Homemade dog food

[SconeofDestiny]

I bought some raw ground meat mix from the local butcher for €1 a bag. It's sold as dog food and a friend who recommended it, feeds it raw to her dogs. However, I decided to pressure cook it and added some water, chopped carrots and potatoes to it and the dog loved it and ate thirds. This was amazing to see!

He's a larger mixed breed dog (Kelpie cross) and normally just eats a higher protein adult large dog breed kibble but;

1. it looks rubbish and boring to me and
2. he was hardly eating anything and preferred chewing his (butchers) dog bones.

So, I'm thinking of cooking him some dog food and I'm wondering if anyone has any recipes, recommended websites or suggestions of what not to add.

I know they can't have onions or anything from the Allium family. Other than that, I'm not sure what to add in.

I feed the chickens standard chicken food plus veg scraps (I'm not in UK so Defra rules don't apply), so could just grow/buy more veg.

[BetterEatCheese]

Some of the kibble we buy has sweet potato in

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

Make sure you're feeding a balanced diet. I'm sure there will be websites that will have a lot of advice from vet professionals who know what they're talking about. Bear in mind that dogs are not wolves, and that virtually all dog breeds can process starch. Maize, however, is truly amazing (no pun intended) in its capacity to go straight through.

[SconeofDestiny]

I was thinking of using just meat and various veg and maybe adding with some fish oils. I've always given my cats and dogs a wheat free diet as I don't think wheat is particularly good for them, but thank you for your advice regarding maize.

[Crimebustersofthesea]

I usually just cook up some mince with whatever veg is lying around, usually carrot, sweet potato or peas. Ddog has a v sweet tooth so sometimes chuck in a handful of frozen blueberries too, apparently they're very good for them. He loves his home made food!

[Purplecatshopaholic]

I make my boy home made. It’s a mix of minced beef, sweet potatoes, and veg - he loves it. I occasionally give him a complete diet biscuit meal which he likes too but nothing beats home made by mummy!

[TheSandgroper]

You have a kelpie. Are you in Aus? I follow a basic recipe from //www.Choice.com.au but I can't find it now to link to.

I have a large stockpot so I simmer for an hour or so one Coles chicken in loads of water, take it out, put in about 3.5 cups brown rice, with half a sweet potato, 1 x potato, a few carrots, half a broccoli all whizzed to smallish, a tsp of salt.

Bring back to the boil and simmer for an hour or more until rice is fully cooked. Bone and shred the chicken (easier when it's warm), stir through the veges, cool and freeze in ice cream buckets. DDawg loves it and it treats her insides well. She also gets whatever scraps we have. Frozen peas or chopped beans also work. Corn kernels not recommended.

Sorry, just saw the Euro.

[Junobug]

Research raw. Dogs really need offal and bone with there meat ( I know you said he had a bone) and there is no reason to feed a carnivore veg. Dog food companies do it to bulk food out. Raw is so much easier than faffing with cooking.

[longearedbat]

You can buy bone meal powder to add as well as vitamins. Got mine from Amazon.

[Twillow]

If you pressure cook chicken on the bone (legs, or a whole chicken) for about 75 minutes, the bones become entirely crumbly and safe to eat.

[StillMedusa]

My friend does this (always makes me laugh that she goes home from work to cook her dogs evening meal ) but she adds bone meal as dogs need the calcium... you can get it from amazon with a scoop and instructions.
Her dogs are thriving :)

[MattMagnolia]

Most dogs don’t get the chance to be carnivores, they are scavengers and eat whatever they find.
I cook human-grade meat for our dogs, add vegetables and brown rice or sweet potato. They also get tinned sardines, a bit of offal and raw bones. They don’t need every meal ideally balanced, most humans don’t eat an ideal diet either.

[Powertothepetal]

I wouldn’t feed home made exclusively tbh.
I think it’s asking for a deficiency or overdose somewhere.

I feed my dog a range of different various commercial foods (but always 70% or more meat and grain free brands) and she gets occasional fresh meat; sometimes raw, sometimes cooked.