Does anyone make their own dog food?

mprop

ISDW wrote: »

Beta isn't a particular good food in my opinion. If you want to go the raw route, thats great, he will thrive on it, but just remember not to overfeed him, as I say, sibes are incredibly efficient eaters and don't need as much food as you may think. If you want to try a different kibble, give Best for my Dog a try, I think they may send out sample bags.

Regarding the lesions, he could actually have ZRD, again, very common in siberian huskies, but very easily fixed, its the inability to absorb zinc, which leads to a deficiency and if you give the dog a little bit of liver every day, the lesions will disappear. Ox liver apparently is the one that gives the best results, but any liver will do the trick. You can get zinc tablets from health shops as well. If you google ZRD and siberian husky, you'll see some photos, they will probably look like your dog's lesions. A lot of vets miss it, so don't worry, but as I say, it is very well known among husky owners.

Wow that looks to be exactly what he had! Cheers! Will try him on the Best for my dog for a while to see what its like. Thanks so much.

I may order the Best for my dog for my Wolfhound too (6 months old), do you know if its a good brand for the larger breed? He is thriving on Science Plan at the moment.

ISDW

mprop wrote: »

Wow that looks to be exactly what he had! Cheers! Will try him on the Best for my dog for a while to see what its like. Thanks so much.

I may order the Best for my dog for my Wolfhound (6 months old), do you know if its a good brand for the larger breed? He is thriving on Science Plan at the moment.

The BFMD will work out cheaper than the Science plan anyway! If you email Paul, the owner of Best for my dog, he's very helpful, they have a nutritionist as well, who will answer any questions. Some friends of mine have GSDs and a malamute, they feed it, not quite as big as a wolfhound, but still ......

mprop

ISDW wrote: »

The BFMD will work out cheaper than the Science plan anyway! If you email Paul, the owner of Best for my dog, he's very helpful, they have a nutritionist as well, who will answer any questions. Some friends of mine have GSDs and a malamute, they feed it, not quite as big as a wolfhound, but still ......

Thanks so much

ToniTuddle

To the person who mentioned about included the egg shell when giving the eggs...is there nutritional value in the shell of some sort?

Whispered

ToniTuddle, my father, who's veeeeery old school when it comes to his dogs, says that eggshells help against worms. Apparently the shards of shells can kill the worms. I don't know how true this is though.

One of the boys at my house is on a holistic food called robbies, very good for dogs with digestive problems, sensitive stomachs etc.

ToniTuddle

Could be due to lack of sleep but now in my head I am imagining loads of little eggshell soldiers in battle killing worms in the dog :pac:

Found this site: www.holisticdog.org shows you how to make your own doggie biscuits and biscuits for if your dog is allergic to wheat/yeast, as well as those Satin Balls.

On it I can only see it mentioned hard boiled eggs and nothing about shells but I may have missed that.

Whispered

ToniTuddle wrote: »

Could be due to lack of sleep but now in my head I am imagining loads of little eggshell soldiers in battle killing worms in the dog :pac:

And your little green light is STILL on. Go to bed, you appear to be loosing your mind.

dahat

pixiebean22 wrote: »

I have fed my pup raw since i got him. He is now 16 months and thriving on it. Raw was recommended by his breeder who has been breeding great danes for 35 years and her parents before her. She has had numerous champions come from her danes every year since she started out. All fed raw.

If I make a change to his diet, big or small, I always starve him for 24 hours beforehand as this clears out his system and it helps that he is hungry enough to get him to eat whatever i am changing him onto. I have never had problems with runny poos etc apart from the first couple of weeks when I got him and he was getting used to his surroundings.

To try to keep weight on him I feed tripe as often as possible and I also feed cheese, eggs (shell included), peanut butter on toast, sausage rolls. I also feed him these meaty ball things called satin balls (google to find the proper recipe), I make them with treacle, eggs (shell included), mincemeat, a little flour and cheese. I make them about the size of a golf ball and he gets 2-3 a day. I make them every couple of weeks and freeze them in small freezer bags and take out one every night along with the rest of the following day's meat.

One thing to remember when defrosting meat of any sort is to defrost it in the fridge and not out on a counter top or in the sink. Defrosting in the fridge prevents the growth of bacteria and keeps the meat safe. I keep my dog's meat completely separate to the meat that I cook for myself. He has his own freezer. In fairness it makes more sense because he consumes a lot more meat weekly than I do so I need more room to store his meat anyway.

