for a human but not complete for a dog. I would suggest you spend some time reading up on BARF so that you get the right balance between muscle meat, fat, bone and offal.

Never feed cooked bones as they splinter, only raw as they would eat in the wild. They should crunch up the bones: if not buy some poultry shears and/ or a sharp cleaver and cut the bones up yourself. Chicken and turkey necks are good bones for starting a pet out as they crunch up easily and safely.

Fantastic advice! Thank you Happy Healthy dogs and Mum with some bedtime reading!