Ok, I know this is kind of a strange question, but do any of you make your own dog food? I have done a lot of reading on the subject and I am not going to do the raw, but home cooking instead. What are your experiences with it and did you find that your dog thrived on it? I am dealing with a dog that has bad gas (the run-you-out-of-the-room type) and she gets the itchies (not from fleas) and her eyes get runny like she has a cold. She is healthy (per the vet), but may be allergic to corn and/or wheat so I want to go grain-free and felt this was a good way to start. I know, I know, I sound like a weird dog lady. LOL

By Karen~admin on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 10:02 am:

Not a strange question to begin with, and no, I don't make my own, but a man I work with does, because his dogs have allergies and sensitive tummies. He uses chicken and rice a lot to make his dog food, he's currently traveling (he is also an airline pilot), but if you like, when I seen him on Monday, I'll ask him what he makes and what goes into it.

By Yjja123 on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 10:41 am:

My mom makes her dog chicken & rice.
I give 1 of our dogs any/all meat we eat daily (scraps). She also likes carrots and other vegetables.

By Cat on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 03:27 pm:

My mil made their dog's food for year. She's cook (boil) a chicken, cook about three cups of rice and add a can of green beans, chop it all up real good and it'd keep for about a week. Their dogs ate better than half the people I know! lol And no, it's not a strange question. It's pretty common.

By Melanie on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 03:31 pm:

My in-laws make their own for their two old dogs. They have no doubt it has contributed to the dogs long lives. I want to say it took about a week for the dog's digestive system to adapt to the new diet, so beware of that.

By Tunnia on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 04:20 pm:

Wow, I'm surprised with how many people actually home cook for their dogs or at least knows of someone who does! I don't know of anyone who does and I hadn't even heard of doing this until recently. That's why I figured it'd be a strange question. Ds and I are heading to the store now to get what we need and tonight we make doggie stew. LOL Ds is so funny! His room was messy and he was supposed to clean it today, but was playing instead so I told him that his room had to be clean before we left for the store or he would be cleaning it instead of helping me cook dog food. That boy cleaned his room in record time. He loves to help me cook anyway, but the idea of cooking Indy's food really has him interested.

Melanie, I have read that there could be an adjustment period when making the switch and some people gradually switch, but I have decided to just go for it because Indy doesn't like her kibble anyway and we are already having some digestive issues.

By Vicki on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 04:59 pm:

Melanie, I have read that there could be an adjustment period when making the switch and some people gradually switch, but I have decided to just go for it because Indy doesn't like her kibble anyway and we are already having some digestive issues.


Just be ready, it could be VERY messy. We had to do a sudden switch once for medical reasons and it was not pretty! LOL

By Tunnia on Saturday, November 3, 2007 - 08:21 pm:

Oh, now you are scaring me! We are making the switch tomorrow and I just learned yesterday that I am going to have to work all five days next week rather than my usual 2-3 days, which is very unusual, but I'm only gone for 6 1/2 hours a day which so far hasn't been a problem for her in the "holding it" department. I'm not going to come home every day to ruined, stinky carpets am I??? I want new carpet in the living room, but I'd prefer that I not HAVE to get it after next week IYKWIM.

I am cooking the first batch right now in the pressure cooker and Indy is being so funny. She just stands there staring at the cooker with her head cocked to the side and sniffs the air and whines. She's been doing that for about 10 minutes now. She knows it's her food. She is not a begging type of dog and when I cook or we eat she goes and lays in her bed. This is the first time I have seen her completely absorbed by what's cooking on the stove.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 12:37 am:

Some people on my dog board feed raw. Some home-cook and the rest of us feed kibble. Home-cooking for your dog isn't strange for me, at all. Let us know how it goes.

By Vicki on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 07:07 am:

If you want to be safe, I would block the dog in a room with no carpet. Also, be warned that it might not happen the very first day. I would say that if the dog isn't showing any reaction by day three, you should be fine. And yes, 6 and a half hours is too long. You could have a disaster by then. LOL

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 03:36 pm:

I checked with Scott, who says get recipes from your vet for any dog food you prepare at home, as you have to have a proper balance of protein, carbs and fats. Other than that, with a grain allergy it makes sense if you want to do the work. There are "prescription" diet foods for dogs, usually available from your vet, that will not have one particular grain or another in them when allergies are the issue, as seems to be the case with your dog, Stacy. Check with your vet, as you may find it less expensive in the long run to buy a prescription hypo-allergenic dog food from the vet than to make it yourself.

