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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Do you cook for your dog?

25 replies

happymoment · 02/04/2022 11:12

My puppy now is about 14 weeks old. After we gave him a bit of leftover chicken roast dinner a couple of times now he lost his excitement in his tinned dog food. I ve just ordered a dog recipe book online to get some ideas what to cook for him.
Do you cook for your dogs?

OP posts:
MrsWinters · 02/04/2022 11:19

No. I’d be worried about them getting a complete diet and it’s a pain if you need to leave them in the care of someone else when you go on holiday.
Dogs don’t have as many tastebuds as we do, so flavour isn’t quite so important.
If mine don’t eat then I take the food up and then feed them again at the next meal as I don’t want to train a dog that if he holds out will get something better.
Saying that they often get a forkful of wet food mixed in with their kibble, or a bit or tuna or scrambled egg-I’m not a monster!!! I mix it though -not top it so they can’t just pick out the good bits.

Lampyshady · 02/04/2022 11:23

Try butternut box. It’s very very hard to cook for dogs and fulfill their nutritional needs. www.ucdavis.edu/news/homemade-dog-food-recipes-can-be-risky-business-study-finds This study found 9/200 home cooked meals from internet recipes/recipe books from vets were dangerously nutritionally inadequate, whereas even the worst commercial foods have to fulfil basic nutritional requirements

SheWoreYellow · 02/04/2022 11:28

No but ours are raw fed. Is that something you’d consider?
We get ready prepared tubs from Natural instinct.

www.naturalinstinct.com/

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 02/04/2022 12:07

No, because you have to be rarely careful to give them all the nutrition that they need. They need certain percentages of various nutrients to ensure their needs are met

If you stop giving him roast chicken, he'll eat his normal food, you just need to be strict. Set mealtimes, then remove the food after 20 minutes and he gets nothing until his next meal. Don't be tempted to panic and give him roast chicken every time he hesitates or appears picky - he s 100% trying it on Grin

tealandteal · 02/04/2022 12:12

If they are poorly I’ll boil some chicken and rice but otherwise no. One has a special hypoallergenic diet now and nothing else, no treats etc and the other would happily eat out of the bin so doesn’t seem to have a discerning palate. They do both like water on their kibble.

lollipopsandrainbows · 02/04/2022 12:17

If I gave one of mine chicken, he will then literally hold out for days and not eat anything else. So sadly I've had to stop doing it. It's a shame as we often have leftover food too.

TheMooch · 02/04/2022 12:25

If I am doing roast or meat/fish then I'll do some for the dog.
And I give her rice and chicken a few times a week along with her regular food.

pastypirate · 02/04/2022 12:26

No. He gets roast gravy soaked into his kibble on Sundays and a tin of sardines once a week.

TerrierOrTerror · 02/04/2022 12:31

I wouldn't specifically cook something for her only food.

I cook carrots twice a week and she gets some with most meal or they are used in Kongs, similarly any dog safe leftover veggies she gets. If I have egg left (e.g. from glazing a pie) I'll make her scrambled eggs which are other favourite. And I'll mash fruit and yoghurt for ice cubes for her (and me tbh!) in warmer weather. I try to avoid giving her leftover meat as that tends to get picked out and her food left.

When she is unwell I cook her sweet potato and white fish, and again maybe some scrambled egg.

PollyRoulllson · 02/04/2022 12:33

If you get the right resources feeding your dog home made food is not hard. No harder than feeding humans a balanced diet. But for some people that is hard enough!

However it is a hell of a lot of hassle to do

book to help if you do want to understand dog nutrition

For example people above you give their dogs gravy will be going way over most dogs salt intake if they have used any kind of browning powder.

I also question Butternut box as they have to add brewers yeast to their recipes - there are much healthier ways of getting the minerals and vitamins that if offers.

Agadoodoododont · 02/04/2022 12:45

Yes, have done for years. Started cooking an anti cancer diet for her after a scare. I think it was called Beanie’s anti cancer diet.
Don’t roast the chicken.
Boiled chicken breasts which I chop up and put in Tupperware in the freezer.
Ditto liver
Ditto white fish but she had tinned oily fish when younger.
Add boiled broccoli to morning meal, boiled carrots to evening meal.
I also gave the supplements recommended.
My dog’s 15, very old for her breed and vet reckons she’s perfectly healthy.

Feeding
5 x morning meal of chicken, broccoli, rice. 2 x morning fish , broccoli rice.
5 x evening chicken, carrots, rice. 2 x evening liver, carrots, rice.
She’s never got fed up of it.

MintyGreenDream · 02/04/2022 12:49

One of mine actually pretends to be ill if he has had human food so he gets more .Hunger strike and me panicking

jytdtysrht · 02/04/2022 12:52

No. Because it’s too difficult.

I buy a high quality dog food (Barking Heads). Dog food varies massively in quality. Investigate the quality of your tinned stuff.

Chicken is used as a training treat as it’s high value.

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 02/04/2022 12:52

@MintyGreenDream

One of mine actually pretends to be ill if he has had human food so he gets more .Hunger strike and me panicking
Mine too.

When he was a puppy, he went through a phase of not eating his dinner and, in a panic, we gave him human food (just to get him to eat) and of course he wolfed it down Hmm

It was then a battle of wills. He was holding out for human food, we were holding out for him to get so hungry that he caved. He caved first and we've never had a single issue since!

He's on one meal a day now and still gets human food but only after his dog food gets eaten.

