[gemy]

I usually stay out of these discussions. But I do try to read about them. I began my journey to a home "cooked" dog food, because my first show boy, after he got to about a year old, suddenly began to have serious diarrehea. We changed premium kibble 4 times over a 6mth period. The pattern remained the same, first two wks fine, next wk intermittent soft stools, 4th wk we are into diarrehea. I decided to do a raw diet.
There has been few bouts of diarrhea in over 5 yrs. He gets about a cup of kibble in his days food portion, as kibble is about the only thing you can cross the border with, and it is also great for camping. He can tolerate that amt of kibble.

Just on a side note, I do chuckle about the cost of food for a Yorkie. Gosh they only eat what 1/2 c a day? Our large dogs go through 2lbs each on a quiet exercise day.

Our dogs have healthy coats, teeth, breath and ears. Plus they are all good eaters. Our most fussy dog, who happens to be female, usually tucks into her food with a good appetite.

Now I have been starting to cook the meat, due to being treated like an outcast or something when I've visited the vets and or the ER room. There has been a lot of pressure that I've felt from the medical community to cook the meat. So I have done this now for the past month or so.

In terms of making the food, as long as you have a freezer, it won't take long to develop a system that makes food prep fast. You can freeze your meals, and cook wkly or mthly whatever works in your time schedule.

I've recently started to switch over to all glass containers, due to BPA or whatever that chemical thingie is in plastic containers, plus over time the plastic never seems to look clean after I wash the containers out. So that is a bit pricey to do the investment. Each container for the big dogs cost about $10, and about $7 for our Yorkie. I'm building for a three wk supply, I'm currently at 8 days.

I don't have any scientific knowledge to share with any-one, just my personal experience and opinion. I am like some that want to feed healthily to my dogs, and I truly like being in control of what goes into my dogs food. We buy organic veges, and we buy naturally raised meat/poultry. It is expensive, but not so bad if you have the farmers markets in the summertime, and given I buy lots and lots of meat, I can arrange for a discounted price on the meat I buy. We also use supplements that are breed appropriate in their food.

I found Brits history lesson on how the pet food industry evolved to be interesting and informative.

My own personal feeling is I'd like to stay away from any Genetically MOdified anything. It is way too early to see if there are long term health risks to this food.

I do believe that dogs are "still" mainly carnivores and as such should have a predominately meat based diet. Now given Yorkies propensity for liver issues, I reduce the meat portion content in his diet.

To me it makes sense to home cook for my pups and well worth the investment of time that it does take.