Dog Food Recipe - Homemade Cooked

[Busderpuddle]

I have a friend who has a GS who has really bad skin issues, along with some sensitive tummy stuff going on. She has tried all kinds of commercial and prescription dog food with no great success. She has started cooking for her dog, and the dog seems to be responding well and her skin is healing, no dandruff, no itching, no loose stools, good appetite, etc. Here is the recipe and I am wondering if you feel it is balanced ?. I am considering trying it out on Ruby but want to make sure I am not missing any key ingredient that she needs..

 

3 lbs lean turkey burger

1 b spinach

1 lb carrots

1 lb peas

 

she cooks all this together and covers it with 1-2 " of water and then simmers about an hour. She then adds enough plain dehydrated potatoes to make a mash. She then adds 4T of olive oil (I was thinking I might try salmon oil) and that's it. She said her once picky GS scarfs this down and is doing well with her weight. I don't know how much she feeds at a time or how long this batch lasts. She also uses the same recipe to make dog biscuits, just makes them much thicker, rolls them out, sprinkles them with parmesan cheese, and then bakes until crunchy.

 

So what do you think ? Ruby is currently on Proplan Sensitive Tummy and is better, but still having gas issues. She also doesn't really like it and only eats about half of what the bag says she should for her weight, although she is not really losing weight right now. Not ready to go raw with her but she does get a turkey neck twice a week for teeth and entertainment. Sound balanced ? Would you add more bone than the 2 turkey necks a week?

[cleptogrey]

the carrots and peas are not digested. dogs can survive on just about anything, think of life before kibble!

[MaryJane]

Actually, if the carrots and peas are mashed, then the nutrients can be more easily drawn from them in the GI tract.

 

I don't have time to do the conversions but, I'm not sure if the calcium in this diet is enough. I give my dogs between 1500 - 2000 mg Calcium (oyster shell) each day. You would need to find out how much calcium is in the size turkey neck your are giving and adjust accordingly. I would also suggest a multi-vitamin once a day.

 

As you mentioned, it's not sure whether this is for a day or for more - the oil sounds too much for a greyhound. Other dogs seem to tolerate oil in their diet more easily then greyhounds. Too much fat in a greyhound's diet can occasionally lead to pancreatic issues.

 

As a base diet - it seems OK except need to check the calcium amount and maybe add a multi-vitamin. For variety, you could add some oatmeal, apples, noodles, rice and switch out the meat occasionally.

[Busderpuddle]

I was just going to add the salmon oil because I thought she might need it. If they don't need oil, easily left out. Ruby will literally picks chunks of anything she doesn't like out of her dish, so the apples or any fruit would be goners. She also doesn't like carrot chunks or green beans so anything put in there would have to be pulverized. I didn't know noodles were a good idea, never heard of that. Wouldn't they make her more gassy since they are just made with white flour ? Oats are a great idea and I was thinking about sweet potatoes occasionally too, although she won't eat them if they are in chunks either. Super picky and that is why I am considering this.

Will check the calcium. Is she only getting that from the turkey neck bones ? What about Chlorophyl ? Is that needed ?

[MaryJane]

You can add some oil to the food, maybe a teaspoon or two - the 4 T mentioned in the original recipe sounds excessive.

 

You can mash sweet potatoes or buy one of the soup puree appliance and use it to pulverize all the veggies and then you can add your protein.

 

As to noodles. two of mine do fine with them but my "allergic" dog can't have them - he gets rice instead.

[silverfish]

I'm not a nutritionist, but my understanding is that they can't get the nutrients they need from muscle meat plus veggies, so no, it's not balanced if thats all you're feeding. You'll need to add some bone (raw or cooked literally to a pulp) or supplements. You'd also do well to add some organ meat from time to time, and maybe a regular meal of fish.

 

Dogs aren't meant to be fed on muscle meat alone. You'd need to get some advice about properly balancing the diet, I think. I do know that you will need to supplement with calcium at least. There's some good advice on this site: The Whole Dog Journal.

[RedHead]

It is possible feed a very simple diet and get most of the dog's needs, but the calcium to phosphorus ratio is pretty important. With cooked diets, it's never a bad idea to add in a multivitamin which includes calcium. Some people also use ground eggshells for calcium. I would have no idea if that diet was balanced or not (it seems like it would be lacking in calcium), but there are many resources in which to get balanced recipes that are fairly simple. It just depends on what you want (some recipes are made up of only veggies and meat, others have a 3 way ratio of grain/carbs, vegetable and meat).

 

Your dog isn't going to have any nutritional issues in a week or two of feeding a food. You may want to just test drive this diet for a short period to see how things work out. If you like the results, you can always do more in depth research.

[Busderpuddle]

I'm not a nutritionist, but my understanding is that they can't get the nutrients they need from muscle meat plus veggies, so no, it's not balanced if thats all you're feeding. You'll need to add some bone (raw or cooked literally to a pulp) or supplements. You'd also do well to add some organ meat from time to time, and maybe a regular meal of fish.

 

Dogs aren't meant to be fed on muscle meat alone. You'd need to get some advice about properly balancing the diet, I think. I do know that you will need to supplement with calcium at least. There's some good advice on this site: The Whole Dog Journal.

 

Great......thanks. I will look into the advice posted. Appreciate the replies.