Homemade food suggestions

[vtbouvs]

From the information I have read that pressure cooking does turn the chicken bones into mush.. I was surprised when I found this info and am going to be talking to a local holistic vet tomorrow to get some more input...

[rannmiller]

yeah I've heard that about pressure cooking bones as well.

[whiteleo]

How do you think they are able to put that wing in the "Merrick" canned wing-a-ling dog food, it would have to be pressure cooked, is my guess.

[rannmiller]

My biggest question is: if you're still going to cook for your dogs, you'll still be handling the raw meat. How does that reduce the risk of contracting toxoplasmosis?

[Ania's Mommy]

My biggest question is: if you're still going to cook for your dogs, you'll still be handling the raw meat. How does that reduce the risk of contracting toxoplasmosis?

That's what I was wonderin' too. I would think that you would need to handle the raw meat more by preping it first than to just hand it to the dog.

Do you feed your dogs indoors and are worried about leftover stuff on the floor? You could try to feed them outside. We've always fed Ania outside ('cuz I'm a germ-a-phobe) and I can assure you that even when the weather is crappy, she's still more excited to eat than care about the weather!

I understand your concerns, though. I've never had kids, but I would like to think that when the time comes, I play it safe. Baby trumps dog! The whole "no bleu cheese or sushi" thing may just kill me, though!

Richelle

[Ania's Mommy]

Oh! And I meant to put this in my last post, but forgot.

Though I don't have any recipes to impart to you myself, I remember seeing countless books with homemade dog food recipes at Petco. I was seriously considering doing it until I found out about feeding raw (MUCH less work!).

If you have a Petco near you (probably even PetSmart would have some), you should check it out. If not, I would imagine that any book store would have some stuff too.

Richelle

[vtbouvs]

My biggest question is: if you're still going to cook for your dogs, you'll still be handling the raw meat. How does that reduce the risk of contracting toxoplasmosis?

I will only be handling raw meat once in a while for prep of a few weeks at a time batch and freezing the food.. instead of raw prep plus handling raw daily. Also with raw I have to wash the Bouviers beard.. (will still need to do this but with less possible risk)..
I do also feed inside this time of year I won't feed outside.. We get many below freezing days and 3 of the dogs are very short haired..

I really was hoping to get some good educated information on
cooked diets.. I thought I posted this in a appropriate place please correct me on that if I am wrong... I could understand all these unhelpful comments if I had posted in the raw forum..
I guess I should have excluded some of the details as to why I made this decision..

[Ania's Mommy]

I'm really sorry. I'm guilty of questioning your motives and moving this thread in a different direction. You're absolutely right. This thread was posted under the recipe section, not the raw section.

I thought that Danemama and Rann had some very good ideas (cooking the meat, including RMB's, adding bone meal). Unfortunately, I lack the nutritional knowledge to adequately design a cooked diet. But it seems to me that since you were already feeding a raw diet, you could move to a cooked diet that includes the same components of raw (SUCH AS the cooked meat, RMB's, and possibly bone meal). That would likely be the easiest, most effective way to go.

If you're looking to do something a little more involved, I would definitely check into some of the abundant literature there is on the subject. As DaneMama said earlier, ANY homemade diet is better than kibble.

I applaud you for considering a temporary homemade diet instead of just reaching for the bag. Obviously you know of the virtues of feeding raw. And while raw is not an option right now, you are willing to go for the next best thing. It shows that you really care for you dogs. You're gonna be a good mommy!

Richelle

[rannmiller]

i also applaud you for still wanting to prepare the meals for your dogs rather than feeding kibble, but I don't appreciate you saying that we aren't being helpful. We are trying to be helpful but we were just asking a few questions to figure out more of what you're looking for in prep and what you want to get into. Sorry if that offended you. Having said that, Ania makes an excellent point that pet stores and Barnes & Noble both carry books on home-cooked diets. Also, I know that a few posters have posted recipes for home cooked food on here before in this very section no less.

I think my favorite suggestion of Ania's is just to make a cooked diet that mimics the raw diet you were feeding. You can either pressure cook the bones for calcium, or add some raw bones a few times a week.

[Rosemary]

Hi - I pressure cook my Siberian Husky's food, and have been doing so for two months now. I pressure cook the chicken for about an hour and a half. I transfer the chicken to a bowl to cool and add the vegetables (usually four vegetables) to the pot - skin and all, and cook for about half an hour. I then de-bone the chicken and put the bones into my liquidizer with some of the stock from the pot. The end product is a thick paste type substance with NO pieces of bone floating around. I also add cooked brown rice and soup mix (barley etc) which I cook separately. I cook enough for one week, and freeze his food in tubs. My Siberian has a very sensitive stomach and cannot eat processed food. Since he has been on this diet he has done extremely well. He looks fantastic and loves his food. He also gets meaty bones to chew on to keep his teeth healthy, and loves yogurt and scrambled eggs which he gets as a treat once or twice a week.