recipe ideas!!

Hello, all.. after Sophie's obvious weight gain on prescription diet food ordered by the vet..we decided to give natural food a chance. We gave her this am...plain ground cooked turkey breast, one cup, with a boiled egg. All plain. I want to get some organ meats such as chicken livers, beef liver... any other suggestions? We have two crock pots and we can get cooking... how about vitamins? I will pick up carrots and green beans.. she already loves blue berries... and plain yogurt? Is there a cook book for dogs???

Thanks,
Sophie's mom

How old is Sophie?

Sophie is 17.5 months old...
Sophie's mom

I am curious about chicken bones.. I have always heard don't give dogs these bones. But, I realize only if they are cooked, raw is ok? I am trying out making her own food but not raw, just plainly cooked. She is very overweight at 95 lbs and the vet prescription food, I feel , caused her to gain. It is loaded with carbs.

Thanks,
Sophie's mom

What about vitamins and calcium?

Thanks,
sophie's mom

I think you need to do a little bit of research. Home cooking is a little more involved than just throwing some food together and calling it a meal. It needs to be balanced, which doesn't mean every single meal needs to be balanced but you do want to have balance over time. I dabbled in raw a little bit (and plan to eventually go back to it) so I don't have experience with home cooking but from what I do know, you do need to add vitamins and minerals. Dr. Pitcairn's book A Complete Guide to Natural Health has good information including recipes.

When our Lab needed to loose weight we added green beans and lowered the amount of kibble. When we switched to raw we did the same. The green beans make then feel satisfied - full but they go right through them adding little calories.

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Originally Posted by arentspowell

I think you need to do a little bit of research. Home cooking is a little more involved than just throwing some food together and calling it a meal. It needs to be balanced, which doesn't mean every single meal needs to be balanced but you do want to have balance over time.

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This, exactly. I am a big proponent of raw feeding, but I did a TON of research when I few raw. I think the same attention and preparation should go into feeding a homemade diet as well.

There are many books on the market, and you can get some ideas of which direction you want to go in to get the vitamins and minerals that are lacking from what you have proposed as far as feeding goes. In the interim, while you are researching, you may want to start feeding less volume and adding green beans as filler. You might also want to move towards a lower calorie (but NOT DIET) kibble while you are making your preparations.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arentspowell

I think you need to do a little bit of research. Home cooking is a little more involved than just throwing some food together and calling it a meal. It needs to be balanced, which doesn't mean every single meal needs to be balanced but you do want to have balance over time. I dabbled in raw a little bit (and plan to eventually go back to it) so I don't have experience with home cooking but from what I do know, you do need to add vitamins and minerals. Dr. Pitcairn's book A Complete Guide to Natural Health has good information including recipes.

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Yes this, and I also recommend the same book if you want to homecook. I feed straight Prey Model Raw, so no cooking involved, but have to make sure to feed certain ratios of bone/meat/organ, so that my dogs get everything they need nutrient wise.