| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 3:49:53 AM | Is dog food really healthy for our canine companions? Who knows what's really in there? The "guaranteed analysis" just lists protein content, etc.
Can you give them raw meat? That's what Mother Nature intended, and some people advocate it. But I really don't like the idea of raw meat lying around, to be eaten or not. (My dogs eat when they want, and sometimes save snacks for later! Maybe they're just not hungry enough.) Bacteria, worms, YUK.
So, the logical solution is cooking their food. Plain chicken? Beef? Rice? Looking for ideas and recipes! | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 8:27:18 AM | my parents and sister have pugs they recued from the pug rescue. those little things started out life really crappy - but let me tell you, they have it good now, ha!
anyways, they feed the pugs a mixuture of dried dog food and chicken. they purchase rotisserie chickens from Sam's and cut up parts of the meat to combine with the other food. they love it and it seems to not be bad for them. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 9:17:58 AM | I make my dogs food.... I use the rotisserie chicken also..... But I make my meals first... chicken dinner
chicken enchilada's
and then boil the rest for broth.... pick the carcass clean including the gristles.... Mix with rice and veggies..... My three love it.... and its economical as I get at least 2 meals out of the bird for the family, and then lots more for the 4 legged family | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 9:24:03 AM | I have made my dogs doggie cookies. But that's a lot of work. I know my dogs like everything from veggies ( brussels sprouts, carrots, etc) to any kind of meat I am having at the moment. (I usually save them a bite ) They also really love rice.
Just be sure to not give them too much or they will pack on the pounds.
Now, my grand-dog won't eat anything if it's not meat. Go figure. I guess I always gave my dogs veggies, that's why they like them. They think raw carrots are treats!
As for the dry food, please read the ingr list. Don't give them anything that says 'digest' - that's what was in the animals stomach-yuk! The first 5 (at least) ingr should be good ingr-not corn or other fillers. And also be aware some dog food companies will use euthanized dogs & cats for their food. The drug used does not boil out of the slurry either. When they say 'animal' fat or whatever they don't have to specify what kind of animal. So it's best to make sure they say chicken, lamb or whichever meat you like instead. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 9:54:32 AM | Grand-dog, haaa! That's a good one.
My dogs love rice, too. And chicken, of course. But isn't the seasoning in rotisserie chicken - all that salt - bad for them? (us too, I guess!)
Thanks for the tips. I had no idea about "digest" - how disgusting, that's like eating vomit. I also can't believe companies that are supposed to care for animals would feed them their dead counterparts. It's just a business to them, I guess. Pitiful.
I do cook beef marrow bones for them, which they love. I just roast them when I'm cooking something else and then push out most of the marrow (don't want all that grease tracked around the house, because they run off with the bones!) They don't really care for the dry ones you get at the pet store. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 12:06:58 PM | Not all dog food is bad, far from it. You just have to look at the ingredients carefully. We feed Natural Balance which is a pretty good food. Some other good brands are Canidae, Nutrisource, Solid Gold, California Natural, Natural Balance etc.
Bad ones are Purina, Beneful, Alpo, Kibbles N Bits, Science Diet etc. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 12:51:35 PM | When I had dogs, cats, birds and fish. I used to include extra portions in the vegetables I cooked to give to the dog and cats, because the vet said some buttered vegetables were very good for them. The butter also helps them with digestion and fur balls, as long as it is not too much butter, just a little on the veggies. I also made sure the cat (eggs, fish chicken) and the dog (beef, eggs, chicken) got some raw meat. Fresh and free of crap, just like I ate myself. I was also particular to get the birds and fish what they would eat in the wild. Feeding my cats and dogs raw meat did not make them kill things either (blood thirsty), as some believe. I never had a single animal sick, or ever need the vet other than required shots and the occasional check-up. None of them ever had heart worms or parasites either. I had a few come to me sick and most I was able to heal. The only ones I didn't, had come to me with feline leukemia and I had to put him to sleep. The only other one was a stray I took in and he ate a plastic bag. Lived through it , but became insane due to the petroleum based toxins and lived out his life in total weirdness, but I kept him. Feeding an animal its natural diet, just like humans, is the healthiest thing you can do.
