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Hey there goons! Due to the local ice-storm I found myself in a rather concerning predicament. I was out of food for my 140lb St. Bernard puppy! I was hoping he might have enough to last him through the day so I could go get his normal chow tomorrow when the ice is supposed to melt. This did not happen, though, and he started begging and hunting around the house for food and it was wrenching my heart, so I decided to put together a meal for him myself. I looked up a list of common food toxins for dogs and went to my kitchen to see what I could whip up. Here's what I ended up with- 1 cup Brown Rice 1 2cup can chicken broth 1 2cup can spinach 2 xlarge eggs I then looked up what spices were desirable for cooking for dogs. A quick glance revealed that turmeric was supposedly as healthy for dogs as it is for humans, and that rosemary is actually very good for their digestion just like it is for ours! I cooked the rice along with a flavorful mix of the aforementioned spices using the chicken broth as the water for the rice. After the rice was cooked, I mixed in the canned spinach and added a ground up calcium/magnesium supplement, a ground up b12 dot, and once it was all in, I dumped that into his bowl and scrambled the two eggs in the same pot. He absolutely loved it, and slaughtered every single grain of it, but I wonder how actually complete for his nutrition the meal was. Does anyone here cook their own dogfood regularly? I tried searching google, but everything I found was just for treats. Is it feasible for nutrition vs cost when compared against some of the top brand dog-foods? What are some of your recipes?
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Jan 29, 2014 10:18
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If you'd like to actually cook for your dog, you need to speak with a veterinary nutritionist and learn what they recommend, what nutrient splits are needed, etc especially if your dog is a puppy or has other health conditions. Some posters used to/occasionally do cook for their dogs.
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Jan 30, 2014 16:34
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Most chicken broth you buy has onion in it. I would not feed that to a dog (I'm a little nutty about never feeding onion and garlic because I had a dog that had Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia 5 or 6 times). I make my own chicken broth for my dog and cats. You can freeze or can it, and my dog likes chicken broth ice cubes in the summer.
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Feb 2, 2014 18:58
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Bippie Mishap posted:I make my own chicken broth for my dog and cats. So, I'm a cooking moron, think you can share how one might do this? Thanks! 
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Feb 2, 2014 20:29
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WolfensteinBag posted:So, I'm a cooking moron, think you can share how one might do this? Thanks! Just simmer chicken in water for a few hours, basically.
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Feb 2, 2014 20:56
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Yeah, I use a whole cut-up chicken plus 2 thighs, 4 thighs if I take out the chicken breasts for myself. I simmer it for 4 hours in water to cover then take out the big bones and break them apart with pliers so the marrow will come out in the broth. Then I gently swish the cut-up bones in the broth (it's hot as hell) and cook it for another hour. If your dog likes carrots you can add some carrots the last hour. I would just cut off the ends and break the carrots in half and add them in as it's easier to cut them up when they're cooked. Strain the broth when it's done and put the carrots aside. The meat is tough and chewy and I usually throw it away. Cut up the carrots and add them to the broth. You can buy a defatting cup if you're serious about making broth a lot or you can let it cool and spoon the fat off later. If you can only find whole chickens you can ask the meat guy to cut up the bird for you. If you break up the bones strain the broth very well! It's a PITA but I hate wasting that marrow. Bippie Mishap fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Feb 2, 2014 |
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Feb 2, 2014 21:48
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I actually like the idea of marinating some of Tater's toys in some of this broth to see if he'll take interest to them. He has his stuffed bunny and horse that he gently suckles on and completely ignores all other toys except the oven mitt, which is kindof a waste.
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Feb 2, 2014 21:56
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So to kind of branch off on this, I know some people who cook for their own dogs and they also give them a "fast day" like every couple of weeks where they just don't feed the dog because apparently since dogs sometimes go hungry in the wild it is supposedly good for them? This sounds crazy to me. Am I wrong or is it crazy? I tried Googling it when they first told me about it and could only bring up stuff about fasting for veterinary reasons (like before surgery or whatever) so that makes me think even more that they are crazy.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:43
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I am not a vet but it sounds like all it would do is make your dog obnoxious and confused
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Feb 3, 2014 01:21
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Tasty_Crayon posted:I am not a vet but it sounds like all it would do is make your dog obnoxious and confused That's exactly what I thought. They also claim it isn't necessary with commercial diets because it's processed food but their ~natural~ food is rich enough that it's a good idea, but then I'm like maybe if you have to starve your dogs occasionally because their diet is so rich you should just adjust the diet? I mean their dogs look really good and I know they've worked with a vet nutritionist to develop their recipes and stuff so I don't mean to be mean, but it just seems wrong to me and I wondered if anyone else had heard of it.
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Feb 3, 2014 01:40
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Yeah, the fast for a day thing is out there, it's also dumb. Basically if they're worried their dog is getting fat, then they should just feed a bit less per day. If they're worried about vitamin/mineral toxicities, then they need to change their formulation. There's no reason beyond  for that.The site I love to use for dog and cat at home diets is: https://www.balanceit.com Great supplement makers. If you're doing long term feeding, that's the way to go. If you're doing stuff for a few days because you have to, what you did was fine. The spices are a bit irrelevant, but not hurtful.