My dog gets about 300grams of meat in each of his 4 meals everyday, the rest of his bowl is made up of pasta/rice and vegetables (which I use purely as a filler - to keep him full - as these have little or no nutritional value for dogs) and then cheese or eggs mixed in. When I'm feeding bones I usually put a little olive oil on the bones to keep his coat shiny. I also feed 2-3 tins of sardines or other oily fish on top of his meals every couple of days to keep his coat shiny.

Every day my dog gets his breakfast at around 7am followed by some toast with peanut butter or 2-3 medium sized sausage rolls, then his lunch at around 11am, then his dinner at around 3pm and his supper at around 7pm. The reason why I feed him his last meal quite early is because I keep an eye on his stool (disgusting I know, the joys of dog ownership!) and if he is hungry later on I give him fish or some toast or sausage rolls.

This may seem like a lot of food to some people but it is so difficult to keep weight on my dog. Only in the past 2-3 months has he started to put on weight. It is quite common for young great danes to have difficulty keeping weight on and my vet has checked him and he has no health problem and his breeder has said it's nothing to worry about.

Sorry but this is not a raw diet,sounds like a homemade diet of sorts to me.
You seem to be adding an awful lot of unnessecary foods

RoastBeefDinner

Whispered wrote: »

ToniTuddle, my father, who's veeeeery old school when it comes to his dogs, says that eggshells help against worms. Apparently the shards of shells can kill the worms. I don't know how true this is though.

I think the egg shells are to prevent the dog eating it's own poop hence it prevents re-infection of worms not so much that it kills them off in the animals digestive system.

Ailishcrehan

I have a German shepherd x who since we got her as a pup, has had semi solid pooh! We tried her on the Raw food diet and she loved it. I would make a batch of food at the start of the week, using blended veg (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, fresh herbs, turnip, apples etc, mixed in with mince) and divide it up in to daily portions and freeze our stocks.

She absolutely loved it and it made a huge difference to her stools. My sister also started her labrador on the same diet and found him to be more content, less hungry, had more energy, less smelly, coat is constantly shiny. Every few days we gave our dog raw chicken wings/legs, sardines/fish etc. We used raw eggs (shells and all) to bind the food, you can also use natural yogurt or cottage cheese. One of the main things to consider with the RAW food diet is to not allow the dog to have cooked food as it defeats the purpose of it. I also think that the idea is you just stop their normal diet and start on raw diet straight away - you are not supposed to introduce gradually. With my dog, she never had an upset tummy with the sudden change, but I wouldn't recommend this for changing brands of food, but with the RAW diet it seems different.

We had to stop the diet as we foster for a local rescue group and now have 5 dogs here, we cannot afford to feed them all on the diet and we found our dog was getting territorial over her food because of the high meat content.

The food was so nice that I swear you could eat it yourself - the smell of the fresh veg all blended, the colours and textures and the variety meant that the dog was happy and excited about her meals as opposed to looking at her bowl of boring dry food and then looking at me wondering what I was going to give her to make the food more palatable.

The RAW food diet can be sourced cheaply enough - aldi and lidl often have the super 6 fruit and veg on offer every week which could make up your weekly supplies at a bargain price. Round mince is cheap enough too - i can get 2lb for around 4euro. Many butchers often through out chicken carcasses so you can usually get these for free or next to nothing. Liver and kidney is also really cheap, having said that, none of our dogs will touch raw liver and I wouldn't recommend trying to blend it, because it is vile and turns into blood effectively! You can get oxtails for a good price too, as long as you have a good butcher! Some people say that beef makes their dogs itchy, but I have never found that with mine.

I think the diet is great - it is natural, it is how dogs ate when in the wild (okay, not so much with the blended veg but you get the idea). Food passes through their digestive systems so quickly that the chances of them being affected by bacteria in raw food is greatly reduced. As long as the meat you are buying is fresh, your dog will thrive.

THe only thing I would consider is if you are giving your dogs raw bones (helps clean their teeth) make sure they have enough space to eat them in peace and lift the bones when the dogs loose interest in them to prevent fights!

ISDW

Ailishcrehan wrote: »

I have a German shepherd x who since we got her as a pup, has had semi solid pooh! We tried her on the Raw food diet and she loved it. I would make a batch of food at the start of the week, using blended veg (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, fresh herbs, turnip, apples etc, mixed in with mince) and divide it up in to daily portions and freeze our stocks.