We buy a prescription diet dog food from the vet for Sascha, and it isn't cheap, but it has helped her to lose about 25+ pounds without acting like she's hungry in between meals.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 03:40 pm:

And yes, any significant change in food can cause digestive disasters. If it were me, I'd take Vicki's advice and keep the dog in a room with no carpet, and preferably blocked off somewhat so she can't go into too many parts of that room but has a comfortable place to lie down and plenty of water.

By Tunnia on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 05:40 pm:

Thanks Ginny and Scott! I'll ask our vet at the next appointment in about a week and a half. I have made enough food to last until then and from my research and reading I think Indy should be getting what she needs. She absolutely loves it, btw. Here is what I made (just FYI):

10 lbs chicken leg quarters with skin
40 oz chicken gizzards and hearts
20 oz chicken livers
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 small white potatoes
16 oz frozen green beans
16 oz frozen spinach
3 large carrots
1 bunch fresh parsley
4 oz peas
1 apple
4 cups brown rice

I used the pressure cooker to cook the meat, offal, and veggies until the chicken bones were the consistency of canned salmon bones. Then added the cooked rice and used my stick blender to puree the whole mess since I already know Indy doesn't like carrots or peas and will spit them out and also to make sure there are no bone fragments (the bones were so soft that they just turned to mush). I am currently feeding her 2 cups in the morning and 2 in the late afternoon and I will be watching for weight changes and will adjust the food amount as necessary. I am adding one Tablespoon of plain yogurt (for digestion) to each feeding and also will feed a raw egg with ground shell (for calcium) about three times a week. As for the price, I made 12 days worth (24 servings) for around $15 which is considerably cheaper than buying a premium food for allergies and I also found that my grocery store butcher will give me raw beef and/or pork bones for her if I ask for them. The down side is the smell. Even though the food is human grade, the smell of the cooking offal is not pleasant to the people in my house, but Indy says she doesn't know what we are complaining about because it smells just wonderful to her. LOL

So far so good on the stomach issues, but I will be keeping an eye out for the next few days. Unfortunately, my floor plan is too open to confine Indy to a non-carpeted room, which is only the kitchen and bathrooms in my house, so I will have to just hope that things go well. We don't crate her and don't even own a crate so that's not an option.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 05:54 pm:

That sounds pretty tasty. I'm sure JAsmine would eat it! She loves sweet potatoes, carrots and apples!

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, November 4, 2007 - 06:36 pm:

Hi. Scott here, Virginia's son, with some commentary on this diet:

Is that a Rx recipe from a vet? It doesn't look like an allergen-elimination or allergen trial diet. Allergen diets start out simple (meat and carb, such as chicken and rice or mutton and rice) and add ingredients until an allergen is identified. The above recipe is waaay to complex to be an allergen trial or allergen elimination diet.

Regarding the raw egg and shell:
1) Bone meal is an abundant source of calcium; there's no need to fortify the Rx further.
2) Ground eggshells are largely calcium carbonate, which is not easily metabolized. It's limestone.
3) Raw eggs are a known vector for campylobacter, which is normally not pathogenic but can definitely cause lower GI distress in a dog that already has a compromised immune system (i.e. food allergies).

Re bone meal: it needs to be liquefied, i.e. ground into POWDER in a liquid medium. Avian bones fragment into long splinters (as opposed to round fragments, which mammalian bones tend to fragment into). A splinter less than a millimeter long can still have edges sharp enough to cause GI injury (or at the very least, profound irritation and inflammation). I seriously doubt that an immersion mixer can grind bones into puree. (The observed puree mentioned above may be hiding sharp bone fragments.) If you're not using a blender or circulating food processor with a very high torque, you can't be sure that the bones are sufficiently pulverized. If you want my $.02: render (cook, pulverize) beef or pork bones instead of chicken bones. It's safer.

Re sweet potatoes and white potatoes: I think that's redundant. Overall, the recipe has too many variables in it; if there is still an allergic reaction, which ingredient do you know to eliminate? Start simple, work up to complex.

Re spinach and parsley: non-metabolic roughage. Don't bother including any of it.

Summary:

1) Talk to a vet.
2) Put the food you've prepared through a food processor or a high-torque blender (that is, if the vet says continue feeding it).
3) Talk to a vet.
4) Talk to a vet. See where I'm going with this?

