So, I have a very, VERY picky eater on my hands. I've tried multiple, high-quality commercial dog kibbles, and even tried canned (Merrick). Every time I make a change, she'll eat the new stuff eagerly a few days, then begin leaving it to spoil in her dish. Even the canned, which she ate for a couple of weeks at least, she now refuses to eat (I don't leave it out long enough to spoil, she won't even eat it fresh from the can). However, I've learned the hard way that she is also one of those dogs who throws up bile when her stomach gets too empty, and then she REALLY won't eat. I've been feeding her scrambled eggs when I know she's gone more than a day without eating her food to keep this from happening.
Besides worrying that she's not getting enough to eat, I'm tired of throwing money away on the commercial foods, and have decided to try cooking for her instead. Only...I hate to cook. I rarely even cook for my DH (who truly deserves a home-cooked meal) and myself. Obviously, I have to keep this very simple if I'm going to make it work.
My tentative plan is once a week to prepare either ground chicken or ground beef, then add in a bag of mixed vegetables (from frozen, so no added salt), and portion this into individual servings and freeze them. Then, I'll mix in a good spoonful of greek yogurt and sweet potatoes or pumpkin at the time it's served. A couple of times a week, I'll substitute canned salmon for the protein. She'll also get a daily vitamin/mineral supplement. She'll probably also get a scrambled egg two or three times a week, just because she loves them.
Additionally, we are diligently working on her training, so she is getting quite a bit of high-value (i.e. roasted chicken and freeze-dried liver) treats throughout the day. And, it's just barely possible that she may get a few bites of whatever I'm eating (that is okay for dogs to eat) throughout the day. This would mostly be in the form of fruit - she loves most every kind.
My main concern is - how much do I feed her? I'd rather not have to figure actual calorie count - that would require more math than I feel up to! One website that I referred to suggested 5-6.5 oz. per day for a 10 lb. dog. Lizzy weighs under 9 lbs. (she's a 9 mos. old mini-poo), so I was thinking about 5 oz. a day for her? I figured I'd feed her about half of that in the form of the "meal" that I prepared for her (not counting the veggies in the weight, since they add no significant calories), and the other half in the treats she is receiving as we're training.
Does this seem like a reasonable menu plan to those of you who currently feed your dogs home-cooked meals? (Or, even those of you who DON'T feed your dogs home-cooked meals, but know more about this sort of thing than I!)
Besides worrying that she's not getting enough to eat, I'm tired of throwing money away on the commercial foods, and have decided to try cooking for her instead. Only...I hate to cook. I rarely even cook for my DH (who truly deserves a home-cooked meal) and myself. Obviously, I have to keep this very simple if I'm going to make it work.
My tentative plan is once a week to prepare either ground chicken or ground beef, then add in a bag of mixed vegetables (from frozen, so no added salt), and portion this into individual servings and freeze them. Then, I'll mix in a good spoonful of greek yogurt and sweet potatoes or pumpkin at the time it's served. A couple of times a week, I'll substitute canned salmon for the protein. She'll also get a daily vitamin/mineral supplement. She'll probably also get a scrambled egg two or three times a week, just because she loves them.
Additionally, we are diligently working on her training, so she is getting quite a bit of high-value (i.e. roasted chicken and freeze-dried liver) treats throughout the day. And, it's just barely possible that she may get a few bites of whatever I'm eating (that is okay for dogs to eat) throughout the day. This would mostly be in the form of fruit - she loves most every kind.
My main concern is - how much do I feed her? I'd rather not have to figure actual calorie count - that would require more math than I feel up to! One website that I referred to suggested 5-6.5 oz. per day for a 10 lb. dog. Lizzy weighs under 9 lbs. (she's a 9 mos. old mini-poo), so I was thinking about 5 oz. a day for her? I figured I'd feed her about half of that in the form of the "meal" that I prepared for her (not counting the veggies in the weight, since they add no significant calories), and the other half in the treats she is receiving as we're training.
Does this seem like a reasonable menu plan to those of you who currently feed your dogs home-cooked meals? (Or, even those of you who DON'T feed your dogs home-cooked meals, but know more about this sort of thing than I!)