Yes, we are responsible to care for our animals the way we care for ourselves. Oh yeah, I only used Iams and Science Diet for their food.
SS | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 1:09:44 PM | Wow about the plastic bag! That's scary, to think we package and store our foods in something so toxic. Back to glass!
Oh, and my dogs LOVE scrambled eggs; we don't do it often, just sometimes on a Saturday morning I will mix up a mess and share! I will have to try the vegetables - maybe mixed in with the eggs. They like to chow on raw carrots too, but always leave a shredded mess behind. One of them will eat green beans too.
A funny story - my sister had a mechanic who regularly made salads for his dog, and would rush home to make dinner on time for it! | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 3:16:25 PM | I make a chicken stock with a whole chicken and vegetables. Keep the stock for humans and shred the boiled chicken, then mix it up with all the boiled vegetables - onions, carrots, celery and garlic, generally. Both dog and cat love this.
I used to add rice but read here that carbs aren't a natural part of an animal's diet. This made sense to have cut the rice out, which was only really good to bulk it out and make it last longer. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 5:19:12 PM | I've heard onions and garlic are really bad for dogs. Don't know about cats. Anybody know if that's true?
My vet recommended feeding my pug white rice for diarrhea. Seems to work. And salmon oil for shedding. Oh, and they do like fish (boneless of course) of any kind. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 7:42:50 PM | hi.... I buy organic dry kibble and I feed it with high raw ingredients.. lately I have been very conflicted with the fact that even the organic kibble is full of added nutrients..I have always believed in eating whole foods for nutrition and have avoided foods with ~added~ vitamins and minerals believing that they clog the system and do more harm than good.. long story a bit shorter I have been cooking the dogs food from scratch using whole organic foods and I have been giving more raw meat than cooked.... the other day this 26 yr vegetarian was butchering the dead flesh of some poor chicken  .. I am not yet living in a Perfect World where I do not have to butcher one animal for the survival of another but I seriously can not wait ... has anyone fed their dog high raw vegetarian food for at least 5 yrs??... blessings | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/11/2009 7:57:45 PM | Whole, organic, high, raw, vegetarian dog food? Is that an oxymoron?
Other animals routinely butcher each other for survival. I think it would be cruel and unnatural to make your dog be a vegetarian. Now, if he chooses it, like you did, that's different. Try putting down a vegetarian option next to some raw meat, and see which one he picks.
Sorry, couldn't resist!  | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/14/2009 6:49:21 AM | | Onions as well as grapes & raisins are toxic to dogs (not sure about cats). | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/14/2009 11:06:09 AM | | I am pretty sure I am only here to cater to my two Boston Terriers whims. They have lots. I am a busy boy. I quite literally cook for these dogs dailey. Sometimes they get leftovers, but usually it is cooked for them. They also were rescued and had a hard life before me. Spoiled is an understatement. I had a third but the old guy passed a while back. They were all rescued but now I am not sure if I was the "rescuer" or the "rescuee". I think the latter. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/14/2009 3:50:18 PM | LOL, that's funny, Ras! Have to remember that one 
Spoiling - yeah, mine (pug & peke) now think that every time I go in the kitchen, they're going to get something. They respond to the sound of plastic packaging being opened!
Last night I made the beer can chicken posted here (a whole one). Might share some with them.... but they're starting to turn their flat little noses up at actual dog food! Brats! | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/14/2009 10:43:36 PM | I recently researched the history of the US dog food market (yikes) and learned proper "dog food formulas" made from people food, which I think will be much healthier.
It's 1/3 protein, 1/3 complex carbs and 1/3 steamed vegetables.
Tonight she had baked chicken, brown rice and cauliflower.
