[dmg]

Does anyone make their own dog food, I'm toying with the idea of trying it as one of my dogs has allergies and is on a gluten free diet and for ease we have put the other dog on it also. It turns out to be a tad expensive feeding them
Is there any reasonable priced recipes anywhere? I would like to try dry mix also.

Thanks
Dmg

[joyfull]

no I have never made my own but as my two Newfoundlands are intolerant to a few things I now feed them millies wolfheart dry food - these are grain free, rice free, chicken free and egg free. Within a few days their poohs had firmed up and they are blossoming on it. It isn't cheap but it isn't the most expensive dried foood either.
Here is a link to their website. They are more than happy to talk to you on the phone to help advise you 

[lacaya]

Lily's Kitchen has published a book of recipes. It's available on Amazon. Even does homemade kibble.

[Trillium]

There are recipes for dog treats from Cesar Milan (the dog whisperer) HERE

And some general recipes HERE

For a gluten sensitive pet, you can substitute any wheat flour for other flours that do agree with your pet. You'll have to alter a few things slightly, like cooking times, etc for the substitutes.

This is the mix I make for my dog: HERE

The recipe adapts to either ground beef or ground chicken (bought my own grinder so I could grind up any cheap cuts of meat I find) and makes quite a bit. I cut the 'cakes' into portion sizes and freeze most into 6 serving bags so I can pull and thaw them as needed. My dog adores them and would eat several so I give her the allotted serving size and some dry dog food to fill her.

The meal powder blend that I buy contains the ingredients below, and you could easily make up your own mix to include many of the ingredients.

Contains: Rolled Oats, Human Grade Stone Ground – Brown Rice Flour, Oat Flour, Whole Barley Flour, Organic Spelt Flour, Yellow Corn Flour, Sunflower Oil, wheat germ, Carob Powder, Parsley Flakes, Garlic Powder, Ground Ginger, Oregano, Marjoram, Rosemary, Nutritional (Torula) Yeast, Brewers Yeast, Lecithin Granules, Kelp Powder, Calcium Carbonate (Eggshell Powder), Vitamin C Crystals. 

[Snoop]

Every now and then I feed our dogs on home-made food, but it's a bit of a palaver to be honest on the cooking and washing-up front. Mind you, they love it and I have to say that they do very well on it. Lovely glossy coats and full of energy.

I tend to give them boiled rice and pulses (usually lentils for speed of cooking - thank goodness for the pressure cooker), nuts and eggs mixed up with broth from meat I boil for them, usually chicken carcasses. I guess it goes without saying dogs shouldn't have chicken or rabbit bones. Other additions include small amounts of fat I've used for cooking left in the pan, any leftover homemade soup, bacon and parmesan rind, oil from tinned fish, etc. Our dogs get beef bones from the butcher as well as any other cheap fish or other meat I can find that is suitable for dogs. They also have very varied tastes and will eat raw or cooked squash (their favourite - a finger-sized piece of squash makes a great dog treat in this household) and other vegetables. One also loves oranges and mandarins, so of course the other two have to have a segment or two as well. They also get cheap-brand pasta, though that would be no good for a gluten-intolerant dog.

Dogs are pretty omnivorous and I've never looked up recipes, so the info here will be useful for me too. Home-made food works out more expensive than dog biscuits, but perhaps not as expensive as some of the 'veterinary' foodstuffs. With three big and active dogs, for example, I don't think I could afford Millies. Or the diet of another dog I know - a very beautiful husky who gets a whole (boned) chicken of her own a day and thrives on it!

[Trillium]

I lost two beautiful dogs to commercial dog food that I'm 99% sure caused the tumors they developed and died from, so I'm determined not to let it happen again.

True, making your own pet food costs more, but is your very best friend worth it? Would you feed your kids the equivalent of cheap dog food? Few of us would. In the end, a good healthy diet makes for a healthy pet who rarely needs to visit the vet (which is a huge cost in itself for an unhealthy pet). Fortunately, dogs will eat many things including fruits, veg and assorted meats, you could even find good stuff on clearance racks/areas.   

[dmg]

Thanks for all the replies,
some of these recipes sound quite tasty  , I look forward to trying a couple out


Dmg

[allotmentann]

I don't feed my cat any commercial food. It makes him really poorly. It really doesn't have to be a lot of bother or messy. (Cats are a little trickier than dogs because they really should eat nothing other than meat and you have to be careful that they get the right nutrients, especially enough taurine). Raw food is obviously really easy and the most nutritious as none of the nutrients are lost through cooking, but some people are wary of raw food. Offal is extremely cheap. I have discovered Wait***e sells chicken livers in their frozen section for 50p a box and they often have different bits in the butchery bit. With dogs you can include lots of other cheaper filling foods too. The only meat I cook is the chicken wings, and that is only because I get more meat off them that way, but I often give my cat part of a wing raw and it keeps him happy for ages. I don't spend ages preparing it, I just pop the wings in the microwave for a few minutes and pick the meat off the bones. I have been really surprised to find that this diet is significantly cheaper than a commercial one.
There have been all sorts of benefits, the very first thing I noticed was the significant change to his fur. It became really beautiful and silky. He no longer gets violently sick and an added bonus is that what comes out the other end now has no smell at all and is no worse to clear up than a rabbit dropping! 

