Homemade dog/cat food?

[Siennaflower]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I was wondering if anyone makes their own dog/cat food. Does it save money? Does anyone have any recipes? Thanks!

[boden]

I do. It saves a little bit, but the dogs seem a lot healthier, and less hungry. I primarily use brown rice, lentils, barley, a bit of meat, vegetable scraps, and scramble a couple of eggs into the boiling water. Oh, and I add a little bit of salt and some cinnimon.

[welove2farm]

Do you make a large amount at a time and then refrigerate? What size dog do you have? How much do you feed?

thanks.

[darkstar]

There is a good book by DR. Pitcarin. He is a holistic vet that is very into making your dogs food. Check it out. I found it even in my small town library.

darkstar

[toepea]

:

[polka123]

Originally Posted by boden

I do. It saves a little bit, but the dogs seem a lot healthier, and less hungry. I primarily use brown rice, lentils, barley, a bit of meat, vegetable scraps, and scramble a couple of eggs into the boiling water. Oh, and I add a little bit of salt and some cinnimon.

I will do this, hmmmmmm, havent thought of cinnamon b/f.
my dogs love pasta- i mean wacko.
i also try to give then raw beef a few time a month

the whole "table scrap are bad" was invened by the dry dog food co.s
when i was young, i remember all the farm dogs lived on table scraps they lived very long unlike todays dogs tht are fed way too much corn products (via kibble)

[boricuaqueen327]

I second Dr. Pitcairns book. It is very helpful and has recipes that are easy to follow.

[Joe Cool]

I was making my dog home made food for a while...Mostly dont like him to have all the bad preservatives and colorings, although there are now many natural brands out there. It's something i'lld like to get back into when I have more time..You do have too be careful especially with cats, because they need taurine...And also like with dogs, onions act as a blood thinner, grapes are bad for their kidneys, and I won' even tell you the scare we had when Oliver got into DH's hops(for beermaking) Stuff like that concerns me because when I was cooking for him iwould make rice, oatmeal, and barley mixed with meat (a strange thing to cook for the vegetarian but he is an omnivore)and usually carrots, broccoli, apples, wheatgerm and other random vegtables so I think i would have to be not as creative a cook or do more research... there are a number of other books on cooking for dogs...I have a friend who swears by the raw dogfood diet...

[meemee]

glad i stumbled across this thread. i have just adopted a pom/weiner mix and was looking for recipes since he wont eat any dog food except wet ones (he is 3 or 4 and has not touched his any of the sampler kibble or his regular dog food - instead ate our veggies and rice and salmon). i grew up in countries where no dog food is available so we cooked our dog food too.

here is my question. for healthy teeth do i just give him raw bones singed in boiling water? i know the kind to give.

does anyone add garlic or tumeric as their food as it is a natural healing substance.

not wanting to mix up topics here but what kind of shampoo does one use. i mean home products. i do have the herbal oatmeal dog shampoo.

thanks

[Joe Cool]

I add garlic when I cook for oliver...THere is another book(Not quite as scientfic as Pitcarin but still has a lot of info on the benefits of making your own dogfood) By Rudy Edalati that has different recipes for individual needs, for example if your dog has allergies or is overweight. It also gives reasons for adjusting your recipes depending on your dog breed...For instance it says Dachsunds need lots of Vit. A, high fat and low protein... It reccomends potato, cabbage carrots, wheat and beef..Oliver loves carrots... He loves to eat in general, so I give him carrots or broccoli stalks for treats and he acts like I've just given him a steak...