Should more people prepare homemade food?

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Just wondering why don’t more people prepare homemade food for their dogs?
You know what you are putting into the meal.
Everything is fresh.
If you do not like giving raw food you can always cook it.
My pup loves it and licks the dish clean.
If you shop around, the cost is not much more expensive than commercial food.
Every now and then I get some good quality meat for a meat loaf but I end up eating half of it myself.....LOL.

I totally agree with you, I stopped buying dog food over three years ago and the change in my furbabies is great. I started by cooking their food then thought what is the point and started giving it to them raw. Their coats, toilet habits and health have all improved. Would never go back to dog food.

The dance they do twice a day when the weighing scales and chicken come out is brilliant. Alot of people won't make homemade food because it is too much effort, alot easier to open a can or give them dried food.

I still give mine dry food every now and then but it's mostly homemade. How much effort does it take to cut up some meat and veg and mix it all in a bowl? Lol.

oh, what do you cook? where do you buy? is it just value meat for example with vegs and gravy?

I feed my three on any meat, mainly chicken just chopped up bones and everything I don't cook it they eat raw. For treats they have chicken and duck feet,dried lungs, inner pigs ears. I don't give them any veg as such because they don't digest it very well. I don't put gravy on as it is too high in salt. Hope this helps you.

Barely enough time to cook for myself and DD let alone the of would be the answer.

People have barely enough time?
They are probably not managing it and wasting it on non constructive things like watching rubbish on TV or drinking down the pub.
It's like people who moan that they don't have time to exercise but have time to watching Eastenders/Coronation Street. Enough of ranting.

Prepare the meals once a week, chop up all the meat and veg, bung it in a mixing bowl and share out into Tupperware/or freeze bags. Freeze and take out the day before serving.
Less than 15 mins work!

Sorry single parent running my own business working over 50 hours a week gosh I barely get enough sleep. Tell me how exactly should I manage my time differently?

Please Tell me more of this home made food business you all speak of......
Is the meat from a butcher or cheap supermarket meat? Do you feed less than dried food?
And someone mentioned feeding chicken raw including the bones, is there no choking issues with the bones?
How does it compare price wise, I am assuming its more expensive?
I would like to give this a go but no idea where to start.

lucky - good links on this thread. Raw feeding used to be called BARF (acronym for Bones and Raw Food I think) but it's off putting and mostly just called raw feeding now.

I don't spend any more raw feeding than I did on a quality kibble.

Bones are no more of a choking hazard than anything else hard your dog eats such as chews. But the important thing to remember is raw. A cooked bone however becomes brittle and can splinter.

Time is no issue here, I pull it out the freezer, defrost and then chuck dog and food outside. Including handwashing its done and dusted in 2 - 3 mins in total.

I really don't see the need to cook the food or else surely wild dogs would be born prepared for this nescessary life skill!

Thanks for info & links.
We have a (greedy!) lab & she does a lot of swallowing without chewing hence my concern re bones
Will do a bit more research because I like the idea but find myself not knowing how/where to start with it all.

Do you guys buy frozen meat at the pet stores or use meat at the supermarkets?

I buy tripe at pets at home as that is not suitable for humans and is not in the supermarket. I then buy a mix of meat from the supermarket and market. For instance I bought a turkey leg in Morrisons last week for £3 which I got 12 meals off. Personally I find Morrisons the best as they have a good range of meat and offal and as they butcher in store they have lots of meaty raw bones. Dog has just had a chunk a really meaty lamb spine which cost me about 25p in Morrisons.

I could buy meat at 40p per lb locally for pets but I only have one freezer so personally would rather pay a little more not to have to deal with stinky stuff. I double bag all tripe but the prize choice stuff comes well packaged.

Fanoftheinvisibleman, do you ask for bones for dogs when you go to the Morrisons butcher? We've found local butchers can be a bit snotty about providing them, even though we are willing to pay (stuck up area unfortunately) but we do have access to a Morrisons.

They are out on the meat shelves at ours labelled as stock bones Moosemama. But if none out you could always ask if they have any for stock . I have had lamb, pork and beef (avoiding weight baring) and they are nice and meaty too. They are usually about 20 - 30 p a bone.

I do slightly take exception to the wording if this thread title .. While it's perfectly acceptable to ask why don't more people make homemade dog food, asking 'should' they feels like I'm being preached at

I have a tiny freezer so no room to store it all plus I've been vegetarian for 35 years so not only does the thought of giving my dog a bit of spine make me heave, I also have no idea about raw meat hygiene as I've never cooked meat (and yes I'm perfectly aware there's meat in ddog's kibble but that's a compromise I'm prepared to make in order to have a dog). My puppy is very happy and healthy and judging by his poos his digestive system is working perfectly

I jointed and deboned a chicken today and the lobbed what was left of the carcass Labradorwards.

I totally appreciate that it isn't for everyone basil...I have quickly developed a strong stomach the last few months. I'm not doing bad for someone who used to try and use forks to remove a chicken from its wrappings .

I feel exactly the same basildon ,I'm not going to start handling offal any time soon . My dog is fed on a good quality kibble ( barking heads) , generally has some cooked chicken with it and has leftovers .Im happy in the knowledge that he is fit and well and gets all he needs to keep him that way ,I don't feel that makes me a 'lazy' dog owner .

I'm raw, kibble or left overs (if they are suitable), the dog is family she gets fed what's convenient, when suitable and what's good for her. And she gets the odd naughty treat. Just like us.

I am a massive fan of raw for my three it costs between £2 and £2.50 a day to feed a Bulldog,Swedish Fox Hound and a Jack Russell. I buy all my meat from supermarkets or the local butchers where I get all my bones for free. They have chicken and duck feet, dried lungs and the insides of pigs ears for treats. Most butchers will give you bones for nothing as they get charged to dispose of them. Raw bones do not splinter so are not harmful. The easiest way for feeding raw is feed them 2% of the dogs body weight e.g my Bulldog weighs 25kg so she needs 500g of food a day split into 2 meals. Feeding your dog raw will mean they take in more from the food and therefore less waste. When they get used to the diet they will not need to go to the toilet as much and it will be of a solid consistancy and will be white and will wash away in the rain. When people ask me about raw the easiest way to explain in my opinion is this...The dog is related to the wolf and it's digestive system is the same as the wolves, you don't see them in the wild walking round with a tin opener or a bag of kibble nor do you see them in a zoo being fed tinned or dried food.

is it possible to feed raw without a freezer? or would I be shopping every day for fresh stuff? I have a tiny freezer that I struggle with for myself and 2 dcs. there just isn't anywhere I can put another freezer even if I could afford it.