Doggie and Cat Fuds
More and more recalls on dog and cat food, because though they market the food as something we'd feed to a beloved family member, they're certainly not making sure that it really is something we'd feed to anyone or thing.
It's not really hard to make dog or cat food, it's just a bit time consuming and less handy than shaking out a bag or popping open a can. But unless you've got a brand you can trust… Well, here you go.
This is the recipe I was making for my dogs when Rosie had a terrible yeast based skin inflammation. Within a few days, there was a noticeable improvement, and it was gone within a few months. After that, she could tolerate a high meat, no soy crunchy dog food, but still got mostly the homemade. She liked her crunchies.
A large bag of frozen chicken thighs, or use fresh, I think they're usually five pounds. Frozen is less expensive.
A one pound container of chicken or turkey innards, optional.
Two pounds of frozen greens. No garlic or onion seasoned versions! You can also use fresh, either way, it needs to be chopped up pretty fine.
Throw the meat, innards too, into a large pot with water to cover, and let it cook until it's coming off of the bones. Let cool, and go through every bit of the meat, removing bones. Everything else, chop coarsely and put it back into the pot. Chop up the innards to distribute them through the soup. If you're ambitious, you can crack the bones and remove the marrow to toss that in, too.
One note - these days, fat is considered to be bad for dogs. So, remove the visible fat and skin, as well, unless your vet feels there isn't a problem with it.
Add more water if needed. It shouldn't be too thick, it should look like chicken soup with a lot of meat in it.
Add the greens, and cook until those are cooked through. It shouldn't take long at all, just heating the soup back to a boil. Once it's cooled to room temp, it's ready to use. Feed the dog according to their weight, of course.
The idea is to eliminate any sugar that would feed the skin infection, so avoid vegetables that have carbs at all. Just stick to the greens at first, spinach, turnip, collards, and such.
Store the dog-food (which is a pretty good chicken soup, too!) in the fridge. You can freeze larger amounts in serving sized portions by scooping it into plastic Zip-Loc baggies. Make sure it's at least room temp before serving, though. I used to keep a saucepan just for that handy, that held the proper amount for Rosie's supper.
Cats will eat this happily, too, though they'll manage to spit out the greens if you don't chop them fine enough. Cats don't need carbs of any sort, but they do need greens for digestion and bulk.
You can also use turkey or any poultry parts for this, with or without the organ meat. Just remember, all bones must be removed. I used thighs because they were cheap, but also because the bones are easy to find after the meat is cooked.
Don't use beef or pork or game or whatever if you're making this formula for a dog with a skin condition. But for a healthy coated dog, this goes further and is less expensive: (Well, it can be, depends on what you use.)
Doggie Fud for a healthy dog:
One large bag of frozen chicken thighs (Or five-ten pounds of any fresh or frozen meat. Avoid burger or ham, anything with a high salt, fat, or sugar content, though fresh low fat ground beef should be fine.)
One or two pounds of poultry innards. Large animal innards can contain too much toxins, it's better to use poultry. This is optional, but it does add nutrition and lots of flavor.
Two-four pounds of fresh or frozen greens and vegetables. Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cauliflower, yams, whatever. Go easy on the potatoes. You can also add various fruits, apple, banana, whatever. Some dogs like sweet or hot peppers, some don't. If they've stolen it out of your garden, they'll probably love it in their dinner.
Do not use onion or garlic, raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, avocado, artificial sweetener, and of course chocolate. When in doubt, look it up under dog poisons.
Two-four pounds cooked noodles, rice, barley, beans, or other starch. Don't use Sago.
The procedure is the same there. Put the meat in a large pot with water to cover. Cook it to shreds, and remove ALL bones. Pick out visible fat and skin. Everything else goes back into the pot. If you've added poultry innards, give those a good chop-up to distribute through the soup.
Chop the veggies, greens and fruit to dice, removing pits and seeds, of course.
Add the vegetables to the pot and cook them soft in the meat and broth. Add water if needed.
Now add your starch, and heat to boiling once.
This should be a fairly thick 'stew'. Don't add thickener, though. Just boil it down if it's too watery.
Cool to room temp and it's ready to feed. This will stretch out the meat quite a bit, and can be fattening for a lazy dog. The more active your dog, the more of the starch you can add. But if you've got a floor mop dog, cut back on the noodles.
You'll have to adjust it for your dog, some dogs will methodically spit out what they don't like, and leave a carefully licked pile of veggies. Try something different, or just go back to greens if they're spitting everything out. Or try pureeing the veggies.
