Homemade dog food

[jak3]

Does anyone feed there dog homemade dog food? I'm looking into making Alfie his food at home using meats veg rice etc, however I am worried that he maybe won't get the nutrients etc he needs, I have read so far to add powdered egg shells and omega oil , is there anything that he would be lacking on a diet like this ? Or is a home made diet hard to get right? Thanks .

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Does anyone feed there dog homemade dog food? I'm looking into making Alfie his food at home using meats veg rice etc, however I am worried that he maybe won't get the nutrients etc he needs, I have read so far to add powdered egg shells and omega oil , is there anything that he would be lacking on a diet like this ? Or is a home made diet hard to get right? Thanks .

Cooked or raw?

Lots of people feed a diet of raw - which is mostly entirely home made.

[Pudding]

are you talking about a raw food diet ??
i would not give a dog any rice as they can not convert carbohydrates to sugars and store the
energy in there bodies to use later... they dont get much from egg shells... omega 3 is very good
you can add supplements like keeper mix
http://www.dorwest.com/Catalogue/Dietary-Supplements/Keepers-Mix

you should be feeding 80% meet 10% of the total diet pure bone 10% of the total diet should be offal
Liver or Kidney...
for dogs once you cook any of it Meet or veg you take most of what they need out of it...
there are some good book out there that may help you
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0975717405/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
and Honeys natural feeding handbook for dogs

[jak3]

Sorry should have been more specific, I mean cooked, as you might know from my previous posts I'm going through a stage of trying to find something Alfie will eat and enjoy, I tried the natural instinct food lately which he isn't keen on and is a chore to get him to eat and I know you can't cook that food because of the bone but just looking into other options is a cooked meat diet not ideal? As he is not a fan of raw food.

[jak3]

Sorry should have been more specific, I mean cooked, as you might know from my previous posts I'm going through a stage of trying to find something Alfie will eat and enjoy, I tried the natural instinct food lately which he isn't keen on and is a chore to get him to eat and I know you can't cook that food because of the bone but just looking into other options is a cooked meat diet not ideal? As he is not a fan of raw food.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Charlie was quite fussy he's still a bit fussy but I feed him wainwrights (from P@H) - he gets the trays of wet food and as a bit of a treat he gets their pouches (which he loves)!

[jaybee]

I'm not sure about cooked homemade diets TBH, hopefully someone will be along who can help you.

I know how frustrating it can be when you have a picky eater, but be careful how quickly and often you switch to another food. Before Bingley switched to raw he would turn his nose up at kibble quite often, and as he was so young and tiny I panicked and thought it would be an absolute disaster if he didn't eat a meal. Having moved on to raw now it's not so much of a problem, but we still get it occasionally. Bingley isn't so fond of certain NI flavours, and in the past (in his kibble days) I always reacted to his refusal so quickly and offered something he would eat. You have to be careful not to make a rod for your own back, as I think if we chop and change all the time they know if they refuse something it will be replaced by something else.

The other day he turned his nose up at his dinner,  so after about 20 minutes I think I took it up and made no fuss. Put it down an hour and a half later and he ate it.

Have you tried hand feeding him a bit of the raw? Bingley wouldn't eat it out of a bowl immediately, i got some on my fingers and let him try it, then he would eat it happily.

Good luck whatever you decide to do  

[jak3]

Iv looked at the wainwrights wet food trays, that was going to be another option as he seems to like the wet food but alot of the wet food timed food don't seem very good, would you recommend the wainwrights ones for nutrition and things?

With the raw food he will go over sniff it and wLk away and just sit and stare at me as if to say no mummy I want something else , I tried it heated a little in the microwave yesterday which he picked at but problem is he is with my oh during the day and he doesnt have access to heating facilities so makes it difficult to do this with his first feed, also which doesn't help the oh has an adversion to blood etc so the diet is even harder to stick to when he finds it hard to feed him it, whatever we go with I am going to stick it out for a while because like you said feel like we are changing every other week when he gets bored!

[jaybee]

Believe me you have my complete sympathy, it is very difficult i know! 

Wainwrights is good I believe. NatureDiet is very good, Bingley had it for a while inbetween kibble and raw and he enjoyed it. Although once opened it has to be stored in a fridge, would that be a problem for your OH?

You'll get there in the end, don't give up! Feeding was more of an issue than I expected it to be.

[jak3]

Is naturediet raw? I think if we found something Alfie liked he would go with it but right know neither of them like it so fighting with it myself lol, I tend to feel guilty if I think he's not enjoying his food and have prob created more problems than iv solved lol.

[jaybee]

No Nature Diet isn't raw, no blood or scary bits for your OH to contend with 

It just looks like firm pate in the tray.

[JennyBee]

I have an incredibly fussy dog, and was totally surprised at how much she loves the wainrights wet food. I was also surprised at how good the ingredients are. NatureDiet is also great quality (and you can heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave). Lily's Kitchen is another, although that is expensive. It's the Wainright's that holds Brodie's interest though.

Brodie also gets bored. I have alway been very aware of not constantly changing food in case she became even more fussy (if that is possible), but now I have about two or three wet foods that I rotate with the Wainright's. So far, so good! She is off her food at the moment, but she is having terrible problems with her ears and I think it's pain-related.

[jak3]

Thanks everyone, I think I will go with the naturediet or wainwrights they seem like the best option!

[Pudding]

i would not like to eat the same dinner very day of my life.....
dogs are the same... one day my dog has rabbit the next he has beef then duck
and so on

[jaybee]

i would not like to eat the same dinner very day of my life.....
dogs are the same... one day my dog has rabbit the next he has beef then duck
and so on

Oh no I do agree completely! Don't get me wrong. We have a few flavours in rotation too.