How do I make my dog's food?

Question

I asked a question about commercial dog food killing my dog and now I want to either make my puppy's food (he is a puppy a year Sept 12) or buy the natural human grade quality food for him. Where would I find that? Also how do I make his food what are the ingredients and portions or measurements?

ok there is proof that the major dog food companies use less than ideal meat to produce their food. The drugs used to euthanize animals is found in our pets foods. I don not need to "wise up" and continue to let the "companies" kill my pet. Sorry most answers have been great but I don't apperciate someone telling me that facts that I know are harming my dog aren't true and I need to wise up. That is what I am tyring to do wise up so my baby can live longer

Answer 1

YOU HAVE MADE A WISE DECISION AND WHAT U ARE SAYING IS VERY TRUE. BUT SOME PEOPLE WILL DEFINATELY DISAGREE WITH YOU ON THIS SUBJECT BECAUSE THEY TRUST AND BELIEVE THE PET FOOD COMPANIES WILL NOT POISON YOUR PET NOR FEED EUTHANIZED DOGS AND CATS AND UNFORTUNATELY THEY DO USE RENDERED EUTHANIZED ANIMALS.

I feed the raw fresh diet and it works very well for all 15 of my rescued dogs that are like my babies. I also make them doggy stews with fresh veggies. If u do not want to go with the raw diet, go with innova it is an all natural dog food and it is excellant as far as i have researched on it.
here is some links on the raw diet u can research and figure out if it is right for you.

http://www.bravorawdiet.com/
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/barf.html
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet.shtml
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/barf.html
http://www.auntjeni.com/barf.htm
http://touchmoon.com/dotters/raw/index.shtml (great preparing raw food site)

Answer 2

When did chicory, carrots, peas, apples and cranberry become dog food ingredients? There isn't much real difference between these foods. One uses chicken and turkey, the other only uses chicken. Neither uses corn or wheat. The biggest difference is the fruits and vegetables in the chicken soup brand. Both are made by the same company and its a good bet that the major ingredients come from the same sources. Unless there is an allergy problem your dog will be fine with either food. Feed whichever one is easier to get. The prices are close enough to the same, especially considering how little one pomeranian will eat. If you were feeding a working dog you might notice a difference between those foods but not with a normal family pet.

Answer 3

One. Don't listen to everyone on here who says commercial food is okay. I've heard that enough. "As long as you're buying a premium food..." BS. ALL commercially produced food is like pizza. It technically has all the food groups, but I wouldn't want to feed myself that every day for the rest of my life. They also usually don't know that the majority of the food is corn and wheat, which is completely undigestible to dogs. It's pointless filler. (Buying a food without means you have to feed half the amount! Go figure!)

If you are looking for an easy alternative, there are tons out there. I would suggest consulting with some people on the Leerburg forums. Also, if you are going to switch to RAW, be very, very careful. Do tons of research. I researched for over a year and finally decided not to do it because of various things I found. (Remember, salmonella can be transfered from a dog's tongue to a child!)

As far as just "commercial" food that actually uses human ingredients, here are some of my favorites:

Innova
Wellness
Honest Kitchen (dehydrated, the best but kind of expensive)
Flint River Ranch
Life's Abundance (what I use)

Good luck!

Answer 4

I've been making homemade dog food for my two dogs (miniature longhaired dachshunds) and they absolutely love it!

I vary the ingredients from time to time, but the key is to have 40% meat, 30% vegetables and 30% starch. Here are the items I use:

Meat:
- ground chicken, beef (lean), turkey or lamb

Vegetables:
- frozen mixed vegetables (peas, beans, carrots, etc.)
- frozen chopped spinach
- fresh carrots, peas, beans, etc.

Starch:
- brown rice
- oatmeal
- diced potatoes
- whole wheat pasta
- couscous

I also add olive oil, garlic (good for dogs), some herbs (hey - dogs like things to taste good, too!), and crushed glucosamine sulfate tablets (because dachshunds can have back problems).

I begin by browning the ground meat (1 to 1.5 lbs) and garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil (in a Dutch oven or large pot), then add 3-4 cups of water. I then add the veggies and the starch component, the herbs and glucosamine supplement. I also sometimes add a little beef or chicken stock.

Good luck!!

Answer 5

There are already enough good answers to your question and I don't want to sound redundant. I do however want to point out for your dogs health that cornmeal is not a healthy alternative for your dog. We had some problems with our dog and after consulting the vet and other pet owners, the problem was identified with cornmeal. If you decide not to home cook your dogs meals, make sure you get a dog food without cornmeal. We've switched to a vet recommended lamb and rice formula and her problems have since disappeared. Good luck!

