Roo Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 (edited) Daisy the terrier is picky. She has the strangest eating habits, too. She won't touch her kibble (Pro Plan sensitive skin - chicken makes her itchy) until it's like 7 or 8 at night, some days she wants to eat alone in the dark, others she has to have a human in there with her, and most days she grabs a mouthful and runs away from her bowl to chew it (yes, she CHEWS! It's so weird to have a dog that chews). She dropped weight when I brought her home because she was only eating half her daily allotment of food. This went on for about a month before I finally figured out that she's a canned food in the morning type of gal. But decent canned food is pricey! I'm using Purina Beyond at the moment (along with some Nature's Variety that PRH had and wasn't using) and it's not too bad cost-wise, but still. I know home-cooking won't be much cheaper, but at least I can be sure the ingredients are good. And I can be sure there's no chicken. Does anyone have tips on cooking doggy food? I know I could feed raw, but I'd prefer not to (though I am contemplating getting her witchy hands as an occasional treat ). I keep googling and I feel like I have a basic understanding of the necessary components (a protein, a carb like rice, and some veggies, as well as something for calcium) but I can't find anything that actually tells me how much of each to throw in a pot and cook for a 20 pound dog. And the most promising sites all want me to pay them to tell me what she needs... Links, personal experience, anything would be very helpful! I had considered feeding a home cooked meal in the morning and sticking with her kibble for dinner, but if I can work out a complete, nutritious diet, I might just switch her over entirely. Edited December 30, 2015 by Roo Quote Mom of bridge babies Regis and Dusty. Wrote a book about shelter dogs! I sell things on Etsy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryJane Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I used Dr Remallard when she was at the Angel in Boston to set up regular diets for all my dogs and she also created kidney and cancer diets for my dogs. If you google, she has a website for dog nutrition (https://petdiets.com/) and will set up a custom diet for a small charge. Angel Memorial used to have free diets on their site but, it looks like they redesigned their site and removed that information. If you check some of my older posts - I provide what I give for my dogs and I give their weights - you could adjust for your dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartdogs Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 If you go on FB you can find many post from vets on feeding home cooked & raw. My daughter's male GSD is highly allergic to chicken in any form so she now feeds him raw with some veggies added. Good luck as it's hard to find food that doesn't have chicken in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiveRoooooers Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 All of mine eat Iam's Green Bag Mini Chunks with these add-ins: Breakfast is a shared banana and a nuked sweet potato. Supper four nights is home-cooked meat loaf*, two nights is a shared fried egg on Texas Toast, and Saturday is Sardine Saturday. The meat loaf recipe is to divide all of this into two bowls and combine well, pat into two jelly roll pans that have been thoroughly sprayed with non-stick spray, and bake at 350 deg F for 60 min, switching the pans (top/bottom racks) half-way through. When they come out of the oven immediately scoop the meat loaf into two big bowls to cool. I freeze in Tupperware (two meals in each) and this recipe gets us through about a months' worth of dinners. * Meat Loaf 4 lbs. ground turkey 4 cups oatmeal flakes 6 eggs 5 green zucchini, grated 4 yellow squash, grated 4 cups fresh spinach, chopped fine 6 carrots, grated 2 tsp. garlic powder Quote Old Dogs are the Best Dogs. Thank you, campers. Current enrollees: Punkin. AnnIE Oooh M Angels: Pal . Segugio. Sorella (TPGIT). LadyBug. Zeke-aroni. MiMi Sizzle Pants. Gracie. Seamie . (Foster)Sweet. Andy. PaddyALVIN!Mayhem. Bosco. Bruno. Dottie B. Trevor Double-Heart. Bea. Cletus, KLTO. Aiden 1-4. Upon reflection, our lives are often referenced in parts defined by the all-too-short lives of our dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roo Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 Thank you! I think I'll half that recipe (since Daisy weighs 20 pounds ) and give it a try. Quote Mom of bridge babies Regis and Dusty. Wrote a book about shelter dogs! I sell things on Etsy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHead Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 I have never used it, but I know some people who feed homecooked used the BalanceIT supplement and recipe maker. Again though...no personal experience but maybe something to look into. https://secure.balanceit.com/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roo Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 I played with your recipe a bit but I think she'll like it anyway. I did two batches, one with beef and one with turkey. How do ou figure a serving size? Quote Mom of bridge babies Regis and Dusty. Wrote a book about shelter dogs! I sell things on Etsy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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