Anybody here cook their dogs food?

[MrSquished]

I was getting my dog good kibbles and wet food for a few years, but he was never the biggest fan no matter what flavors I tried, though he stayed a perfectly healthy weight and passed all his physicals with flying colors, so I wanted to up my game this year. I started making him two eggs with every meal. But I still felt he wasn't enjoying it enough, so I ended up trying NomNom, which is one of the now many services that basically ship you frozen single serving packs of essentially cooked human grade food - ground beef with potatoes, vegetables plus fish oil and other vitamins and supplements. It's just too expensive to continue to subscribe to, but I want to continue to serve him better food, so I want to just cook all his food myself, freeze the portions, and then serve. I'll buy big packs of ground beef at Costco, the potatoes and veg at the grocery store, and make a giant pot every two weeks, freeze in mini-ziplocks.

But I need a nice all in one powder or liquid supplement to add to this, to make it a more well-rounded meal.

Anybody here cook for their pet and have tips/tricks or supplement suggestions?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Dry kibble for cats or dogs should be a minimal sort of thing. Puts weight on them and typically it isn’t great food for them. Previous vet said it is sort of like eating pasta every night.
They should have more wet foods. One thing to keep in mind is dogs probably can tell the difference between turkey & beef they probably cannot tell chicken from turkey. What I am saying is don’t go overboard on the protein side it is unlikely your dog can tell the difference between different cuts or even different meats.
I would love to do a raw food diet for our pooch, I just don’t have outside space to feed him at and I will not have raw food dishes just laying around all the time.

 

[sdifox]

I like my dog stir fried with basil and rice wine.

 

[snoopy7548]

For Thanksgiving, I like to prepare a Datster. A hamster inside a cat inside a dog.

 

[Muse]

I like my dog stir fried with basil and rice wine.

Yeah, that thread title is a teaser. I'm reading about the American revolutionary war (real good book: Voices of 1776, The Story of the American Revolution in the Words of Those Who Were There, by Richard Wheeler). Early in the war, IIRC before the Declaration of Independence, which was first week of July 1776 of course, the rebels sent forces up past Lake Champlain into Canada toward Montreal in an attempt to establish there and nullify the British stronghold in Canada. It was disastrous and they wound up retreating back to New England. They were ravaged by famine, cold and smallpox (winter of 1775-76). Read an account of a poor dog they had along that they ate. They were eating shoe leather, shaving cream, just anything they could chew and swallow.

 

[ponyo]

Our dog eats the same food we eat except she also gets bowl of Kirkland turkey and sweet potato dry food. We eat lot of bacon, sausage, hamburger, steak, ribs, brisket, chicken, etc so she eats the same. I treat her as another family member when I cook and make sure to include her portion. If I'm cooking overly spicy food, I'll separate and cook her food without the heavy spices. When I'm trimming or slicing BBQ meat, she'll come and sit at my feet because she knows she will get lot of the excess raw meat.

We tried feeding her canned dog food. She won't touch it.

 

[nakedfrog]

Maybe consider reusable containers over disposable sandwich bags?

 

[Stiff Clamp]

For Thanksgiving, I like to prepare a Datster. A hamster inside a cat inside a dog.

You make your dog eat dog?

 

[MrSquished]

After a bunch of reading, I found three products in three different categories - a powdered vitamin supplement, a powdered probiotic supplement and a fish oil supplement. I will not put these into the food when it's hot, nor will I mix it in each portion before I freeze it. I'll add the supplements in with each evening meal so they stay at full effectiveness.

 

[BudAshes]

Not until he cooks for me first

 

[Captante]

Anybody here cook their dogs food?

Frankly as long as you don't eat it too (and I don't have to smell it!), I'm perfectly okay with you cooking your dogs food.

 

[Captante]

We tried feeding her canned dog food. She won't touch it.

Try giving her only canned food for a week or so and get back to me on that.

The cheapest store-brand garbage food will vanish so fast you'll think you imagined it was there in the first place! (no comment on how quickly it comes back up!)