Stacy, this is Ginny. I know you've spent $15 on the ingredients and a fair amount of time preparing the food. But, Scott has worked professionally with dogs for the last 11 years, at the Vet Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, in lab animal medicine at both the Univ. of PA and Jefferson University - with mice, rabbits, dogs, pigs, monkeys and chimps, at a local veterinarian's for his externship last summer, and is presently in the Veterinary Technician program at Manor college. I suggest you take his advice seriously, most especially about the danger in chicken bones that are not fully ground up and the risks of raw eggs. I too strongly doubt an immersion blender would do an adequate job. If you have a strong full sized food processor, I'd run the mix through that to be on the safe side. And, this is a 12 day supply - I assume you are freezing a large portion of it, as I don't think cooked chicken will keep that long safely if just refrigerated.

By Tunnia on Monday, November 5, 2007 - 09:05 pm:

Thanks both Scott and Ginny! I appreciate your advice and concern. In answer--No this is not a vet prescribed diet. Indy has not been officially dx with food allergies (fleas allergies, but not food) as of yet, just a possibility since the breed is known to be suseptable to corn and wheat allergies. The recipe I used is from a very good, reputable website for the breed and from lots of reading and research over the past two weeks. I am really new to this so I'm not surprised that I may have made some errors. I will talk to her vet about the changes I have made to her diet. I am aware of the hazards of poultry bones and I have been very, very careful. My dh lost a dog several years ago due to a chicken bone so I am a bit paranoid about it. I am certain there are no remaining bone fragments. I cooked it in a pressure cooker for 2 hours, until the bones were the consistency of canned salmon bones and after pureeing I visually and manually checked for fragments, but I can also run it through my food processor to be on the safe side. Yes, Ginny, I placed three days worth in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.

So far she is doing quite well. No gastric upsets, the gas is much better, she is full of energy, and she's very happy. She is also itching less than usual this evening.

By Melanie on Monday, November 5, 2007 - 09:07 pm:

Yeah! I hope she continues to do well with the diet!

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, November 5, 2007 - 09:43 pm:

Scott says if it works, you must be doing something right - but, of course, keep an eye on it. (Scott is sometimes even more of a worrier than I am, and that's going some!).

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 04:13 pm:

Stacy, Scott asked me to post his apology. He was re-thinking your recipe and regime and his post, and went to his chemistry textbook. Lo and behold, he says (with a very red face), stomach acid interacts with the calcium content of eggshells in such a way that it becomes a calcium compound that is totally absorbable and usable by dogs (and others). He still says feeding raw eggs is not a good idea because of the possible risk, and that if you mush up the bones thoroughly, they will provide all the calcium your dog needs.

By the way, how is she doing on the new diet?

By Tunnia on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 04:57 pm:

Ginny, please tell Scott that there is no need for an apology. I really appreciate his concern and checking up on the eggshells. He is going to be a wonderful vet tech and real asset to the vet he goes to work for after he finishes school!

I have quit giving Indy the eggshells because she won't eat them no matter how small I crush them. It has always amazed me how a dog can lick a bowl clean while leaving the tiniest particles of items they don't like.

Indy is thriving on the new diet. No gastric upsets, her coat looks amazing, she is not scratching any longer, her eyes are much improved, and the gas is virtually gone. She is very active, as usual. She is very happy with the new food and is now so good at letting me know when it's time to feed her that I could set a clock by her. I am happy with the results of the diet and plan to make another batch at the end of this week. I do still plan to talk to her vet when I take her in for a quick check-up later this week.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 08:22 pm:

I'm glad it's working out for you. As lazy as I am, about cooking for my family, I wonder what DH would think if I all of a sudden started cooking for the dog! LOL! I'm sure Jasmine would like what you cooked up, though.

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 08:53 pm:

Yeah, Stacy, I know just what you mean. Have you ever buried a pill in a dog's food - or worse, a cat's - and found it sitting prettily in the bowl afterwards?

By Mrsheidi on Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 10:43 pm:

Tunnia, I wonder if this diet would have worked on our dog, Barley? I'm glad she is doing so much better. Our dog would lick her paws like crazy and I felt so bad for her. Our vets didn't think anything of it except be post-active, not preventative.
I'll have to forward the diet to the new owner...I bet she is still having those problems.