I too have been cooking for several years now for my dogs, despite my vet being opposed to it. He finally has come around to accepting it after I had him do a blood panel on my guys and they were all within acceptable ranges for calcium/phospherous ratios.
I've read most of the posts and the one thing I did not see mentioned is some of the good pre-mixes that are available today. I have been using Dr. Harvey's Canine Health for two years now. All you do is add 2.5 ozs to 7.5 ozs of water and then add six ozs of meat or protein. Honest Kitchen is another good one.
With 8 dogs I cook once or twice a week and freeze it.
You can also go to BalanceIt.com and they used to do one free recipe for you based on your dog's weight, level of activity and age. Not sure if they are still doing one free but they were reasonably priced and its a good way to make sure you are meeting your dog's nutritional requirements.
I do use supplements add do add calcium carbonate to some recipes.
It takes a while to do the research but there is a lot of it available on the web. |