*(DO NOT really do this lol ... although to be fair quality DOG food is a lot healthier for dogs then most "people" food)

 

[SunnyD]

I used to. Ground turkey, eggs, green beans, and blueberries. It got too tiresome so we switched to a premium kibble and never looked back.

 

[repoman0]

I’ve been thinking about starting a ground beef and sweet potato based raw diet for my beast. Fiancee’s parents have been doing it for a few months and their dog’s skin and fur has gotten noticeably healthier looking (he’s old, over 10 probably).

Just worried about making sure his nutritional needs are met so would probably do half and half with a good quality kibble which he already eats. He doesn’t really like the kibble though and will only eat it if mixed with canned wet food or something else soft and tasty. He doesn’t get cooked or really any human food and I don’t think there’s any reason to think that our diet would be good for him.

 

[Muse]

My dog died when I was 13 or so, chased cars. He was maybe 2.

 

[MrSquished]

Success! Fresh ground beef cooked up with potato, carrot, spinach and rice, added some fish oil and probiotic and vitamin supplements, mixed it with the pups ancient grains kibble, and he inhaled it!

Man I am so happy that my dog is finally in love with his food. I'll be changing the recipe up every couple weeks, try some ground turkey, maybe some sweet potato, kale, and just see what he likes. It's not pricey and knowing the dog is healthy and happy is priceless

 

[Kaido]

My friend cooks her dog food in her Instant Pot. Random link:

How to Make Easy Homemade Dog Food - Instant Pot

Homemade dog food is a great way to spoil your dog and feel good about doing it. Made in an instant pot, it is a quick, cheap, and easy! Click through to get the recipe! #dogfood #instantpot #instapot #healthy #southernbytes #dogs

southern-bytes.com

 

[Captante]

I never cooked my dogs food unless he was sick in which case it was 5 pounds of baked chicken meat and rice. (not all at once!)

I did however used to feed him this stuff which frankly looks and smells considerably better than a lot of canned people-food I've seen! (costs more too lol!)




Merricks wet/canned dog food

 

[BUTCH1]

I'll microwave a chicken thigh and mix it in with his kibble after I de-bone and shred it.

 

[jpiniero]

When parents had a dog, they fed him human food. Hot Dogs, turkey meat, cheese, rice.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Success! Fresh ground beef cooked up with potato, carrot, spinach and rice, added some fish oil and probiotic and vitamin supplements, mixed it with the pups ancient grains kibble, and he inhaled it!

Man I am so happy that my dog is finally in love with his food. I'll be changing the recipe up every couple weeks, try some ground turkey, maybe some sweet potato, kale, and just see what he likes. It's not pricey and knowing the dog is healthy and happy is priceless

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Great work
Don’t get overly concerned about making it different. Dogs don’t taste as many things as we do. I have read they certainly can taste a difference between beef & chicken but they probably don’t notice a difference between beef & bison or chicken & turkey.
Also spinach in small quantities is good for dog, spinach in large quantities can poison them or do liver damage or something like that.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Blue Buffalo ftw.

 

[Zeze]

I never cooked my dogs food unless he was sick in which case it was 5 pounds of baked chicken meat and rice. (not all at once!)

I did however used to feed him this stuff which frankly looks and smells considerably better than a lot of canned people-food I've seen! (costs more too lol!)




Merricks wet/canned dog food

Isn't wet dog food mainly marketing (lots of water content)?

There are numerous websites for really healthy dog food discussions. Blue Wolf, Wellness, etc... try those kibble. They aren't cheap either.

 

[Fritzo]

My wife heats our old dog's food in a microwave because she likes it better warm.

 

[Captante]

Isn't wet dog food mainly marketing (lots of water content)?

There are numerous websites for really healthy dog food discussions. Blue Wolf, Wellness, etc... try those kibble. They aren't cheap either.

Most of the big brands are.... Merrick's is like freaking organic chunky soup for your dog and per Consumer Reports is very nutritious BUT also very over-priced. (MANY people eat worse)

Also I live in an apartment and have not had a dog in 10+ years.