She absolutely loved it and it made a huge difference to her stools. My sister also started her labrador on the same diet and found him to be more content, less hungry, had more energy, less smelly, coat is constantly shiny. Every few days we gave our dog raw chicken wings/legs, sardines/fish etc. We used raw eggs (shells and all) to bind the food, you can also use natural yogurt or cottage cheese. One of the main things to consider with the RAW food diet is to not allow the dog to have cooked food as it defeats the purpose of it. I also think that the idea is you just stop their normal diet and start on raw diet straight away - you are not supposed to introduce gradually. With my dog, she never had an upset tummy with the sudden change, but I wouldn't recommend this for changing brands of food, but with the RAW diet it seems different.

We had to stop the diet as we foster for a local rescue group and now have 5 dogs here, we cannot afford to feed them all on the diet and we found our dog was getting territorial over her food because of the high meat content.

The food was so nice that I swear you could eat it yourself - the smell of the fresh veg all blended, the colours and textures and the variety meant that the dog was happy and excited about her meals as opposed to looking at her bowl of boring dry food and then looking at me wondering what I was going to give her to make the food more palatable.

The RAW food diet can be sourced cheaply enough - aldi and lidl often have the super 6 fruit and veg on offer every week which could make up your weekly supplies at a bargain price. Round mince is cheap enough too - i can get 2lb for around 4euro. Many butchers often through out chicken carcasses so you can usually get these for free or next to nothing. Liver and kidney is also really cheap, having said that, none of our dogs will touch raw liver and I wouldn't recommend trying to blend it, because it is vile and turns into blood effectively! You can get oxtails for a good price too, as long as you have a good butcher! Some people say that beef makes their dogs itchy, but I have never found that with mine.

I think the diet is great - it is natural, it is how dogs ate when in the wild (okay, not so much with the blended veg but you get the idea). Food passes through their digestive systems so quickly that the chances of them being affected by bacteria in raw food is greatly reduced. As long as the meat you are buying is fresh, your dog will thrive.

THe only thing I would consider is if you are giving your dogs raw bones (helps clean their teeth) make sure they have enough space to eat them in peace and lift the bones when the dogs loose interest in them to prevent fights!

Excellent post.

The blended veg is meant to replicate the stomach contents of the animal they would eat in the wild, they would normally be herbevores, so they would have eaten grass etc, and the dogs would get nutrients from that. Its best to blend it, as the grass would have been chewed before making its way to the stomach:D

Ailishcrehan

Thanks ISDW. My sister who makes the food for her dogs minds children in her home and one of them asked could she have some of the food for her dinner and almost took a spoon to it, because of lovely colours of the veg all blended...I was once tempted to add some spices and make burgers for myself from the food. I do believe that our pets should eat food that we know and trust - if it is good enough for us, it is good enough for our pets. I have tasted dry dog food and it is not all that pleasant (I know, that is really weird). We joked saying that Lila eats better than we do with the RAW diet, we certainly don't get the amount of high quality fresh produce as she does!

At least with the RAW diet, we are confident in there being no additives, colourings, preservatives and chemicals added to it, just lovely fresh food!

boomerang

ToniTuddle wrote: »

To the person who mentioned about included the egg shell when giving the eggs...is there nutritional value in the shell of some sort?

Yep, it's a source of calcium.

moving_home

pixiebean22 wrote: »

I have fed my pup raw since i got him. He is now 16 months and thriving on it. Raw was recommended by his breeder who has been breeding great danes for 35 years and her parents before her. She has had numerous champions come from her danes every year since she started out. All fed raw.

If I make a change to his diet, big or small, I always starve him for 24 hours beforehand as this clears out his system and it helps that he is hungry enough to get him to eat whatever i am changing him onto. I have never had problems with runny poos etc apart from the first couple of weeks when I got him and he was getting used to his surroundings.

To try to keep weight on him I feed tripe as often as possible and I also feed cheese, eggs (shell included), peanut butter on toast, sausage rolls. I also feed him these meaty ball things called satin balls (google to find the proper recipe), I make them with treacle, eggs (shell included), mincemeat, a little flour and cheese. I make them about the size of a golf ball and he gets 2-3 a day. I make them every couple of weeks and freeze them in small freezer bags and take out one every night along with the rest of the following day's meat.

