Home made dog food

[Tygertiger]

Currently Dspaniel is fed 50:50 Millie’s Wolfheart and Butternut Box. I’m looking to replace the Butternut as they’ve put their prices up and even on the most economical delivery package and pouch size, it’s still got too expensive. I know I could put him 100% on the MW and he’d eat it happily enough (he’s a very typical spaniel in that respect, extremely greedy!) but I’d feel a bit sorry for him only having kibble most of the time. I’m considering doing some home-cooked food to combine with the kibble and replace the Butternut. Loads of recipes online, but they don’t say to add vitamins/minerals and I’d assumed I would need to, so this worries me.

Any advice in terms of home cooking? If anyone does it, do you add supplements? For various reasons raw feeding wouldn’t work for us, so I can’t switch to that. I’ve got freezer space so I’m quite happy to batch cook and freeze, I just need to know it’s nutritious and balanced for him.

Hopeful bump!

Can't help on the home cooking, but have you considered switching the Butternut box to Forthglade? It should work out cheaper, our dog just has the Forthglade wet food and it seems to be good quality!!

Commenting to bump this for you as I'd like to know the same. Mine has butternut too and I'd happily cook for him instead if I was sure I could get the nutrients and everything right.

I buy hearts, liver, kidneys, cook it with pearl barley and some veg then blitz it into a sort of haggis. Then portion and freeze. My dog loves it. She gets a glucosamine and multivitamin tablet every other day. Never been keen on kibble so she eats a bit of it and if I feel she needs more bulk I give her wholemeal bread with a smear of peanut butter. Old school feeding!

Due to food sensitivities, I top a commercial/balanced kibble with homemade food.

I try to balance the calories so that 75% come from the kibble. I also just use kibble for treats. That way, I know most of his food is already nutritionally balanced. The homemade is then just extra to add flavour and moisture and interest.

My homemade food is mince, quinoa (quite a nutritionally dense carb) and pureed mixed veg. I don't add any supplements to it.

So far, so good.

I agree that forthglade would be a good option. They do compete meals or ‘just’ range which is more meaty and suitable to use as a topper.

My dog bloody hates Forthglade. I can starve him and he still wouldn't eat it!

Making dog food and getting it right is time-consuming. And a little risky so requires a fair bit of effort to get the balance right. Have you tried this site https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/ which rates and ranks dog foods and shows the average price per day.

I do a whole chicken in the slow cooker with barley and some shredded carrot. Then I freeze it in portions and put it on top of herkibble.

Yes, hence why I feed Millie’s Wolfheart and Butternut.

I do appreciate the effort involved. Hence my OP specifically asking for experiences and ideas re supplements. I’m aware I can’t just give him a bit of leftover chicken.

I have started to substitute some of my dogs food with a mixture of rice, butternut squash and chicken (suggested by the vet) with turmeric and fennel (to help with joints and wind-issues). The dogs love it, and it has given my very elderly aika a new lease of life, but its an added extra rather than a complete replacement - so possibly no use whatsoever

Like a PP, I feed about 25% homemade, plus about 50% commercial wet and 25% decent quality kibble. (We used to use Butternut Box or Different Dog, but my 3 dogs have gone off them. For a while, it was about 50% homemade plus 50% kibble, until I found Rocco Classic wet food on Zooplus or Bitiba online. They love this and it is a good value, very meaty product that scores quite well on Allaboutdogfood.)

I use meat and a little offal of different varieties, rice or quinoa, and chopped veg. I have some dog commercial supplements that I sprinkle on when I serve it, like kelp for teeth, pro & pre biotics, etc. I've used some nice products from Herbal Dog Co, and have seen TheDogChef.co.uk, which I'll probably try next. I don't worry about trying to make everything perfectly balanced at every meal, so long as there is variety and a good daily portion of complete commercial meals.

There are products for BARF, aimed at raw feeders, which contain most of the supplements that are added to commercial foods. Either supplied individually or as complete mixes. I used a brand called Aniforte on Amazon, when I was feeding a larger percentage of homemade.

There's a new one out called Years which gets an excellent rating on AADF and isn't completely extortionate though I'm not sure how much Butternut Box is either

I follow this guy on instagram he has post some good recipes for dogs

https://instagram.com/thedogg_nutritionist?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I cook for mine - he gets beef mince, chopped liver, brown rice, sweet potato and green beans plus a powdered supplement and I mix that into his kibble at dinner. He also gets Butchers or Aldi's Langhalms tinned food for breakfast, but he's not that fussed on it. There are some good Facebook group although some members take it VERY seriously, and some online recipes - this one gets v good reviews https://drjudymorgan.com/blogs/recipes/how-to-make-homemade-puploaf

Sorry I just realised a lot of his stuff is raw. I thought he did some cooked ones too

Sorry to hijack! My dogs on Bella and duke raw which he enjoys and I think it works out around £1.50 per day as he only 13kg and I order enough for 6 weeks at a time.
How does home cooked compare price wise ?
@SirChenjins this recipe sounds great. Could I do this with just a food processor do you think ?

Thanks everyone, some really good ideas here.

Any recommendations for powdered supplements?

I batch cook too.
I make a base with boiled chicken carcasses or chicken parts and water. Remove all the bones and add brown rice, cubed butternut or sweet potato+ chia seed and cook. Then add minced chicken, liver and frozen peas, beans and carrots.
I've a small dog so I only need small portions which I freeze.
He doesn't like kibble much so this is his primary food.