[Poodlebeguiled]

Jacqueline I didn't notice until today that you were also interested in my recipe. I'm sorry for the delay. I did PM it to one person who asked, but didn't post it here, my bad.


Here it is.


FOR A 45 POUND DOG PER DAY (divide into two portions)

8 oz chicken (I use boneless, skinless legs and thighs from Costco and sometimes add chicken hearts)
0.75 cup macaroni (I use whole grain rotini or penne)
4 chicken livers
3 teaspoons bone meal
2 scoops (scoop being 1/8 tsp.) kelp powder
3 cups spinach (I use bagged organic mixed spinach, kale and chards from Costco and grind it with water in a nutribullet)_
0.5 teaspoon canola oil
0.5 tsp cod liver or other fish oil (I use mega red krill oil)

For changes, if you eliminate the cod liver oil, the recipe provides 0% of the daily recommended serving of Vitamin D. You could replace it with a vitamin D supplement. This is what I have done.

Eliminating the liver and replacing it with chicken meat makes the recipe low in Copper, Zinc, Selenium, B5, B12, and Choline. I have not found a replacement yet, but you might be able to.

Of course, you can replace the fish oil with another omega 3 source.

The recipe is for 1083 calories of food, it's one day’s food for a hypothetical 45lb dog.

The kelp powder, a scoop is 1/8 teaspoon, so it's really tiny. If you are substituting Vitamin D for the cod liver oil, you'd need 200 IU per day for that amount of food.

While I was going through some big changes and traumatic times last year I stopped feeding my dogs a home made, raw diet...it takes a lot of time to fix up. They've been eating a "premium" commercial food since. I've varied that. Lately, it's been Instinct Ultra Protein. https://www.instinctpetfood.com/dogs/ultimate-protein/instinct-ultimate-protein-cage-free-chicken-recipe-small-breed-dogs. I also have a bag of commercial (Nature's Variety) frozen raw in the freezer.

I'd like to try your recipe. It looks like you've included all the essentials. Do you vary the meat type? Or do you need to stick with chicken because of sensitivities? Would this work for my toy poodles? Would the ratio still be correct when transferred to 4 and 7 lb dogs? I mean does the ratio stay correct proportionately if you feed less?


To those of you who enjoy Instant Pots, I know why. I must confess, I'm a certified appliance junkie and also have two Instant Pots...(the Ultra) and LOVE! It is such fun to use and versatile... and it retains more nutrients because there's no evaporation...it all gets locked in. At least that's what they say. Yep...no baby sitting, no washing of multiple pots and pans. Just let 'er go. Fun! And with more than one, you can do a few things at once.:amen:

 

[lily cd re]

Poodlebeguiled I use chicken for a variety of reasons: cost, food sensitivities by NutriScan testing and in the long run a convenient system of preparation. That recipe is nutritionally complete as written. You could use other meat as the main protein but the chicken livers are an important source of a variety of micronutrients. It shouldn't be a hard diet to adopt for people with smaller dogs since the quantities of everything go down. I would reduce everything proportionately since the recipe is nutritionally complete. If you change meats you might have to adjust to make sure the calories work out correctly. For me it is a large volume operation when you consider that our dogs weigh 37, 50 and 98 pounds.

 

[Poodlebeguiled]

Couldn't I just make the whole thing and put in their bowls an appropriate amount for them, leave in the fridge enough for 2-3 days and freeze the rest in small 2-3 day containers?

When I was feeding raw, the advice was 10% organ meat, 1/2 of which should be liver (beef liver preferably) and 1/2 some other organ, which I varied...from kidney, brain, pork uterus, lung, you name it. And varied the protein because they told me that chicken lacks one thing (?) and another meat might lack some nutrient that chicken has so to vary it. (that is....if the dog doesn't have sensitivities of course. Do you agree with this? Or is it a bunch of hooey?

Maurice is presently having some kind of colitis...loose, mucusy...gross poos. So, back again to boiled chicken and rice with a pinch of egg shell and maybe pumpkin but that doesn't seem to help him. He doesn't like it at all. He picks the green beans out too and sets them in a tidy pile on the rug next to his bowl. The raw diet was hard to regulate for him...the bone mostly. But the others did fine on it. Anyhow, I try that stuff called Firm Up but again, he isn't crazy about the taste.

Anyhow thanks for your input. I like to see what others are doing and how it all works for them.