One thing to remember when defrosting meat of any sort is to defrost it in the fridge and not out on a counter top or in the sink. Defrosting in the fridge prevents the growth of bacteria and keeps the meat safe. I keep my dog's meat completely separate to the meat that I cook for myself. He has his own freezer. In fairness it makes more sense because he consumes a lot more meat weekly than I do so I need more room to store his meat anyway.

My dog gets about 300grams of meat in each of his 4 meals everyday, the rest of his bowl is made up of pasta/rice and vegetables (which I use purely as a filler - to keep him full - as these have little or no nutritional value for dogs) and then cheese or eggs mixed in. When I'm feeding bones I usually put a little olive oil on the bones to keep his coat shiny. I also feed 2-3 tins of sardines or other oily fish on top of his meals every couple of days to keep his coat shiny.

Every day my dog gets his breakfast at around 7am followed by some toast with peanut butter or 2-3 medium sized sausage rolls, then his lunch at around 11am, then his dinner at around 3pm and his supper at around 7pm. The reason why I feed him his last meal quite early is because I keep an eye on his stool (disgusting I know, the joys of dog ownership!) and if he is hungry later on I give him fish or some toast or sausage rolls.

This may seem like a lot of food to some people but it is so difficult to keep weight on my dog. Only in the past 2-3 months has he started to put on weight. It is quite common for young great danes to have difficulty keeping weight on and my vet has checked him and he has no health problem and his breeder has said it's nothing to worry about.

i thought cheese was bad for dogs as they cannot digest dairy very well??
also i thought pasta and bread is very bad for bloating?

daenerysstormborn3

dahat wrote: »

Sorry but this is not a raw diet,sounds like a homemade diet of sorts to me.
You seem to be adding an awful lot of unnessecary foods

That's your opinion. I tend to go with the advice of the vet and breeder.

Ailishcrehan

With the RAW diet, reading up on it they say cottage cheese is allowed to be used. I didn't use it that often because the cheese would go off before I got to use it all so used natural yogurt the odd time, but mostly raw eggs to bind the blended veg and meat. There is calcium in egg shells which is why they are used. even if I have an egg for lunch, the dogs will do their best to get the shells and happily eat them! Pasta and bread are not natural foods so shouldn't be used in conjunction with a raw diet. I personally wouldn't feed my dogs bread, sausage rolls etc because there is no nutritional value for them and they don't need it in their diet.

Ailishcrehan

@ pixiebean22 - it would appear that your dog is NOT on a raw food diet if you are feeding him toast, peanut butter and sausage rolls. A Raw diet means exactly that - food in its purest raw form. Pastry, bread and peanut butter are not raw foods...

daenerysstormborn3

moving_home wrote: »

i thought cheese was bad for dogs as they cannot digest dairy very well??
also i thought pasta and bread is very bad for bloating?

I've never had a problem with feeding cheese nor has anyone I know that owns great danes.

Bloat is caused by excessive gas stretching the stomach. I've never heard of pasta/bread contributing to bloat and the vet is well aware of what I feed my dog and has never warned against it. The vet knows I take other precautions to try to prevent bloat.

daenerysstormborn3

Ailishcrehan wrote: »

With the RAW diet, reading up on it they say cottage cheese is allowed to be used. I didn't use it that often because the cheese would go off before I got to use it all so used natural yogurt the odd time, but mostly raw eggs to bind the blended veg and meat. There is calcium in egg shells which is why they are used. even if I have an egg for lunch, the dogs will do their best to get the shells and happily eat them! Pasta and bread are not natural foods so shouldn't be used in conjunction with a raw diet. I personally wouldn't feed my dogs bread, sausage rolls etc because there is no nutritional value for them and they don't need it in their diet.

I presume this comment is aimed at me and what I feed my dog. I haven't said any of the additional things I feed my dog have any nutritional value in them and he is fed them purely to put weight on him. This is all done under the supervision of his vet and breeder.

jap gt

ISDW wrote: »

Excellent post.

The blended veg is meant to replicate the stomach contents of the animal they would eat in the wild, they would normally be herbevores, so they would have eaten grass etc, and the dogs would get nutrients from that. Its best to blend it, as the grass would have been chewed before making its way to the stomach:D

should the veg be un cooked aswell or does it matter

andreac

Sorry, but how is toast, penut butter and sausage rolls a raw diet??
Thats processed foods which are bad enough for us so i can only imagine they are worse for your dog...
They are def not part of any raw diet in any sense, raw is exactly what it is, Raw meat, bones and veg, not processed human food.

ISDW

pixiebean22 wrote: »

That's your opinion. I tend to go with the advice of the vet and breeder.

