How much homemade food to feed

[rannmiller]

Yeah, I'd also recommend starting off with about 3% of their body weight since they're just puppies and at this point, you want them to gain weight. This is harder to determine since you're mixing kibble with cooked so what I would recommend is just do as malluver said with the amounts and gauge their weight gain. If they start to get fat just cut them back a little, since puppies, like adult dogs, are not supposed to be overweight, and it can cause a whole mess of health problems later on if they're overweight while trying to grow.

I would also recommend cooking any veggies you add because that helps break down the cellulose walls (something dogs are incapable of doing) so the pups can actually attempt to derive some sort of nutrients out of it. If you notice their stools getting softer on this diet, try cutting out the veggies and see if that firms things up.

[Todd]

He isn't benefiting from them because with is dentation, he is incapable of crushing the cellulose layer around the plant cells. Without the cellulose layer being penetrated, no nutrition can escape. It doesn't mean it will cause him a problem. It just means that he can't derive any nutrition from them.



It would be nice if that were the case but it isn't.



I have known old people who smoked all their lives. It doesn't mean the cigarettes contributed to their longevity.

what if u puree the vegetables? can they use the nutrients then?

[CorgiPaws]

what if u puree the vegetables? can they use the nutrients then?

it's debatable. But does it sound like a natural diet to you? I've never seen dogs in the wild pureeing their food.
just sayin'

[Todd]

it's debatable. But does it sound like a natural diet to you? I've never seen dogs in the wild pureeing their food.
just sayin'

you make a very good point. ill keep that in mind. thx

[RawFedDogs]

what if u puree the vegetables? can they use the nutrients then?

Don't know but there is no reason to. There are no nutrients a dog needs that is in plant matter that isn't in meat, bones, and organs of prey animals.

[Samble]

From what I've read, it seems that dogs difficulty with digesting vegetables is also due to their having a far shorter digestive tract than humans and many other animals. Many dogs that I've seen have a propensity for swallowing large chunks of food/things. It seems as though vegetables that have been shredded/grated/chopped finely would provide nutritional benefit as they would be much more easily utilized than a chunk of carrot the size of someones thumb. Also, it seems that there will be just as many or more opponents of any holistic dog diet than there are people who adamantly support it. In any case, vegetables in any form are better than the euthanized shelter and zoo animals that go into so many commercial dog foods.

[Esme]

I am new here and this may not be the best way to start of but I have to disagree. Dogs need veggies, grains and fruits just like we do. We have changed dogs over thousand of years and they now need the the vitamins, nutrients and minerals that they get from those along with what they get from the meat. I have done a lot of reaserch on this and yes everyone is entitled to their own opinion but just use common sense, dogs have eaten our table sraps since we domesticated them thouands of years ago and now they have evloved to need basically what we need just in different proportions. Dogs are not the same as wolves anymore and haven't been in a long time. And to top it off she didn't ask whether to feed veggies she asked how much to feed, and to answer that I would agree to go with bodyweight and feed 2 to 3% of that and then see how they do if they lose weight feed more and if they gain weight lessen the food or you can add more veggies to keep them full but not pack on the pounds and with large breeds it is better to keep them lean so they can develop properly. I would say if they are getting 4 cups all together start with that and just monitor them carefully and add and decrease as neccesary as they grow. But please also add some calcium and omega3 to their food also. I have a lot more I can add but I will leave it at that.

[Esme]

I did forget to add that you should defenitly puree the veggies so that they can digest them and get the vitamins.

[sassymaxmom]

Hi Esme.

Have you analyzed the meals you make with and without veggies and grains? I am just amazed at how nutritious plain meat is. Add some liver and bone for calcium and it is just about perfect. I do need to add a bit of magnesium, manganese and zinc to a raw meat/organ/bone diet plus vitamin E for Max as he is a senior and must watch his figure but that is about it.

To figure amounts I did it by weighing the ingredients and using a nutrient calculator to make up a recipe Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com and compared my recipe to the calories fed in the kibble. Only a starting point though. Since back when I started cooking for Sassy I hadn't a clue as to how many calories was in that kibble so I just started with 20 calories per pound of dog and adjusted from there. Some days that 1000 calories weighed 24 ounces and some days 17 ounces. Annoying it varied so much but that was the reason I always weighed the ingredients rather than counting on volume measure.

[RawFedDogs]

I am new here and this may not be the best way to start of but I have to disagree. Dogs need veggies, grains and fruits just like we do.

Dogs are carnivores and as such have no need for any plant material in their diet.

We have changed dogs over thousand of years and they now need the the vitamins, nutrients and minerals that they get from those along with what they get from the meat.

Exactly what vitamins, nutrients, and minerals do you think they get from plant matter that the don't get from meat, bones, and organs?

I have done a lot of reaserch on this and yes everyone is entitled to their own opinion but just use common sense, dogs have eaten our table sraps since we domesticated them thouands of years ago and now they have evloved to need basically what we need just in different proportions.

We don't know that they have eaten table scraps for thousands of years. Thats just a supposition. A few thousand years is not enough to evolve to anything. During this time of evolving, how did their jaw structure evolve? Their dentation? Their pancreas and liver? Their stomach? Their intestines? ALL of these things would have had to evolve to make dogs capable of digesting plant matter. In fact, they haven't changed. They are exactly the same as the wild wolf of today.

Dogs are not the same as wolves anymore and haven't been in a long time.

Yes, they are. "The English word dog, in common usage, refers to the domestic pet dog, Canis lupus familiaris. The species was originally classified as Canis familiaris and Canis familiarus domesticus by Linnaeus in 1758.[10] In 1993, dogs were reclassified as a subspecies of the gray wolf, Canis lupus, by the Smithsonian Institution and the American Society of Mammalogists."

But please also add some calcium and omega3 to their food also. I have a lot more I can add but I will leave it at that.

A properly raw fed dog who is fed meat, bones, and organs will have calcium and O3's already in the diet naturally.