Answer 6

I recommend three resources:
The book "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats"
http://www.drpitcairn.com/nutrition/nutrition_index.html
And the pet food company "Wysong". www.wysong.net. They make extremely high quality products, including supplements that you can use if you are making a homemade diet.
It's important to supplement a homemade diet with enough minerals; the company Flying Basset (formerly Pat McKay) make high quality supplements to make sure your animal is getting good nutrition.
I currently feed my pets Wysong and Wellness brand foods which are both human grade quality, but I have also done a lot with home cooked food for my geriatric animals; they loved it, and I think they were healthier, longer because of it.

Also, check out your library...

lestbylost

Answer 7

Firstly you will have to buy meat and some parts of the animal that you dont eat... like kidney, lung etc... then you will have to cook it together with some rice or other kind of carbohydrate... its not so complicated and to make it more complete you may add some carrots and other vegetables... you can give also some bones (not all kinds are allowed) to your dog so it will be able to clean its tooth... voila... you have a balanced dog food.... bon apetit!
Remember... Dogs can eat almost everything you can, but never sweets!

Answer 8

You should check out spots stew made by halo. Its about the best dog food I have found. Its all natural and human grade. Here is the site:

http://shop.halopets.com/category.cfm?SID=1&Category_ID=10

Answer 9

Making your own dog food requires a simple mix of meat, vegetables and starches.


Steps:
1. Know that it is wise to check with your vet before switching to homemade dog food.

2. Understand that dogs need a diet that consists of 40 percent meat, 30 percent vegetables and 30 percent starch. Follow this formula to ensure that your dog has a well-balanced diet.

3. Cook meat before feeding it to your dog.

4. Realize that organ meat (such as liver, kidneys, etc.) and eggs are very good for your dog.

5. Consider the fact that many experts believe commercial dog food is actually unhealthy for dogs. Often the meat that is used in dog food is of a quality considered unfit for humans.

6. Try making a mixture of ground turkey, rice and carrot for your own dog food. Meals made of ground beef, brown rice, brewer's yeast and carrots are also popular.

7. Rotate the foods you feed your dog so that the dog gets a variety of foods.

8. Add garlic to your dog food. Dogs enjoy the flavor and garlic is a natural flea repellent.

9. Use oatmeal, pasta, rice or potatoes for your dog's starch requirement.

10. Grind eggshells and add this to your dog's meal. Eggshells have a lot of nutrients.

11. Keep cooked dog food in the refrigerator no longer than three days.

Tips:
When you first switch to homemade dog food, try mixing commercial dog food to the food you have prepared to help your dog make the transition.


Warnings:
Do not feed your dog chocolate.

Tips from eHow Users:
Cornmeal mush by eHow Friend
I feed my dog cornmeal mush. I take cornmeal, put it in my frying pan with a dab of lard and some water, and let it cook for 5 minutes. I then open a can of corned beef, put it on top of it and feed her a vegetable.

Note: lard is very healthy for dogs, it gives the smooth skin and silky fur.


Pressure cooker
this dog has been living on pressure cooker meals for two years now. It started when he began to bypass commercial dog foods. I then tried some of the pricier wet foods from the pet store. Once he started turning his nose up to those, I turned to making his food and we've been fine ever since.
Meals are chicken or turkey. My poodle does not digest beef well. It usually gives him diarrhea. When done in the pressure cooker, the chicken wing bones are soft enough to eat (lots of nutrients in the bones). Turkey wing bones need to be removed. When done with turkey, only one wing is needed resulting in 4 or 5 large bones that are easy to fish out of the mixture.
I add the chicken wings (6) to the pressure cooker, two potatoes cut up, a couple of handfuls of baby carrots, and an apple (cored and sliced). I cover this with water and cook it for 45 minutes under pressure (usually takes about 15 minutes to obtain pressure). I mix it up very well to check to make sure all bones are soft and there are no large chunks of carrots or potatoes (my dog will spit them out around the bowl). This will last about 5 to 6 days for two meals a day.

I appreciate all of the other tips from this site. I'm going to look into adding the ground eggshells and brewers yeast to his food. I just can't do the garlic. I'm sorry - second hand garlic smells bad enough on people!



or



this site is pretty good


http://www.healthrecipes.com/pet_supply.htm

Answer 10

That's dopey!!
WHY would ANYBODY *bother* farkling around w/the huge WASTE of money *&* time & effort,when ANY decent brand of DRY ***ADULT*** feed is FINE??

Who's spent DECADES & BILLIONS of dollars on research to develope the BEST DIET avavilable???

ALL the feed companies,dearie
Wise up.