# Is this a good diet?



## kelii (Aug 18, 2012)

I'm experimenting with cooking homemade food for my boy, and I wanted to see if you guys liked my recipe. I don't have exact amounts of the ingredients yet. Maybe you could help me with that. This is what I bought today:

10lbs chicken 
1 can salmon
1 can tuna
.75 lb beef kidney
about a pound of beef liver
up to 12 eggs
1 sweet potato
1 white potato
2 lb broccoli
3 carrots
a splash olive oil
? white rice
1/4 box of Bulgar wheat (just this once because it's been in my cabinet for a while) 
a medium container of cottage cheese

I think my dog is eating better than me


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

While I don't home cook for my dogs, I have done a bit of research on the subject for my website. I would personally keep your recipes as simple as possible. I think you'd be much better off using one meat, one veggie, one grain per recipe, and then add fish, organs, eggs if you wish, and any necessary supplements. You can create several different recipes to give your dog variety. Here's part of the article I wrote on homecooking:

"When foods are cooked, some vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and all enzymes are destroyed, so cooking for pets is something that should not be done haphazardly. Care needs to be taken to ensure that you are providing your pet with all necessary nutrients, and this is going to require research and supplementation. Now, there are vitamin/mineral supplements specifically made for balancing home cooked pet diets. If you choose to cook for your pet and use these products, please research them as well as the needs of your animal. 

Basically, the diet should consist of mostly meat, half of which should be red meat. You'll either have to cook boneless cuts and/or ground meats, or debone bone-in items (a whole chicken, or leg quarters for example) after cooking. Cooked bones are brittle. They splinter, aren't very digestible and pose a few potentially serious dangers to pets that ingest them, so this is an important rule to remember. Because bones are omitted, calcium must be supplemented. This is the single most important supplement in cooking for pets. A portion of the diet should include fatty fish that is rich in omega 3s, such as mackerel, salmon, and sardines. Organ meats, like liver and kidney, should also be used. If you're going to use vegetables, they should ideally be low glycemic veggies. If you choose not to use them, fiber will need to be supplemented from time to time in order to maintain solid stool. Some people also add grains, legumes or starches, however, they're far from species-appropriate and should be fed sparingly, if at all. Eggs are another great protein addition. 

While this type of diet might sound complicated and time consuming, home cookers say it doesn't have to be. Most will make large batches and freeze in meal sized portions, which should make it much more convenient. If you want to learn more, here are a couple of places to start:
DogAware.com Articles: Homemade Cooked Diets for Dogs
Low-Glycemic | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter "


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

I should add that you could also cook a whole chicken until the bones are soft, then there's no need to debone. I'm not sure how calcium supplementation would factor into that though.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

RachelsaurusRexU said:


> I should add that you could also cook a whole chicken until the bones are soft, then there's no need to debone. I'm not sure how calcium supplementation would factor into that though.


I've heard you can do this with a pressure cooker and that it works wonderfully.


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## RawPitbulls (Feb 7, 2013)

I would definitely remove broccoli, white rice, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, and bulgar wheat. Try plain organic yogurt in place of cottage cheese. I would replace olive oil with salmon oil as well. If you want, you could add Natures Logic All Food Fortifier for supplementation.


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## RawPitbulls (Feb 7, 2013)

RachelsaurusRexU said:


> I should add that you could also cook a whole chicken until the bones are soft, then there's no need to debone. I'm not sure how calcium supplementation would factor into that though.


I would NEVER give a dog cooked chicken bones. If your going to give chicken bones (or any bones) then feed them raw. How dangerous.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

I personally have never heard about any dogs actually having problems from cooked bones of any kind, but yes, it does increase the danger for sure and I wouldn't give any bones cooked at all either. Just not willing to take the chance. 

I also personally wouldn't cook anything period for them. The more it's cooked, the more nutrients are destroyed and therefore, lots more supplementation to add back what is lost in the cooking process. All I will feed is raw meat, bones and organs. Those supply all a dog needs as long as it is in variety.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

RawPitbulls said:


> I would NEVER give a dog cooked chicken bones. If your going to give chicken bones (or any bones) then feed them raw. How dangerous.