 

[Poodlebeguiled]

Couldn't I just make the whole thing and put in their bowls an appropriate amount for them, leave in the fridge enough for 2-3 days and freeze the rest in small 2-3 day containers?

When I was feeding raw, the advice was 10% organ meat, 1/2 of which should be liver (beef liver preferably) and 1/2 some other organ, which I varied...from kidney, brain, pork uterus, lung, you name it. And varied the protein because they told me that chicken lacks one thing (?) and another meat might lack some nutrient that chicken has so to vary it. (that is....if the dog doesn't have sensitivities of course. Do you agree with this? Or is it a bunch of hooey?

Maurice is presently having some kind of colitis...loose, mucusy...gross poos. So, back again to boiled chicken and rice with a pinch of egg shell and maybe pumpkin but that doesn't seem to help him. He doesn't like it at all. He picks the green beans out too and sets them in a tidy pile on the rug next to his bowl. The raw diet was hard to regulate for him...the bone mostly. But the others did fine on it. Anyhow, I try that stuff called Firm Up but again, he isn't crazy about the taste.

Anyhow thanks for your input. I like to see what others are doing and how it all works for them.

 

[lily cd re]

If it were practical to mix it all in advance and be sure that everything was thoroughly mixed I would make batches and keep enough for a few days in the fridge and put out the right portions, but to do that would take over my fridge in ways I don't think I could cope with and I also am not sure I could make enough of a truly well mixed batch that everyone would get everything in the correct portions. When I make up meals for road trips I make individual meals for each dog that is coming along in vacuum seal bags, so even that is not a matter of making a mix and doling out a cup or two.


I'm not sure what chicken could be missing.

 

[Poodlebeguiled]

Yes, I see how that could be a risk...that it doesn't get mixed or ingredients dispersed evenly. I use to make individual amounts of each item in freezer bags...the muscle meat for each dog, the liver/kidney or whatever and the bone. And I'd have a little ice cube of veggies just in case they needed it. That way it could be seen what they were getting. It wasn't ground meat or anything all mixed up. So, I see what you're saying there. hmmmm. Well, this will take some thought.

I don't remember what the specifics were but I read something somewhere...a long time ago that typically one kind of meat may have certain nutrients that another lacks and that one might have certain attributes that the other doesn't have. Hmmm....maybe not. I just always fed a variety but I don't notice any regular sensitivities....until yesterday when Maurice developed some kind of issue. Grrr.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences with your home made diet.

 

[SpinningBunnyFluff]

Well after a some more time working through issues, it appears that a cooked diet is not the solution for Snow. We followed a recommendation from the nutritionist to try a prescription diet with hydrolyzed protein, and it's actually working so far. We started the second bag earlier this week, and in the 2-3 weeks since starting him on it his nose is nearly completely healed. His itchiness has calmed down as well. It's about the same cost as the home cooked and way less work. I'm going to keep monitoring him, but this is the most promising thing we've tried so far.

 

[kontiki]

When I was feeding raw, the advice was 10% organ meat, 1/2 of which should be liver (beef liver preferably) and 1/2 some other organ, which I varied...from kidney, brain, pork uterus, lung, you name it. And varied the protein because they told me that chicken lacks one thing (?) and another meat might lack some nutrient that chicken has so to vary it. (that is....if the dog doesn't have sensitivities of course.

Yes, according to my vet it is important to include different meats. He also says that they vary in nutrients and said not to feed all chicken.

 

[kontiki]

We followed a recommendation from the nutritionist to try a prescription diet with hydrolyzed protein, and it's actually working so far. We started the second bag earlier this week, and in the 2-3 weeks since starting him on it his nose is nearly completely healed. His itchiness has calmed down as well. It's about the same cost as the home cooked and way less work. I'm going to keep monitoring him, but this is the most promising thing we've tried so far.

Which dog food is it?

 

[SpinningBunnyFluff]

Which dog food is it?

It's Royal Canin - Prescription Hydrolyzed Protein Adult.

 

[bluegirl1997]

Yay for this thread! I looked and looked and LOOKED for this so I can start home cooking for our dogs in a nutritionally balanced way. Thanks!

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[kontiki]

Unfortunately cooking destroys many nutrients. The only things I cook are the things my Spoo cannot digest, like raw vegetables (some can digest them). He does fine with raw meat and bones and raw fruit. People are shocked at how healthy he looks for his age.