She's trained so she doesn't expect any food other than what she gets in her bowl, or if it comes from her special treat box. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/16/2009 10:21:55 PM | | In Jamaica most (or many) people will prepare cornmeal with meat for their dogs.... | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/28/2009 7:43:31 PM | | Big thing about dogs is that they don't need nearly as much salt as humans (no sweat glands). So cured meats and many sauces are hard on their kidneys. When I was feeding the platoon pups in Baghdad I'd have our local south asian midnight grillmeister (the man responsible for the Reuben on Raisin sandwich) put the Philly cheesesteak mixture (meat, peppers and onions sans provolone) over rice. Back in the states I normally divide a chicken or turkey into three piles when things have reached the soup stage: parts we're gonna eat, parts the dogs are gonna eat, and stuff like bones and ligaments that nobody's gonna eat. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/29/2009 4:49:16 AM | | Ok, here's the deal, what did dogs eat before there was dog food? Whatever they could catch or whatever was thrown out in the backyard or the streets. Most dogs were fed table scraps. Why? It was the way things were done. I don't know who the hell invented dog food but they should have been shirt because all it is some people who now try to make a fast buck off you while they are literally visioning your pets. Most dog food I know of is not good for your dogs,but then again, its provably cheaper to buy a 50 pound bag and then add some real meat and veggies to it plus a few raw eggs once in awhile. But I also cannot see myself spending 35.00 to 40.00 for a bag of dog food either. It's all a scam, I tell ya. Dry dog food makes their poop firm,that's the only reason I ever let Maggie have any other than that, the Mouse always ate what I ate. Btw, she died this August. She got hit by a car,and dragged herself up the driveway where a man who saw her came to the door and told me and showed me her lying behind the bushes. He buried her for me. I just didn't want her to suffer. It was a skull fracture. Nothing could have been done. So, he did the humane thing and put her down for me and buried her. She wasn't at my sister's for more than an hr and a half when it happened. And here I was trying to feed 3 children I had to babysit and watch. I cried all day. Maybe I'll get another one,just not now. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 9/30/2009 9:50:48 AM | Oh, Hawk, so sorry! that's awful, especially with the kids there. I hope you do get a new one, in time. I adore my pug, personally!
Good points on the dog food, too. I'll have to think about that! | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 10/17/2009 10:18:44 AM | I used to cook for my first dog. She was really old and overweight with health problems. Dr. Picairn's Guide to Natural Health for Cats and Dogs has a lot of recipes. I used them for Elsa. One thing to make sure if you are just using homemade food is to add a dog specific vitamin mineral blend or a dog multi vitamin to the food to be sure that the amounts of the nutrients are right. Raw food in the wild has a lot more nutrients then farmed meat and cooked meat. Dr. Pitcairn's has a powder mineral mix you make and also an oil based mix and you add a bit of powder and oil at each meal.
I have a big dog who has been healthy and kibble fed all her life. She does get scraps every day, but I have her on the Evo brand no-grain food right now. It is top quality but I think she is allergic to something in it so I'll be changing to the lamb and rice kibble "California Naturals" by the same company. It has four ingredients and vitamins which is good for dogs who are sensitive.
Onions have a chemical in them that can be toxic to dogs. Not all dogs but some are really sensitive. Garlic can bother others. It depends on your dog. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 10/17/2009 10:22:47 AM | Oh and bunky, raw food is fine. The trick is most raw fed dogs eat their food all up at one time. For raw feeding it is important to feed them one big meal as it stretches the stomach and for some reason this is needed for digestion. We have had great success at work with dogs who were not doing well doing really well on a raw diet. The natural enzymes really seem to help with digestion for some dogs. The office manager has her three dogs on raw and they are doing really really well.
You do have to be a bit more careful with food prep and clean up but the parasites to worry about are more flukes and such then the traditional "worms" and it you freeze the meat first it tends to reduce the amount of pathogens that would survive.
In Canada, Pets4Life is a brand that makes a raw blended diet that comes in little ice cream tubs frozen. Its a quick way to do raw if you have money and no time. Too expensive for my dog, but I do buy it sometimes and cook it for my rats. | |
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| Do you cook for your dogs?
Posted: 10/18/2009 8:54:15 PM | | Well, whatever I cooked yesterday gave the pug indigestion. Vomiting and diarrhea. UGGHHH. Wow, what does that say about my cooking? Back to plain white rice and dog food. | |
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