I am astounded that a vet and a breeder suggest that you feed your dog sausage rolls.

You say this doesn't have any nutritional value, then what is the point of feeding it? I understand you want to put weight on the dog, but surely it is better to do with this food that will be digested properly? If you're giving the dog the satin balls, you really don't need to be giving him/her fat from things like sausage rolls as well.

jap gt wrote: »

should the veg be un cooked aswell or does it matter

It should be uncooked I believe, but needs to be pureed. I will often give my dogs a bit of carrot to chew on, but it always come out the other end the same as it went in, so isn't being absorbed.

andreac

pixiebean22 wrote: »

That's your opinion. I tend to go with the advice of the vet and breeder.

I would seriously be questioning any vet who recommends feeding sausage rolls to a dog. For a start they are highly fattening and full of processed pork and additives/spices/flavourings which wouldnt be suitable for a dog.

Ailishcrehan

I haven't said any of the additional things I feed my dog have any nutritional value in them and he is fed them purely to put weight on him. This is all done under the supervision of his vet and breeder.

I would question the vet over this, if you are feeding your dog mostly raw food, to get all the benefits of a raw food diet, I would ask about feeding additional natural fats as opposed to processed food.

The raw food diet is in theory designed to provide your dog with the food most natural to them in the 'wild' so to speak so mixing processed food in with it might defeat the purpose.

It is great that your vet is on board with the raw food diet as many vets question it and say that dog food is tailored to a dogs needs, but I suppose its down to a dog owner as they know their pets best and what works for them in terms of their diet. If what you are feeding your dog is working, then by all means continue, but I would ask your vet/breeder or look in to natural fats or higher calorie fatty meat to help with gaining weight.

Ailishcrehan

should the veg be un cooked aswell or does it matter

the veg should be uncooked...you will need a blender to do it, just pop them in and they should come out the consistency of breadcrumbs. Then add your meat. If you are using a local butcher, they might mince the chicken for you, or get minced turkey but with the meat, it doesn't matter if it is minced or not.

It is trial and error as to what your dog likes..one of mine doesn't like celery or parsnips, the other loves them but doesn't like turnip!

If you live near a Tesco, it is also worthwhile checking out their reduced section for meat and veg - the shortdated products can be prepared and frozen and you'll save money too!

TooManyDogs

jap gt wrote: »

should the veg be un cooked aswell or does it matter

Most of the veg should uncooked but starchy veg like potatoes and root veg should be parboiled first to help break them down. Blending alone breaks down other fruit and veggies up but the starchy ones need par boiling and then blending.

I have a massive soup pot that I prepare my veggie 'gloop' in, I roughly chop the starch vegs, and the minimum amount of water I can, boil them for 10 mins, add all the other veggies, fruit and eggs and then blend the whole lot, seperate it out into daily portions and then freeze the lot.

jap gt

ok thanks one last question, from reading about raw feeding, i understand that i should feed between 2-4% of the dogs weight a day, how much of that should be meat, veg etc

TooManyDogs

jap gt wrote: »

ok thanks one last question, from reading about raw feeding, i understand that i should feed between 2-4% of the dogs weight a day, how much of that should be meat, veg etc

You feed a total weight daily of 2 - 5% of the dog's body weight, depending on your dogs activity level. Once you know what that weight is then I break it up like this.

60% raw meaty bones
20% muscle meat
10% veggie gloop
10% offal

Things like whole chickens can cover everything except the veggie gloop because there's plenty of bones, and muscle meat, and normally there's enough offal still on the inside of the carcass to cover that aspect, so just add veggie gloop

dahat

moving_home wrote: »

i thought cheese was bad for dogs as they cannot digest dairy very well??
also i thought pasta and bread is very bad for bloating?

I feed RAW,no veg,dairy,nothing extra except salmon oil in winter as my mackerel sources dry up outside of fishing season.
Carbs like pasta are ok to a point if you need to add weight to a dog but in general RAW feeders dont add it.
People seem to confusing RAW,BARF diets,both are completely different things and cannot be compared.
I feed RAW,meat and edible bones,with large bones for teeth purposes.
I feed 80% meat,10% edible bone,10% organ+liver

dahat

pixiebean22 wrote: »

That's your opinion. I tend to go with the advice of the vet and breeder.

Of which i am entitled,Your diet is not a RAW diet,it is ABARF based though things like pastry etc are totally unnessecary.