Home cooking for dogs.

I have a dog with chronic digestive issues. The vet is talking about leaving him on a home cooked diet. Does anyone cook for their dogs? I' working on supplements and making it a complete diet and would like to see if I'm on the right track.

i have dogs i cook for . i boil chicken quarters , grind them , add a potato or rice , a raw egg , usually some peas , i add a scoop of nupro as a supplement ........ every once in awhile i'll throw some liver , beef or chicken livers hearts or gizzards in the grinder with the chicken quarters .......

I'l look up nupro. So I'm assuming you throw in the eggshells as well for calcium?

I do. i have been cooking for them for 4 years. the best book i have found for it is "Feed Your Best Friend Better" and that is on Amazon. The supplement i use is Wysong's Call of the Wild. just a sprinkle of that on their dinner, and they are vet approved to eat cooked meals.

The one i use most is a low protein diet (for my UTI dog) and very low fat. i add Coconut oil to their meals as well. that is healthy, vet approved, and helps them gain weight if needed.

Although I haven't officially cooked for my dogs, I have been raw feeding them for years.

I prefer the prey model raw over the Barf method.

I've had great results with raw feeding and hear many success stories from others who switched to raw feeding after their dogs developed digestive issues.

You could look into that as another option to consider and see if it peeks your interest. If it does and you want to know more, I'd be happy to elaborate further.

Glad to hear that you're considering diet alternatives for your fur buddy. Hope you find the right method for you and get to see the results you want

lisa127 said:

I'l look up nupro. So I'm assuming you throw in the eggshells as well for calcium?

Click to expand...

no they get plenty of bone , they don't need the calcium , their stools sometimes are almost rocks ............ I don't believe they need the supplement either , but it's pretty cheap .......

here's the girl gave me the reason to start cooking for them , was a last resort .........after almost 2 yrs , all her symptoms cleared up within one week and never returned ........

mark1 said:

no they get plenty of bone , they don't need the calcium , their stools sometimes are almost rocks ............ I don't believe they need the supplement either , but it's pretty cheap .......

here's the girl gave me the reason to start cooking for them , was a last resort .........after almost 2 yrs , all her symptoms cleared up within one week and never returned ........

Click to expand...

I' getting to the point of just cooking for all 3 of them. It' 2 Chihuahuas and a shih Tzu so wouldn' be that expensive anyway.

it's a little cheaper than feeding dog food , I feed about 500-600lbs of dogs ....... chicken quarters are .63 cents a pound not on sale , on sale they can be 1/2 that ....... potatoes cost $3 for 10 pounds , a 10lb bag of rice cost around $5 , a frozen bag of peas cost about a $1 , which is good for 2 of my dogs , eggs are like .35 cents a dozen , the nupro is about $35 for month , it'd last you a year ....... I do use sweet potatoes sometimes , and mashed carrots instead of peas ....... if they're not puppies they'll do fine on any common sense diet , maybe try the book Colleen mentioned , raw is a good option too , some dogs do have trouble transitioning to raw , if you start out cooking their food and gradually cook it less and less until your giving it to them raw , that seems to usually work without the initial diarrhea .......

I also believe in raw feeding. My cats get mostly raw food and when I have enough time I also make rations for my friend's dog. It improves their digestion enormously.

mark1 said:

chicken quarters are .63 cents a pound not on sale , on sale they can be 1/2 that ... eggs are like .35 cents a dozen

Click to expand...

Impressive, I have to pay .35 cents per egg and yesterday I've bought chicken quarters for about 2.5$ a pound on sale (but rice and especially potatoes are cheaper in Austria ), that's much more expensive than dog or cat food.
How many dogs do you have?

mark1 said:

it's a little cheaper than feeding dog food , I feed about 500-600lbs of dogs ....... chicken quarters are .63 cents a pound not on sale , on sale they can be 1/2 that ....... potatoes cost $3 for 10 pounds , a 10lb bag of rice cost around $5 , a frozen bag of peas cost about a $1 , which is good for 2 of my dogs , eggs are like .35 cents a dozen , the nupro is about $35 for month , it'd last you a year ....... I do use sweet potatoes sometimes , and mashed carrots instead of peas ....... if they're not puppies they'll do fine on any common sense diet , maybe try the book Colleen mentioned , raw is a good option too , some dogs do have trouble transitioning to raw , if you start out cooking their food and gradually cook it less and less until your giving it to them raw , that seems to usually work without the initial diarrhea .......

Click to expand...

Actually they are all in their senior years.

ColleenT said:

I do. i have been cooking for them for 4 years. the best book i have found for it is "Feed Your Best Friend Better" and that is on Amazon. The supplement i use is Wysong's Call of the Wild. just a sprinkle of that on their dinner, and they are vet approved to eat cooked meals.

The one i use most is a low protein diet (for my UTI dog) and very low fat. i add Coconut oil to their meals as well. that is healthy, vet approved, and helps them gain weight if needed.

Click to expand...

I'l look into that supplement. Is it powder form? My dogs are 7 and 8 lbs so I think dosing would be easier in powder form.

WithLisa said:

I also believe in raw feeding. My cats get mostly raw food and when I have enough time I also make rations for my friend's dog. It improves their digestion enormously.


Impressive, I have to pay .35 cents per egg and yesterday I've bought chicken quarters for about 2.5$ a pound on sale (but rice and especially potatoes are cheaper in Austria ), that's much more expensive than dog or cat food.
How many dogs do you have?

