Home Cooking - Very Confused

[MaysonsMom]

I've decided that I now want to home cook for my baby. Especially after some research regarding pet food ingredients. However, I feel really overwhelmed and confused. I've heard that if you don't get the right proportions of protien, fat, carbs, etc. that you can be harming your dog. And when I look for recipes, I am getting conflicting info.

Also, in terms of supplements, I've heard you need to supplement the food with bone meal, sea kelp, brewers yeast, in addition to vitamins. I'm wondering if there is a product out there that is an all-in-one supplement. BTW-Some websites never mention adding supplements to meals.

I just want to do the best for my baby, but I just can't seem to get clear information.

Does anyone have any insight or a book you could recommend?

[Ellie May]

Well, here are some thoughts and I am NO expert. First, supplements are very important but it won't hurt if your dog goes a few weeks without while you are figuring it out. Ellie went a few months without. We have settled on Missing Link for an all in one supplement. However, it does not have very much calcium so we will be looking into a calcium supplement so she will be on calcium (probably some type of bone meal) and Missing Link. I chose to use Missing Link Vegetarian formula because I didn't want to give her dried meat which the regular contains. I felt that if I was gonna do that I might as well give her kibble. We are going to build up to 1 teaspoon of Missing Link a day. Ellie's vet said that she doesn't know a lot about nutrition but knows they need calcium and phosphorus so the calcium supplement will be for that. Now, on to food. I think it all depend on the dog. Some say dogs don't need grain. I agree that they probably don't but I give Ellie grain because it is full of carbs and Ellie is way skinny. She also gets veggies and meat. The meat makes up about 30-50% of her diet while grain and veggies make up about 25-30% each. All of Ellie's food is cooked (nothing raw) and frozen ahead. Here is usually what she gets:
Meat: (about 40% of diet) Amish Chicken (no skin, no fat), or ground turkey, or very lean hamburger.

Grain: (about 30% of diet) brown rice, or barley, or wheat pasta (haven't tried oatmeal yet)

Veggies (about 30% of diet) 2 or more of carrots, green pepper, yellow squash, zuccini, celery, broccili

She also will get a starch like peas or sweet potatoes on occasion which we usually use in place of a few veggies and grains.

She gets organic dog treats and pieces of fruit and veggies throughout the day. She also gets cottage cheese most days.

She gets fed about 3/4 cup of food broken down into 3 meals.

A lot of people recommend Dr. Pitcaim's dog nutrition/recipe book which I still need to buy.

I hope I helped you somewhat.

[MaysonsMom]

wow...thank you, this is great!! I knew there had to be a better way of explaining all this in a more simpler fashion. I actually have been using missing link to supplement his dry food - glad to know it's just as useful with home-cook meals.

I flipped through Pitcaim's book, although it had some very useful info, it made me even more confused.

[Ellie May]

I've heard that about Pitcaim's book. I also wanted to add that other people who homecook that use missing link and calcium supplements also supplement with other vitamins. I tend to lean toward less is better so that is why I won't give anymore than those two. Happy cooking.

[Wylie's Mom]

I switched from Missing Link to a more comprehensive blend bc Pitcairn's multiple suggestions were just not convenient. I give one that has a multi vit/mineral, probiotics, digestive enzymes, AND the EFAs. Then I give Solid Gold's Bone Meal for calcium. This is the supplement: http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/produc...at/999065.aspx

I actually am not a huge fan of Pitcairn, partly bc he makes feeding seem like an exact only-one-way science, and makes it so overwhelming. He also firmly recommends grains and veggies...which is really quite odd, esp. the grains.

I do as much research as I can, then I go back to common sense and ask: "is my own nutrition an exact science?", "do people thrive only if on a certain kind of diet?", "is there only one way to achieve excellent nutrition?" - you get the idea.

I think it's great that you're thinking about home cooking - just do a lot of research, supplement properly, follow some basic guidelines - and you should do just fine. But I totally know where you're at - bc I was there too!

[diva pup]

I have been homecooking since the food recall, I was unsure of what to feed and I did meat veggies with a little grain+calcium. After a month or so I was nervous that they were not getting the vit./minerals they needed and a good friend sent me the Pitcairn book.
Mine have been eating the meatloaf which I occasionally switch up with a meat/veggie meal and the healthy powder. They have never looked better and they looked good to begin with, their coats are healthy and shiny and their weight is optimal.

So now I feel fairly secure they are getting the nutrients they need and I will continue this feeding program throughout their lives. I will never go back to commercial tho this costs quite a bit more.

[Yorkieluv]

As far as supplements go, I truly believe that they are necessary. I know that some recipes that you find online do not even mention supplements, but those diets are not meant for long-term use. If you want to cook for your dogs on a long-term basis, they need to get calcium at least. We use KAL Bone Meal to get the right calciumhosphorus ratio...Also, we mix up a healthy powder mix (that we got from Dr. Pitcairn's book) that contains kelp powder, nutritional yeast, vitamin C, etc. Also, we add vitamin E to the food. This is for my healthy maltese. My liver compromised yorkie gets a completely different homecooked meal, but it still has the calcium and some of the other supplements. The supplement that Wylie's mom uses for her little guys looks pretty good too