Home made dog food?

[mirandaleecon]

It seems as though my 5 month old puppy is showing signs of having a food allergy/sensitivity. He's been to the vet a couple times and this is her best guess and makes the most sense to us.
We switched his food to a different brand, which he seems to tolerate a lot better, but I would rather try to start making his food myself.

Right now, we have about 20 or so roosters that need to be dispatched, hopefully we will get it done this weekend. Some of these will be set aside for dog food along with all the organ meat and feet.
I also have a 50lb bag of rice and a 50lb bag of pinto beans that some flour bugs got into. He eats bugs all the time so I'm sure he doesn't mind
We have plenty of eggs and I'm going to start saving eggshells for calcium.
I will buy some carrots since he loves them, and maybe some other veggies. Suggestions?

I plan on making a large batch and canning it in my pressure canner. I am way too lazy to cook for him every day or even once a week. Once a month would be ideal.

Based off what I have, what proportions should I use? Anything else I should add? I've tried searching but every site says something different. I'd love to hear some first hand experience of what you might use!


Also, have any of you ever processed a chicken with the intention of using it for dog food? Do you do anything differently? Do you just cook the chicken whole and de-bone it? Piece it out, take the good stuff and leave the rest for the dog? Do you make use of the bones in any way?

 

[dainerra]

when doing your own diet, you either need to supplement like crazy or you will need to go raw and have a wide variety of protein sources.
Or you can look into LID food (limited ingredient diets). Another option, though more expensive, is a commerically prepared raw diet.

 

[Folly's place]

If you are testing the food ingredient allergy problem, chicken is Not going to be on your list of possible protein sources. you will need proteins that your dog hasn't been eating. Home made will cost more and be difficult to balance, especially for a growing dog. Also much more expensive, even though the Rx food trial diets aren't cheap! Mary

 

[dainerra]

also, it can take as long as 4-6 weeks for the toxins from the old food to get out of the dog's system. You can get an allergy test done, might be cheaper in the long run.
I prefer to go LID rather than the prescription diets because 1 they are cheaper and 2 better quality.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I agree that you will need to try novel proteins rather than adding in something like chicken. Novel proteins are things like kangaroo, venison, etc. Going on a diet like this is called a food trial and during the time the dog is eating this food, they are on a very very strict diet. Of they improve on this, then food allergy is more likely but it's still not a definite.

The problem is that allergies are just hard to diagnose to begin with. There is not a great test for food allergies (even though companies will try to sell it to vets and yourself. A food trial is really the best way. They also have hydrolyzed diets which are broken down so small that the body doesn't react to them. This is another possibility for dogs with food allergies.

The diet you describe above is not balanced as it stands. If you are going to go with home cooked meals and you are not experienced in them, I would recommend speaking to a pet nutrition team. Cornell has an awesome nutrition team that will consult over the phone for a small fee (I forget how much but it's $40-$60 but this includes coming up with a whole meal plan for your pet). The number to call to set up a consultation with them is (607)253-3060. I would highly suggest this, especially if you want to do home cooked. They can work with you to balance it for your dog's needs.

I'm not a huge fan of raw diets only because I think besides the risk of bacteria spread, many people don't balance that diet correctly and that can cause a lot of problems down the road for the pet.

 

[mirandaleecon]

Thank you all for the input. Let me give some background; we had been feeding him authority, grain free. He never seemed enthusiastic about eating it. Then he got diarrhea so we treated him for coccidia. It got a bit better then a week later he just refused to eat. We made him some rice, carrots, and egg and he ate that like he was starving. So we got a new brand of food (Nutro). Tried mixing the two to gradually switch and he barely touched it. Offered him a bowl of new and a bowl of old food side by side and he ate the new food. He has been fine since.

So, there could have been any number of things wrong with that food. Who knows. I'm not entirely concerned with making a hypoallergenic food. I just want to make him something more natural. If he starts showing symptoms again, I will certainly reevaluate.

The plan was to feed him 50/50 homemade/commercial so anything I'm missing he will get from the commercial food. I would still like to make the best food I can. From my research so far, everybody who makes their own dog food raves about how healthy their dogs are.

What I would really love to hear from is anyone here that has made their own dog food, how it's worked for them and what recipe they use.

 

[naturalfeddogs]

Why not just look into a raw diet? That way, you need no supplements, including the egg shells. Calcium comes from bone.(as well as other much needed nutrients in the form of minerals). In raw form, and if you feed a variety of proteins, then meat/bones/organs supply all a dog needs nutritionally. Chicken is the protein you would start with anyway, so you would have a good start.

 

[mirandaleecon]

I would if I could but I honestly don't have the time to make his food that often. I will look into supplementing with raw though and maybe feed it to him when I can.
I am going to be pressure canning the food so I don't have to make it as often. I am pressure cooking whole chickens right now to the point of the bones disintegrating (I'll remove any that don't). That way they will still provide some of the calcium. Also going to include some chicken livers and gizzards.
He does get raw bones from the butcher and chicken feet when we have them.

 

[naturalfeddogs]

I pre package mine for several weeks worth at a time. Some that I buy is already packaged in the right sized amounts, so I don't even have to fool with those.

 

[dainerra]

I'm not a huge fan of raw diets only because I think besides the risk of bacteria spread, many people don't balance that diet correctly and that can cause a lot of problems down the road for the pet.

actually, kibble is just as likely to spread bacteria as a raw diet. It's one of the many reasons that kibble gets recalls - salmonella contamination.
All it takes to avoid spreading bacteria is a few seconds of cleaning up after each meal.

I agree that many people don't balance the diet but that's because many people don't actually research it. It's disturbing how many people think it consists of simply giving a pound of hamburger or chicken at every meal and you're done. Balancing raw is actually very easy. It's simply a matter of having multiple protein sources. The math to figure amounts can take a few minutes but there are many great resources to guide you with what numbers to put in.
I mean, look how many people think that Beneful is a great dog food.