Homecooking Info?

[monkeys23]

So my boyfriend has a grossly overweight APBT/Lab mix that also has a torn ACL. He's always just gotten whatever is cheapest because we're all poor (which is usually a Purina product filled with corn), but her current bag of food is the Nutra Nuggets lamb stuff that my parent's BC used to eat before my stepdad downgraded to Atta Boy. To my shock and joy he randomly said that he might just cook for her after current bag is gone while I was over there visiting. I know next to nothing about homecooking, so what kind of links/info could I pass on to him about this?

From what little digging I did it seemed obvious to me that prey model raw would be way simpler (and cheaper!), so I will probably send him a few links on that as well. But what would be the best way to do homecooked for an obese dog with joint issues in a cost effective way?
I very strongly suspect she has some serious grain intolerance issues, so imo even avoiding brown rice might be best... but his thought was to buy this overpriced pet food grind made up of free range fancy chicken gizzards, hearts, etc. at the local store and cook it with rice. My first thought was that that would be totally unbalanced over time... So any suggestions or resources to make suggestions in a nice way on how to create something properly balanced.

I also priced out Acana grain free for him at the local store, which might be cheaper than homemade. I'm not sure because I've only done pmr which is cheaper than anything else if you source right.

[magicre]

is there a reason he won't do raw? or would he?

[monkeys23]

I'm not sure if he would or not. I tend to just not talk dog stuff at all because I'm a little too crazy into it and he's like well its a dog alright. I come off sounding like a jackass when I don't mean to sometimes.

[PDXdogmom]

Cooking all meals for the dog would require a fair amount of oversight both in what foods are used, in what amounts, and adequate supplementing especially for calcium (if not including bone) and minerals.

I just started home-cooking for the dinner meal for my dogs a month ago. They are fed kibble for breakfast. I feed kibbles that are in the same price range as Acana; but I'm sure I spend no less on home-cooked. That's because I buy hormone/antibiotic free, free-range meat. If you bought really low grade cuts of factory farmed meat on sale, I'm sure home-cooking could be done for less. It all depends on what the kibble price is compared to the price of the food products you're buying to home cook with.

I've researched home-cooking for dogs sites; and let's just say that there are as many ways to approach it as there are recipes for meatloaf in the world. At the moment I feel most comfortable still feeding kibble for one meal a day.

I suggest you approach this whole issue with your boyfriend in incremental steps. Considering what the dog has been eating, I think the easiest and quickest way for your boyfriend to reduce his dog's weight (and possibly address grain intolerances) is to try a grain-free kibble of moderate protein/fat percentages and moderate cost. Your suggestion of Acana is good, IMO, but he could also take a look at Canidae All Life Stages Grain Free formulas and Taste of the Wild formulas. Hopefully, being being able to measure out exact amounts of a grain-free kibble with not too high of carbs will start to bring the weight down and lessen the burden on the compromised leg.

[xellil]

I was looking into home cooking when i found the raw site, and i was thoroughly confused - it just seemed so complicated. I think chicken gizzards and hearts along with some grain would be like you say - terribly unbalanced over time.

I have cooked some for my dogs in the past, and i just couldn't keep it up. It was too hard. Maybe if you talk to him about the cheapest way to feed, that would make a dent (and don't do it with red beams shooting out of your eyeballs!!)

[sassymaxmom]

Gizzards and hearts plus 25-50% cooked grain PLUS the all important calcium wouldn't be horrible. It isn't perfect but a dog coming off commercial food has a mineral reserve that would last for a while. I would have him cook up just the grind and add some to the nasty food he is feeding - cutting back the kibble by 25-50%. And I would rather give the dog veggies than grain. Veggies could be cheap, take the fresh trimmings from his food, puree it and save in the freezer but that is if he has veggies for dinner!

I am very comfortable home cooking. I cooked for Sassy for 3.5 years. Having a freezer so I could cook up lots of meat helped a lot! Then I did cook for her daily for a long time but cooking whole meals and freezing works too. I have the NRC levels that are contained in Monica Segal's Optimal Nutrition but the old ones are online here.Nutrient Requirements of Dogs, Revised 1985 I figured out what MY dog needs and put them into My Preferences here. Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com Then I made up recipes using that site. The cool thing is when you put that recipe into Tracking the numbers for the dog come up and you can see whether you are giving 50% of niacin or 75% or zinc or whatever! I had to be super picky because Sassy was on an extremely strict diet.

Raw is so much easier and the cartilage and tendons in the tough meats that are best are rich in joint protecting substances. The high fat content sates the appetite once the stomach is used to the small meals and the high protein promotes lean muscle mass.

When you cook you throw away that bone and then add in veggies and grain. That costs. And Sassy actually ate as much meat as Max did PLUS I threw away the bone and had to add grain back to give her enough calories.

I would want to ease him into this. If you could get him to give the dog an appropriately sized bit of chicken instead of dinner every other day that might get him started.

Here are a couple of links for you on cooking.
DogAware.com: Homemade Diets for Dogs
Holistic, natural remedies for dogs and cats., Natural nutrition, food and supplemements for dogs, cats and horses.
And in particular if I had to feed cooked food to Max I would rather stay as close to this as possible.
Low-Glycemic | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter

[monkeys23]

Thanks so much for the input guys!! I will put together some basic info to pass on and keep you updated!