Click to expand...

my dog food cost about $2.00-$2.50 a pound . on sale chicken quarters are around .50 cents a pound , at wal-mart regular price is like .79 cents a pound , at save a lot 62 cents , at the butcher by my work it's on sale regularly for 59 cents ..... i have 4 dogs

lisa127 said:

I'l look into that supplement. Is it powder form? My dogs are 7 and 8 lbs so I think dosing would be easier in powder form.

Click to expand...

Yes it is a powdered form. My dogs love everything, so they eat whatever i give them, but i am pretty sure it is tasty. ( to them)

Another meal i make often for them- it is easy- I have 5 small dogs so you would need less. You could probably cut this almost in half. I take a 9 inch square pyrex dish, a half cup of quick oats, a handful of cranberries( dried), and 2 eggs. i mix the eggs in 10 oz of water, mix well, then add to the oatmeal and cranberries. microwave about 4 minutes. Remove and stir, add more water if needed. Let cool. Then i just measure out in the half cup scoop. my pups i give 1/2 cup each. my dogs range from 7 lbs to 14 lbs.

And yes, i pay less for human grade ingredients than i did for dog food.

ColleenT said:

Yes it is a powdered form. My dogs love everything, so they eat whatever i give them, but i am pretty sure it is tasty. ( to them)

Another meal i make often for them- it is easy- I have 5 small dogs so you would need less. You could probably cut this almost in half. I take a 9 inch square pyrex dish, a half cup of quick oats, a handful of cranberries( dried), and 2 eggs. i mix the eggs in 10 oz of water, mix well, then add to the oatmeal and cranberries. microwave about 4 minutes. Remove and stir, add more water if needed. Let cool. Then i just measure out in the half cup scoop. my pups i give 1/2 cup each. my dogs range from 7 lbs to 14 lbs.

And yes, i pay less for human grade ingredients than i did for dog food.

Click to expand...

Ok, your dogs are about the same size as mine. I have 3......7 lbs, 8 lbs, and 15 lbs. They are all seniors. The smallest has an iron stomach. The other two not so much.

ColleenT said:

I do. i have been cooking for them for 4 years. the best book i have found for it is "Feed Your Best Friend Better" and that is on Amazon. The supplement i use is Wysong's Call of the Wild. just a sprinkle of that on their dinner, and they are vet approved to eat cooked meals.

The one i use most is a low protein diet (for my UTI dog) and very low fat. i add Coconut oil to their meals as well. that is healthy, vet approved, and helps them gain weight if needed.

Click to expand...

Can you tell me more about what/how you cook for your uti dog?

lisa127 said:

Can you tell me more about what/how you cook for your uti dog?

Click to expand...

Yeah. i have an 8 quart crock pot- the biggest i could find. I soak PARBOILED rice in water overnight in the crockpot, 4 cups rice to 7 cups water. In the morning i add 3 lbs of ground turkey. i mix it well. I add a lb of chopped spinach( frozen -thawed is fine) mix and add 1 lb mix veg-(usually carrots, broc and cauli) - chopped small- 1 large can diced tomatoes, and 1 LARGE can yams- drained and rinsed in water- then mashed. Mix all together and cook from 8 am to 2:30 pm so 6.5 hours on low. Before i add each portion to the portion bowls, i add some Quick oats to the bowl, and enough water to wet all the oats, but not a lot of water. . For my 15 lb dog, i give him about 1/4 cup oats and when the food is cooked, i add 1/4 cup cooked food. This keeps the protein level low.

Then each portion is in a small gladware and gets frozen with their names on them so they get the right amount. I just made a batch and it gives me about 18 days of food for 5 dogs. I thaw out one for each the day before feeding.

I hope that makes sense. It's a lot of info. that book i mentioned also has recipes for UTI dogs

ColleenT said:

Yeah. i have an 8 quart crock pot- the biggest i could find. I soak PARBOILED rice in water overnight in the crockpot, 4 cups rice to 7 cups water. In the morning i add 3 lbs of ground turkey. i mix it well. I add a lb of chopped spinach( frozen -thawed is fine) mix and add 1 lb mix veg-(usually carrots, broc and cauli) - chopped small- 1 large can diced tomatoes, and 1 LARGE can yams- drained and rinsed in water- then mashed. Mix all together and cook from 8 am to 2:30 pm so 6.5 hours on low. Before i add each portion to the portion bowls, i add some Quick oats to the bowl, and enough water to wet all the oats, but not a lot of water. . For my 15 lb dog, i give him about 1/4 cup oats and when the food is cooked, i add 1/4 cup cooked food. This keeps the protein level low.

Then each portion is in a small gladware and gets frozen with their names on them so they get the right amount. I just made a batch and it gives me about 18 days of food for 5 dogs. I thaw out one for each the day before feeding.

I hope that makes sense. It's a lot of info. that book i mentioned also has recipes for UTI dogs

Click to expand...

Ok, yeah I cook similar as you. I was just wondering if you did anything in particular different for your uti dog. I have an old male chihuahua being treated for a bad uti infection right now. I' hoping to not have it happen again.
Should my uti dog have lower protein?

my vet told me about 21 % is good for UTI dogs. I add the rice and oatmeal to keep the protein % down.

ColleenT said:

my vet told me about 21 % is good for UTI dogs. I add the rice and oatmeal to keep the protein % down.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

@ColleenT
This is a guide my vet gave me to follow. However, I never use lamb or pork. I use mostly turkey and chicken. Occasionally beef.