Urismom Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Thought I'd share the recipe I've been making for my dogs - switching to this from a commercial chicken-based kibble caused a complete turn-around for my Doris, whose Inflammatory Bowel Disease just about destroyed a big chunk of her stomach and caused constant vomiting. Not only can she keep her food down now, and has put weight back on, but her appetite and joy for eating has returned. She was always a chow hound and the IBD made her so sad and gloomy, regarding mealtimes. She's back to her old self with this food, jumping and wagging and so thrilled to gobble it up. My other grey also goes through periods of pickiness and aversion to whatever commercial food I try, and since I've started this mix, he's a total enthusiastic eater too. (I should add that Doris also takes meds - metronidazole and omeprazole - so it's not only the diet that has helped. Also, after feeding this exclusively for a bit, I started to integrate it with kibble (novel protein-based, like salmon or lamb) because I couldn't keep up with the demand and I feel like it covers more bases and is also better for their teeth to have something crunchy.) Just thought I'd share - maybe there's something useful in here for someone else, either for meals or snacks, and I'd also love feedback and comments from others who make their own food, or whose dogs have IBD. I know I'll probably need to keep adjusting to keep up with her IBD symptoms. https://youtu.be/d9Rlqx2kjS8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryJane Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Great video! I have been feeding my dogs home-made food for more than a decade but, my methods are a bit different and maybe less time-consuming (at one time). I usually buy about 6 pounds of hamburger, bake it and then freeze into about 4 containers. I also do the same with fish for my IBD girl (and seizures). I defrost the containers as needed In the mornings, I make the dogs fresh oatmeal and mix with either the hamburger or the fish along with some milk, a bit of honey and a few tablespoons of rice. For dinner, they get rice (I usually make about 5 cups rice at a time and it might last almost 2 days), either hamburger or fish, and veggies. I usually buy frozen bags of veggies and bake 2 packages at a time and that will last a few days. They also get toast and peanut butter in the am and, yogurt and applesauce in the PM for snacks. They also get home-made treats as Lucy (seizure and IBD girl) cannot have preservatives or chicken. I give them 1 fish oil a day along with calcium in the AM and PM. At PM, they also get a multi-vitamin. While I like your recipe, I would not have the freezer space to store all the food. By keeping most of the ingredients separate - I can keep the rice and oats in room temp storage until needed. I also noted your remark about what comes out of the dog and that brought up early memories of them pooping the rice almost undigested however, that changed over a short duration and then the rice was all digested. The vegetables can be an issue but that is solved by cooking and mashing the vegetables. Again, great job on your recipe and the steps that you use to get the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urismom Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 They also get toast and peanut butter in the am and, yogurt and applesauce in the PM for snacks. Can I come have snack at your house too? Mine usually split a hard-boiled egg as a snack, or a scoop of cottage cheese. They also get fish oil capsules with breakfast and glucosamine pills from costco. Also probiotic powders every morning that I forgot to mention, and Doris also gets slippery elm powder. Funny thing, when I first starting trying some of this out, I woke before my husband one Saturday and was busy cooking all this different stuff in the kitchen. He came down two hours later and said "yum, what smells so good?"........then, he saw it. And realized there were sardines involved. And was grossed out. I always tell him that, if we're too busy to make our own dinner one night, we can always have this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryJane Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Can I come have snack at your house too? Mine usually split a hard-boiled egg as a snack, or a scoop of cottage cheese. They also get fish oil capsules with breakfast and glucosamine pills from costco. Also probiotic powders every morning that I forgot to mention, and Doris also gets slippery elm powder. Funny thing, when I first starting trying some of this out, I woke before my husband one Saturday and was busy cooking all this different stuff in the kitchen. He came down two hours later and said "yum, what smells so good?"........then, he saw it. And realized there were sardines involved. And was grossed out. I always tell him that, if we're too busy to make our own dinner one night, we can always have this! I agree, all this stuff smells good when it is cooking and ... people can eat it too. As you noted, the dogs just seem to be more happy eating the home-made stuff than the kibble. The really nice thing about dogs eating this food is that they rarely have gas. I had looked into the slippery elm powder for Lucy but since it can hinder medicine absorption, I couldn't take a chance because of all the medications she takes for her seizures. That's also why I give the snacks because the different times that she takes pills during the day. As I already noted, you have a great recipe - much thought went into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urismom Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 I had looked into the slippery elm powder for Lucy but since it can hinder medicine absorption, I couldn't take a chance because of all the medications she takes for her seizures. That's also why I give the snacks because the different times that she takes pills during the day. I had been putting the slippery elm in with her breakfast and medicines, and then I just actually read that elsewhere earlier this week about the power inhibiting medicine absorption. So I'm now going to give her the powder as a slurry late afternoon, because she only gets pills in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryJane Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I thought about one other item while I was walking the dogs - it doesn't look like the cook the final mixture and if that is the case, it will probably not last much past 3 days refrigerated after it is all mixed together. I found out when I was experimenting and mixing the cooked items together so I could store them more easily in the frig - they would go bad much sooner than I expected. I corrected the problem by either putting a step in to cook it all together (not feasible long term in my case) or by simply doing the mixing at serving time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urismom Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Each of those tupperwares probably lasts me 3 days or less, so they haven't had a chance to go bad. If I were using it more slowly, I'd freeze it in smaller tupperware so that it wouldn't sit in the fridge for much longer than 2-3 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHead Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 (edited) Nice video! My guys don't eat kibble...I mainly do raw, but also like to cook things for them once or twice a week. I weirdly enjoy food prep for all of my animals (11 and all on homemade diets ). Edited February 27, 2017 by RedHead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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