Our Tammy Sue is almost 9 1/2 years old and I have always cooked for her. I now have a retired breeder, Nike, who is 8 years and I have cared for my friend's Brianna all summer. Brianna came to me a little chubby as she had been free fed kibble. She has slimmed down. I cook lots of food and then freeze it in smaller containers. I really have no recipe but use mostly the split chicken breast when I find it on sale. To the chicken broth I get from cooking chicken I add fresh carrots, green beans (canned when I do not have fresh, a can of beets, a can of pumpkin canned green peas sweet potato brown rice and some oatmeal and I forgot celery. I have added wheat germ but was told that is not necessary. I use more than half chicken and the rest the mix of veggies and grain. I use my Cuisinart to chop everything, mix it and freeze in containers. I use a small canning pressure cooker. It takes some time but they are happy an dwell fed. I also give a vitamin supplement and Brewers yeast pills daily. They get a treat nightly of frozen vanilla yogurt. Less than a teaspoon each but look forward to it and pester us for it EVERY night. Tammy Sue Has all her teeth and barely any tarter. The other two have had dentals but are fine.
At one point this summer I decided to try a premium dog food (Natural Balance Ultra small breed bites). It truly was a disaster as they were pooping more than twice as much and they had loose bowels. So back to my cooked food. It sure would have been easier but could not deal with it. I tried for long enough to use almost 5 lbs. So it was not that it upset them because I just changed food.
I have to add that I only once cooked whole chickens with skin and ground everything including soft bones and they all got such diarrhea I gave it to my neighbor who has a big dog and it also mad him have the runs. So needless I now never use skin or bones. That was a wasted three chickens. I do not give them chicken fat as it seems to upset their stomachs.

Random Frozen Biscuits
 

Just made these frozen bites for Levi using whatever I had on hand in the fridge:

Microwave:
1/2 cup plain oats (the old fashioned kind)
~1/4 cup organic chicken broth (add more or less to make the oatmeal a thick paste)

then mix in:
a chunk of cooked, soft sweet potato/yam
a spoonful of peanut butter


It should be a thick sticky paste at this point. I put spoonfuls of it into plastic sandwich bags, froze them, and you can unwrap one at a time for a cool, chewy treat!

Teething Levi was happy to get one of these for dessert tonight :thumbup::animal36

Frozen Oatmeal treats
 

Levi loves them! He's been enjoying the frozen treats...takes him a while to gnaw on them until they get soft, but he seems to love the chilled nature of them. I'm sure it soothes his teething. (not to mention they probably taste yummy...daddy only cooks him the best)

i will definitely have to try some of these recipes! More please!!!

Sounds Good
 

:p These sound so good and I have to try them out A.S.A.P. I know my Beya will love them...:p

Taycie's Homeade Treats.
So Taycie was looking at me with those puppy eyes while she was sitting on the kitchen rug begging for a treat. I open the treat cupboard and yes she has a ton but I am sure she is board of that right?... So I got a little ambitious and decided to spice some things up!

Ok... This my first time doing this so it's SUPER easy... Not super adventureous but she LOVED them so I would thought I would share!

1 lb of Fresh Ground Turkey

1 cup of Oats

1 Egg

3 Tbs of fresh Parsley

Heat Oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and spoon on to foil lined cookie sheet and cook for 15 to 20 min.. Cool and let your furbaby enjoy!

Seriously she went CRAZY! It was so fun to see her get so excited. Also this recipe made a TON so I froze half the batch and I will pull it out when we want to make more!

I have just come across some good information. I am in a Coconut Oil group and found out that coconut oil will help kill internal parasites - in people too. I have been using coconut oil and once in a while to put on their food because they LOVE it!! My dogs are pretty picky eaters sometimes but they just gobble the food down when I add coconut oil to it. It doesn't hurt that the CO is good for them. Just don't give too much at one time because when I take a lot it gives me diarrhea. Sorry, TMI. That would be like over 3 tablespoons. Sylvia

Does anyone have any grain free recipes?

thankful for recipes
 

:)Thank you all for the wonderful recipes. I have been feeding Gizmo kibbles and he just has had enough. Now he won't eat unless I work him out. He loves to play all day. Lol. I will certainly try some of these recipes on my baby! Love, Melinda and Gizmo

Soft Doggie Cookies - great for puppies or older dogs
 

I found a great recipe that my yorkie and my grandmother's yorkie's love!

Homemade Dog Treat Recipe
Soft Doggie Cookies

3 (2 1/2 oz. each) jars of baby food; either beef or chicken
1/4 cup Dry milk powder
1/4 cup Wheat germ or cream of wheat

Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well. Roll into small balls and place on well-greased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 15 minutes until brown. Cool on wire rack. Refrigerate to keep fresh or freeze. Great for older dogs with teeth problems.

Questions of the Day
 

If I was to start cooking for my Yorkie, how do I go about it~? Is it necessary for them to have meat~? Is there any veggie stew recipes out there~? Do I need thos added ingredients as someone posted, like brewers yeast~?

I too am curious. When my Woobie was sick, my vet told me to give her 1/3 meat, 1/3 veggie and 1/3 starch every meal (also add a pinch of "Addlife", a vitamin supplement). I would like to give my girls a homemade diet, and would appreciate the feed back from those who are already doing this.

I hope that peanuts aren't bad because both of my furbabies love them.I just try to watch that they chew them well.

The recipe needs to be complete and balanced. It's best for the pup to talk to a board certified veterinary nutritionist about this. Just adding the supplements talked about in this thread isn't okay. Most or all of the recipes in this thread should be given as snacks only because they aren't balanced. Some shouldn't be given at all.

Dogs can live on vegetarian homecooked diets. That really isn't recommended though unless it's being done for a medical problem.

The recipes are great! thanks! :-)