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Feb 3, 2014 02:09
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I was forced to make a bunch of animals go without an evening feeding due to a stupid power play. What I took away was that while wild animals can go with irregular meals they DO NOT like it, esp when they are used to a schedule. I can only imagine that a doofy spoiled house pet would assume that they were never getting fed again ever
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Feb 3, 2014 03:47
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RazorBunny posted:Just simmer chicken in water for a few hours, basically. Remember the part where I said I'm a moron?  Bippie Mishap posted:Yeah, I use a whole cut-up chicken plus 2 thighs, 4 thighs if I take out the chicken breasts for myself. I simmer it for 4 hours in water to cover then take out the big bones and break them apart with pliers so the marrow will come out in the broth. Then I gently swish the cut-up bones in the broth (it's hot as hell) and cook it for another hour. If your dog likes carrots you can add some carrots the last hour. I would just cut off the ends and break the carrots in half and add them in as it's easier to cut them up when they're cooked. Thanks, guys! I seriously didn't know it was so easy.
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Feb 3, 2014 14:59
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I make my own broth with a crock pot because I'm lazy. Just throw the leftover chicken in there on high for 3-4 hours.
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Feb 3, 2014 15:06
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I fed raw for years, then cooked for dogs for years, and now I'm just doing premade raw because effort. 
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Feb 4, 2014 15:45
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Bippie Mishap posted:Most chicken broth you buy has onion in it. I would not feed that to a dog (I'm a little nutty about never feeding onion and garlic because I had a dog that had Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia 5 or 6 times). I make my own chicken broth for my dog and cats. You can freeze or can it, and my dog likes chicken broth ice cubes in the summer. Excellent advice! I hadn't even thought to check this before making the meal, but fortunately, the brand I used does not include any extra flavorants. I will start using the ice-cube trick!
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Feb 4, 2014 19:35
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Bippie Mishap posted:Yeah, I use a whole cut-up chicken plus 2 thighs, 4 thighs if I take out the chicken breasts for myself. I simmer it for 4 hours in water to cover then take out the big bones and break them apart with pliers so the marrow will come out in the broth. Then I gently swish the cut-up bones in the broth (it's hot as hell) and cook it for another hour. If your dog likes carrots you can add some carrots the last hour. I would just cut off the ends and break the carrots in half and add them in as it's easier to cut them up when they're cooked. Even better, (coming from a chef) cook your broth longer. When I do this for my dogs, or even myself, I buy 20 lbs of chicken quarters, separate the thighs for the legs, debone the thighs and freeze the meat. I boil the bones and remaining legs in a 5 gallon stockpot with my saved dog-only vegetable scrap, which consists of asparagus bottoms, green bean scrap, brussel sprout scrap, carrots and sweet potato peels and pumpkin in the fall. If I'm short on anything here, I will generally cut off some large pieces of carrot, eighth a sweet potato. I also add a good bit of rosemary to the stock, as it makes it smell great, and rosemary has great health benefits. Honestly, the longer you boil your bones, the better the stock is for you and your dog. When a bone is still hard after boiling it, it's still full of collagen. If you remove a 1/2" thick bone from a stock and the collagen has been fully cooked into the stock, the bone should crumble with extra pressure from your tongs. In the best interest of safety for your animal (and even you) when you boil stocks this long, it's never a bad idea to use cheese cloth when straining the matter from your liquids.
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Jun 4, 2014 19:42
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Anyone thinking about this should check out SkeptVet's blog posts on the topic: http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/nutrition/
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Jun 5, 2014 08:09
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Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I am looking for some info. Nothing serious. I am wanting to add a little extra to the dog (and cats) food. Like pumpkin, plain yogurt, eggs? What are your thoughts on brewers yeast (for fleas)? One cat is getting over a stomach thing and is mainly eating canned pate food (with some kibble now, too). The other only eats kibble. The dog will eat anything we give her (so far) but I'd like to add some extra healthy stuff for her to eat. She is an English Bulldog so she is already eating a high protein low/no grain diet. Including her treats which are jerky type of treats. What I am wondering is this- is there anything I should be adding to their diets? As of now I can get two of the three to eat treats. The one cat doesn't like interaction much.. ok at all.. and will not eat the other cats wet food, nor will she eat treats I try to give her, though she comes when the can is shaken. I will try to get her to eat something different if there is a good reason. Is there anything I could try to tempt her with in her kibble bowl? The other cat will try anything before deciding she will never look at it again. What is safe to give them? The dog will probably eat anything we give her- but what should that be? Not every meal, nor every day. Just a little treat now and then to keep her more healthy. Sorry if this is rambling. I sometimes stay up to late thinking about our pets.
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Jul 20, 2014 09:47
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