Boiled chicken and rice
 

I have started to cook for Bella and I have some questions for you all who do the same. I have been boiling a boneless skinless chicken breast and after its cooked I shred it. The chicken breast after it is shredded is about 1 1/4 cup of meat. I make 2 cups of rice, currently I did half brown, half white. I add this to the chicken and then add 1 can of salt free green beans, which I rinse with water before adding to the rice chicken mixtrure. She loves it. My question is how much a day should she be having? I have started to measure out 1 cup and it is divided up into 3 meals a day. I also put about 10 of the Hills TD small bites down. Sometimes she eats everything, some days only the chicken rice. I weighed her today and she is 7.5 pounds. She will be 2 next month. To me she has gained weight about a pound since January and I only started to feed her the rice mixture two weeks ago so it is not that. When she was just on the TD she was eating almost 30 of them a day and that was the recommeded amount for a 5 pound dog, but I thought it seemed like a lot. I switch it up with lean ground beef which I boil and then drain and rince with boiling water. She also loves that. When I was just feeding her the TD small bites she was pooping 4 times a day now just once a day in the morning after breakfast and occasionally I might get the second one, not often. I really want to do the best by her so if anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear from you:)

What else are you adding to this diet?
If you want to do the best by her I would get some professional advice about the diet you are formulating. Chicken, rice, and green beans would be OK but I would not use the ratios you are using nor would I guess or eyeball amounts. The diet should be formulated for her, and it should be weighed or measured each day accordingly, and fats and supplements should be added. This is a matter of preference, but I do not boil meat ever. I roast the chicken and remove the skin and bones. I have also pressure cooked chicken when I am short on time. I also do not use ground beef for my dogs. I stick mostly with chicken breast.

I agree with 107barney. I have a diet (and I know she does too) from Petdiets.com Dr. Remillard. My diet does have the chicken, rice, and veggies as well. But I also have to add oil and a supplement. The diet gives you exact measurements to feed your pup each day. I also do not boil my chicken. I bake it in the oven. I highly recommend getting a diet that is the exact amount for your pup. :)

I would consult your vet if you plan to homecook, that way they can tell you exactly what your baby needs... the diet you've mentioned is missing some key components. Also if you give great homecooked food and the kibble doesnt get eaten those nutrients aren't reaching the pup, personally if you're going to home-cook I'd make sure the great food has everything in it you need, then eliminate the kibble... I feed a freeze dried raw diet an no longer give any processed foods with additives.

Also I'll put a buzz in for the stuff I feed, it's K9 Naturals, you just add warm water to it, and it puffs up and smells like stew. Harley goes nuts for it.

I plan on consulting my vet when I get back to Canada in a couple of weeks. So far she does still eat her kibble as well as the home cooked. It is amazing the change in her though. She has almost no tearing from her eyes and she seems so much more content.

All these threads about homecooking are really starting to sway me in that direction too. I'm seriously considering now.

If you're not fully ready to jump into cooking, you can wean your way in with a food like K9 Naturals, it's a New Zealand freeze dried raw diet, that you have to mix before feeding, they are pellet like and you scoop it into a bowl and add warm water. I started with that cause I had to put Harley on a limited ingredient diet for his allergies, I love the Lamb Supreme. Today I'm meeting with the vet to discuss what other things I can home cook to add to the diet. (it is a full diet itself, but I'm looking to prepare some stuff at home so I don't have to spend as much on the food).

I recommend Welcome to Pet Diets for simple home cooked recipes. For your allergy dog miss mini I think you'd probably need a consult with dr remillard for best results.

There is sooooo much information out there on the net. remember your dog will not need as much food per day on pure protein as they would on kibble as it's got filler.
I wouldn't recommend brown rice as it's actually a grain which dogs tend to be allergic to and have a hard time breaking down in their system.
Look up Holistic raw feeding and dog food recipes they tend to give you good supplements to add to the diet such as tripe, kelp, fish oils etc because they have digestive enzymes essential omegas

I have been home feeding Polo since he was a little over one, and all I can say is that when it's 4:30 he hunts me down, cause he knows it is time to eat..I also use Petdiets for my recipes and BalanceIt as a supplement. I will never consider anything other than Home cooked for him... Nothing more satisfying than hearing him licking his bowl clean.. walking away and belching LOL!!!
Here is an article on BalanceIt:
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/nutritioninformation/a/BalanceITinterview.htm
Here is where you can by BalanceIt:
https://secure.balanceit.com/

thanks for the links I'll be sure to share and check them out

I see you have received good advice. Cathy (107barney) knows a LOT about homecooking and will help you. The web site she gave is the one I use.

I think the most important thing to stress here is you MUST have a supplement if you are home cooking.. I read in an article (reader digest) of weak bones in dogs who were fed homecooked food that was not balanced. My friend suggermamma advised me to get balanceit (there is a link in one of the other post -- and it is what Cathy uses to).

Get a recipe.. from a reliable source and good supplement and you will be fine