Homemade Dog Food Recipe:
Optimally you should prepare these recipes with organic and locally produced components so you know what your animal is being fed (we say, “know your farmer” because sometimes people use chemicals when they grow things).
With higher quality components there should be fewer allergies and digestive upsets. With most processed commercial pet foods containing all kinds of human food-industry by-products and ingredients considered unfit/unsafe for human consumption, many of questionable nutritional value after repeated processing, you just don’t know.
The coloring agents in processed commercial pet foods can be responsible for the staining on the eyes and pays because it is exuded from the body in the saliva and when that chemical hits the sun it turns the hair rusty brown. BHA, a preservative has been linked to cancer or the bladder and stomach. BHT has been linked to cancer of the bladder and thyroid gland. Ethoxyquin is a highly toxic pesticide. We just don’t need all these things in people OR animal food.
The following homemade dog food recipe was taken in part from Dr. Fox’s website.
Dr. Michael Fox’s Homemade ‘Natural’
Dietary Supplement for Dogs
- 2 cups uncooked Whole Grain Rice (or barley, rolled oats, or pasta noodles)
- 2-3 cloves of Garlic
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 T. Vegetable Oil (flax seed oil* or safflower oil)
- 1 T. Wheat Germ
- 1 T. Cider Vinegar (Bragg’s is a good brand)
- 1 t. Brewer’s Yeast
- 1 t. Bone Meal or Calcium Carbonate
- 1 t. Dried Kelp (Starwest Botanicals carries a high-quality product) https://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/kelp/
- 1 lb. Lean Meat: (Grass fed preferable–hamburger, ground lamb, mutton, one whole chicken or half of a small turkey)
- Oat Bran or Oatmeal to thicken for forming patties
- Add the raw ingredients last after cooking–1 cups of Raw, Grated Carrots, Sweet Potato or Yam
Combine all above ingredients. Add water to cover ingredients, simmer, stir, and add more water as needed until cooked. De-bone chicken parts and do not feed cooked bones since they can splinter and cause internal injury. The recipe should be thick to be molded into patties (add oat bran or meal to help thicken).
Mix well into the stew while it is still very hot, a cup full of Raw, Grated Carrots, Sweet Potato or Yam.
Serve 1 cup of the homemade dog food for a 30 lb. dog with the rest of his/her rations, and freeze the rest into patties and store in the freezer. Serve thawed, or frozen to gnaw on outdoors in hot weather.
* Add flax seed oil after the cooked food has cooled down to room temperature.
For dogs under 30 lb, and for over-weight and less active dogs, use 1 cups of uncooked rice in the recipe.
—The above recipe can also be fed as a complete meal rather than as a supplement.—Mix increasing amounts of your dog’s new food with decreasing amounts of the old food over a 7-day period to enable adaptation and avoid possible digestive upset.— it is advisable to vary the basic ingredients to provide variety and to avoid possible nutritional imbalances, and to monitor the animal’s body condition so as to avoid either over-feeding or under-feeding, based on the average dog consuming one cupful of the food twice daily per 30 pounds body weight.
—Notes for Homemade Dog Food:
- Different animals have slightly different nutritional needs according to age, temperament, amount of physical activity and health status).
- Some dogs are allergic or hypersensitive to some foods, especially soy, beef, eggs, wheat and dairy products. Garlic is safe for healthy dogs).
- T = Tablespoon t = teaspoon
- All ingredients, ideally, should be organic
- For variation, you can use cottage cheese, plus well-cooked lentils, chick peas (garbanzo beans), lima beans or other pulses or a dozen eggs as meat alternatives.
For more information on holistic dog care, see Dr. Fox’s book The Healing Touch for Dogs. New Market Press, NY, and for health related food industry concerns that affect us all, see his book Eating With Conscience: The Bioethics of Food, New Sage Press, Troutdale, OR
Helpful Links and References for Homemade Dog Food:
- Meet Dr. Fox: https://youtu.be/5JY5qkCDLuY
- Dr. Fox’s Homemade book containing both cat and dog food recipes: The Healing Touch for Dogs
- Dog Food Recall Alerts (I have them sent to my inbox anytime there is a problem) https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall-alerts/