[joyfull]

what ever you feed your dog (or cat) please read up on it thoroughly e.g. correct vitamins, minerals, offal percentage etc. I had one girl come to me who was fed raw but sadly by that the owner only fed her on green tripe and this meant her skin was very poor, severe dandruff, skin peeling all around her lips. Once she was on a quality dry meal her skin soon improved.
I am not anti raw, barf or home made food but please dont rule out the quality feeds that are out there too.
My four dogs are on Millies (3 are over 45kgs and two are still growing as they are only 10 months), 2 have 450 grams each a day, 1 has 250 grams and the little girl (23kgs) has 200 grams so it's not expensive for a feed that is totally gluten free, grain and rice free plus chicken and egg free (so many dogs are chicken and egg intolerant). Their poohs are non smelly and firm shapes so easy to pick up 

[allotmentann]

Yes, I read up everything I possibly could before switching, although to be honest by the time I switched there was little choice left. He was getting bouts of sickness that would not stop and made him unable to eat at all for days, which is really, really dangerous in cats. To be honest I thought I was going to lose him several times. There were trips to the vets, who would really just give him anti sickness injections. He would be all right for a short time and then start again. He has been on this diet for over a year now and has not vomited once, apart from a couple of fur balls, but even that seems to be rarer. Probably because he doesn't shed nearly so badly on this diet. His skin which was always itchy before has also cleared up.
The good thing about food you prepare yourself, is that it is easier to eliminate what causes problems. I know for example, not to give him mackerel, it makes him itch, but tuna is fine. I suspect it was the carbohydrate added to commercial food that caused the vomiting.
However, I really did read and read. I found that just as a cat needs taurine, you need to be careful how they get it, or they can also end up with too much vitamin A. I also read a lot about signs and symptoms of deficiencies or excess of certain nutrients. Also, he is quite an old cat and to be honest his quality of life on the food he was eating, was becoming really poor and in the end it was more a decision about what was best for him now.
If you do research, you will read horror stories about every diet and other people advocating those very same diets as the best possible thing you can do. You just have to sift through it all and try to work out what is best for your pet.
I wouldn't dream of telling someone that one diet is better than another for their pet, but would just say to anyone thinking of not feeding commercial food, that it does not have to be either expensive or complicated, but whole heartedly agree with Joyfull and do your research.   

[evie2]

Our first boarder collie never had tinned dog food, we couldn't afford it, he was fed once a day on fresh cooked meat and veg, porridge, rice, stock or gravy from our meat and had a a bowl of biscuits available if he wanted a snack.  He was healthy, full of energy, beautiful coat and not at all smelly.  All the dogs I've had since have had a mixture of home cooked and tinned food and to be honest I think we'll be moving Pip and Mist to home cooked only soon.  It isn't that time consuming and I like the fact I know what they're eating.   

[mimilovell]

Oh great. Thanks for all the tips. Im going to have a so much reading to do now.

[Casey76]

Just to add that cats and dogs can eat raw/uncooked chicken and rabbit bones.  It is only once they have been cooked and become brittle do they pose a risk (GI perforation).

The mastication required to eat a raw chicken wing, or neck is not only good for jaw health, it is great at keeping the teeth in good condition too.

[mobilekat]

We have been feeding RAW for a while, and its really helped with our lurcher who has a sensitive tum.
We know there are a couple of meats he doesnt get on with (duck and pheasant) so we avoid those.

In an average week the boys will get Green tripe (lamb or Ox), minced bone in chicken, lamb or pig heart, lamb/pig/ox liver, veal chunks, chicken wings or carcasses, chicken necks and the ones who can eat it will get minced pheasant (until I run out!)
they also get off cuts from meat we are having, 'reduced to clears' from the supermarkets, and some salmon oil over their dinner, and a couple of eggs a week,

Works out cheaper than even quite a basic kibble, and they are all looking great, full of sensible energy (the manic one is no longer manic) and the poops are smaller.

RAW done well is great, but like any 'DIY' diet, you do have to do your research and make sure you balance the diet.

[Honeysuckle]

I feed my 2 raw; I started Kira on raw when she was 5 months old and Bruin has always been fed raw.  In my opinion it's the best thing I ever did for them.  I will reinforce what has been said above, read lots about it before switching!  There is so much in kibble that dogs either do not require in their diets or they cannot digest.  One thing I discovered recently was that dogs should not have a diet that is too high in protein, each type of kibble varies in the amount of protein but can contain 35% protein (sometimes more) whilst raw is approx 17%.  Dogs don't need vegetables in their diet however some people that feed raw, do feed veggies as well.  I personally don't, but my 2 love fruit.  Another advantage to raw feeding - the dogs poo less!