Mix56 · 02/04/2022 12:57

No, dry food only. ( with exception of occasionally scraps/left overs, )
Our vet said whatever you cook for them, it will never be as balanced in minerals, vitamines & completely balanced as dry food.
You are making yourself a massive cross to bare by cooking for your dog,
Wet food is expensive & a massive fag to buy.
We buy big 20 kilo sacs of dry food from an agricultural supplier, lasts about 3 weeks fir 2 active dogs.Job done
Our dogs have beautiful thick shiny coats, no health problems, they have 1 dry meal a day.
They dont know any different.

JaneJeffer · 02/04/2022 14:27

No but he thinks everything I cook is for him.

SenecaFallsRedux · 02/04/2022 14:38

We cook chicken for our dog (boiled breasts), but we chop it and mix it with dry food we buy from our vet.

TreetopsandTailwaggers · 02/04/2022 14:51

No, I don’t cook for them specifically, but they get bits and bobs of healthy human food for treats - no meat though as we are all veggie. My last dog loved broccoli stalks, cauliflower, carrots, blueberries and strawberries, greek yoghurt, eggs, sardines and would do anything for asparagus or apple. I also used to make bone broth popsicles for him in the summer (I bought the bone broth from a raw food supplier). We fed him these as treats or used them in enrichment though. His main meals were a mid-range kibble. He lived to a very good age, so we must have been doing something right.

I found this book a really interesting read re food and health. While it does advocate a really healthy fresh diet, it also recognises that lots of people don’t have the time etc to make their dogs food and ensure proper balance and nutrition, so suggests things you can add to a kibble or wet food fed dog’s diet to improve their health and longevity.

I’m currently researching foods for my next pup and the amount of different options out there is truly mind boggling. Every time I think I’ve found the right one I read some less than ideal things about the manufacturer or one of the ingredients etc. I’ve used the All About Dog Food website, but am not convinced by their scoring mechanisms and have noticed they have out of date info for several of the brands I’m looking at. I’ve also looked at Pet Food Expert, which takes into account other things as well as ingredients and nutrition, such as ethics of the manufacturer and ecological considerations, but all I have done is confuse myself even more!

Knowing my luck, whichever one I decide to try my pup will probably refuse to eat it! Grin

Nutrition is so important for growing pups, I don’t think I would risk home cooking for a puppy.

HotnSunnyRainbowRoses · 02/04/2022 16:35

I do sometimes but not all the time as dogs fed 100% home cooked tend to be deficient in calcium I think it is and can develop bone problems.

But I often cook my dogs roast chicken, fresh mackerel, haddock, beef mince, lamb mince etc with a small portion of vegetables, sometimes a bit of pasta or rice or similar and a bit of fat like some melted butter.

Sometimes I do them scrambled eggs too with a small portion of buttered toast and sometimes fruit with Greek yogurt with a bit of honey.

They often get a small taste of what I’m snacking on so they get tastes of doughnut, crisps, cake etc too.
I usually give them a few chips and a tiny bite of burger too when I get a McDonald’s.

But primarily they eat dog food.

And no before anyone asks my dogs are not overweight and they have good teeth.

Spidey66 · 02/04/2022 16:39

My husband has just cooked liver for the dog. He does it about twice a week. She loves it, I hate it :)

She will have some dog appropriate leftovers especially after a roast, bit of roast meet, a roast spud and some veg.

Molecule · 02/04/2022 22:36

I bake liver cake for our dogs, as high value rewards. I cut it up and freeze portions of it. Often shove in some manky cheese/yoghurt/whatever’s left in the fridge. They absolutely love it, it’s dirt cheap to make and has a high content of good stuff.

HemanOrSheRa · 02/04/2022 22:54

@HotnSunnyRainbowRoses

I do sometimes but not all the time as dogs fed 100% home cooked tend to be deficient in calcium I think it is and can develop bone problems.

But I often cook my dogs roast chicken, fresh mackerel, haddock, beef mince, lamb mince etc with a small portion of vegetables, sometimes a bit of pasta or rice or similar and a bit of fat like some melted butter.

Sometimes I do them scrambled eggs too with a small portion of buttered toast and sometimes fruit with Greek yogurt with a bit of honey.

They often get a small taste of what I’m snacking on so they get tastes of doughnut, crisps, cake etc too.
I usually give them a few chips and a tiny bite of burger too when I get a McDonald’s.

But primarily they eat dog food.

And no before anyone asks my dogs are not overweight and they have good teeth.

Very similar here. They love Sunday Roast Dinner Day! Scrambled eggs or tinned sardines and toast squares are a breakfast favourite. I always have a stash of homemade bone broth in the freezer and will sometimes cook up chicken, rice, carrots, broccoli in the broth. Or I'll defrost some for them to drink. Warm or cold depending on the weather. I make homemade dehydrated treats. But, we have 4 dogs who have FOMO where food is concerned so we have no issues with hunger strikes Grin.
NewSpark · 04/04/2022 14:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Undecicive · 04/04/2022 18:45

I was planning to. But my life is so busy at the moment, I probably won'f. My dad used to cook for his rather large dogs that he bred, I'm thinking about giving her a raw+cooked carbs and veg diet. Failing that, I'll buy Platinum dog food which I really like as it doesn't swell in their stomachs like most other kibble.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 04/04/2022 18:50

No.

He has the odd leftover

When I’m clearing the fridge I boil up the veg for him.

He has a raw carrot every day.

He loves beetroot.

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