Homemade Dog Food?

[liberty]

Does anyone know a good dog food recipe or homemade food website? I've had a lot of success with my cat on a raw food diet, and now my grandma is interested in trying something similar for her dogs. Thanks!

[jesvetmed]

www.balanceit.com

Try this. There seems to be a charge (about $20) for the recipes, but they are highly respectable in their balancing, and take into account type of pet, age, etc. It was the site recommended to us when the pet food recalls were going on. They seem to be highly respected, and they do sell supplements to help balance the diet, or you can chose a recipe that uses human supplements.

There are many others out there. Just look at MANY and be sure that you check with your vet before changing over.

Be careful with raw food diets -- the major concern is not their nutrition levels, as many of them are good. It is the risk of infection to the pet or family (including the pet shedding) e-coli, salmonella, etc.

[Chile Pepper]

I found this site very helpful:

http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html#Balance

Good advice on what to feed and the correct proportions. I have a fourteen-year-old half-Doberman that gradually stopped eating, so I went homemade to get her weight back up. In some ways it's great, but it can be a real pain in the rear, too. I make up several batches to store in the freezer, and I've started mixing with a high-quality dry food to make the homemade last longer. It can be a lot of work.

[Dogmama]

I always go back to the Pitcairn book. There are lots of opinions out there but most vets and reputable sources will refer you to him. He is a vet who is well versed in natural, holistic methods of healing. His diets are balanced and there are many options to his recipes. They are not as complicated as some and all lend themselves to making in huge batches & freezing. The Pitcairn book has been around for a couple of decades and I've successfully used his recipes with my irritable bowel shepherd and my currently allergy prone dog.

Be careful with internet sites. I haven't visited the aforementioned sites so I cannot comment - but remember that anybody can say anything and pass themselves off as experts.

I do not feed raw, as I have never seen a good outcome with my dogs. Cats are very different in terms of their needs for a good quality meat protein source. BTW, Pitcairn has cat diets too. He advocates raw for both dogs & cats, but I cook for my dog & see no difference.

[liberty]

Thank you for the input, ladies! I will pass it along.