If you boil a chicken down for a long period of time the bones turn to mush and crumble. I know several people who do this to create a cooked diet for ferrets.


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## doggiedad (Jan 23, 2011)

if you pressure cook a chicken the bones turn to moosh.



RawPitbulls said:


> I would NEVER give a dog cooked chicken bones. If your going to give chicken bones (or any bones) then feed them raw. How dangerous.


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## rivrfox (Apr 5, 2013)

Why waste your time...prepping and cooking is unnatural to a dogs true diet. 

With all due respect look into a prey model raw diet if you're gonna go through all the effort. I do applaud you for doing your best with what you currently know. 

My dog also eats better than I do. Congrats~

Currently what I feed my dog: local chicken, rabbit, beaver & fish. He's quite healthy, super soft skin and he actually enjoys eating his raw meaty bones.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

I made it up in nutritiondata.com and divided into meals for Max who gets about 600 calories a day. Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Is this a good diet diet It is of course extremely low in calcium as you didn't indicate a source, you need to add in some of that egg shell all ground into a powder at a rate of about 1/2 tsp per pound of food. It is somewhat low in phosphorus at 85% of Max's needs, some of that egg shell needs to be bone meal instead. It has twice the copper my dog needs, cut the amount of beef liver in half. It is very low in zinc [only 30%] and iron [only 50%], use lean hamburger instead of chicken. Magnesium is low but adequate, Max does better with the optimal amount for some reason. Sunflower seeds are high in magnesium and vitamin E. It is very low in vitamin E but that is normal for a fresh food diet. Add a capsule according to the needs of your dog. Using beef or lamb would improve the fatty acid balance. Chicken is very high in omega 6 so even with the addition of canned fish the ratio isn't good at about 8:1. Tuna isn't a good choice anyway, just use more salmon, mackerel or sardines.

It does sound delicious except for the fish, I hate the smell of fish. You wouldn't have to deal with dog food for a while, this made enough for Max for 18 days. You are wasting the chicken bones completely, at 30% bone that comes to a chunk of change. Use boneless beef, pork or lamb instead or save the large bones from shoulder or leg roasts for a nice chew. This would make enough food to overflow all my pots and bowls and be a huge mess. 4 days of food worked better for me when I had to cook for Sassy. A very nice start, just keep on tweaking and learning so the next batch is even better. Do add in a calcium source now though. If you have egg shells then powder them and add at a rate of 1/2 tsp per pound of food.

And do look into raw. Much easier and better for the dog. I didn't notice any great improvements in Max when he got a cooked chicken and rice food but when he got to eat raw, oh my.

If I was forced to cook for Max I would try the pressure cooked chicken bone thing at least once. You need to add twice as much other meaty stuff to it to balance the calcium and phosphorus properly though. 10 pounds of chicken with mushed up bone+10 pounds of hamburger+10 pounds egg/fish/liver/kidney/pork/lamb/boneless turkey maybe.


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## rogerharris (Jun 13, 2013)

Dear kelii, it's really nice to know that you care for your pet so much. But as I think if your dog is doing well with the Dog-food available in market, you should avoid doing experiment as your made food may be lacking with some vital nutrients. Take advice from a vet.


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## LeonilCraig (Oct 7, 2013)

Just give food that are nutritious and healthy for your dogs.


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## dextrose (Mar 17, 2016)

I think it is a good diet, it would be good if the diet with vitamin k1[/URL], vitamin k2, vitamin k3


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## Pet luxury (Apr 8, 2016)

Yes, you can try with all this its good recipe


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## BarbaraKnapp (Dec 29, 2016)

Your recipe sounds good. Shall try it. Hope my dog loves it.


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## Emmabarnes (Jul 10, 2019)

Well, honestly, I tried once. By cooking food for my dog at home but my dog didn’t eat it. So I prefer to buy good brand dog food from stores only.


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