Don't feed this mix to cats, it has too much sugar in it, plus they'll just spit out the veggies and such, anyhow. Stick with the chicken and greens for them, it's not likely they'll ever turn their noses up at fresh chicken soup. :D
It's not really hard to make dog or cat food, it's just a bit time consuming and less handy than shaking out a bag or popping open a can. But unless you've got a brand you can trust… Well, here you go.
This is the recipe I was making for my dogs when Rosie had a terrible yeast based skin inflammation. Within a few days, there was a noticeable improvement, and it was gone within a few months. After that, she could tolerate a high meat, no soy crunchy dog food, but still got mostly the homemade. She liked her crunchies.
A large bag of frozen chicken thighs, or use fresh, I think they're usually five pounds. Frozen is less expensive.
A one pound container of chicken or turkey innards, optional.
Two pounds of frozen greens. No garlic or onion seasoned versions! You can also use fresh, either way, it needs to be chopped up pretty fine.
Throw the meat, innards too, into a large pot with water to cover, and let it cook until it's coming off of the bones. Let cool, and go through every bit of the meat, removing bones. Everything else, chop coarsely and put it back into the pot. Chop up the innards to distribute them through the soup. If you're ambitious, you can crack the bones and remove the marrow to toss that in, too.
One note - these days, fat is considered to be bad for dogs. So, remove the visible fat and skin, as well, unless your vet feels there isn't a problem with it.
Add more water if needed. It shouldn't be too thick, it should look like chicken soup with a lot of meat in it.
Add the greens, and cook until those are cooked through. It shouldn't take long at all, just heating the soup back to a boil. Once it's cooled to room temp, it's ready to use. Feed the dog according to their weight, of course.
The idea is to eliminate any sugar that would feed the skin infection, so avoid vegetables that have carbs at all. Just stick to the greens at first, spinach, turnip, collards, and such.
Store the dog-food (which is a pretty good chicken soup, too!) in the fridge. You can freeze larger amounts in serving sized portions by scooping it into plastic Zip-Loc baggies. Make sure it's at least room temp before serving, though. I used to keep a saucepan just for that handy, that held the proper amount for Rosie's supper.
Cats will eat this happily, too, though they'll manage to spit out the greens if you don't chop them fine enough. Cats don't need carbs of any sort, but they do need greens for digestion and bulk.
You can also use turkey or any poultry parts for this, with or without the organ meat. Just remember, all bones must be removed. I used thighs because they were cheap, but also because the bones are easy to find after the meat is cooked.
Don't use beef or pork or game or whatever if you're making this formula for a dog with a skin condition. But for a healthy coated dog, this goes further and is less expensive: (Well, it can be, depends on what you use.)
Doggie Fud for a healthy dog:
One large bag of frozen chicken thighs (Or five-ten pounds of any fresh or frozen meat. Avoid burger or ham, anything with a high salt, fat, or sugar content, though fresh low fat ground beef should be fine.)
One or two pounds of poultry innards. Large animal innards can contain too much toxins, it's better to use poultry. This is optional, but it does add nutrition and lots of flavor.
Two-four pounds of fresh or frozen greens and vegetables. Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cauliflower, yams, whatever. Go easy on the potatoes. You can also add various fruits, apple, banana, whatever. Some dogs like sweet or hot peppers, some don't. If they've stolen it out of your garden, they'll probably love it in their dinner.
Do not use onion or garlic, raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, avocado, artificial sweetener, and of course chocolate. When in doubt, look it up under dog poisons.
Two-four pounds cooked noodles, rice, barley, beans, or other starch. Don't use Sago.
The procedure is the same there. Put the meat in a large pot with water to cover. Cook it to shreds, and remove ALL bones. Pick out visible fat and skin. Everything else goes back into the pot. If you've added poultry innards, give those a good chop-up to distribute through the soup.
Chop the veggies, greens and fruit to dice, removing pits and seeds, of course.
Add the vegetables to the pot and cook them soft in the meat and broth. Add water if needed.
Now add your starch, and heat to boiling once.
This should be a fairly thick 'stew'. Don't add thickener, though. Just boil it down if it's too watery.
Cool to room temp and it's ready to feed. This will stretch out the meat quite a bit, and can be fattening for a lazy dog. The more active your dog, the more of the starch you can add. But if you've got a floor mop dog, cut back on the noodles.
You'll have to adjust it for your dog, some dogs will methodically spit out what they don't like, and leave a carefully licked pile of veggies. Try something different, or just go back to greens if they're spitting everything out. Or try pureeing the veggies.
Don't feed this mix to cats, it has too much sugar in it, plus they'll just spit out the veggies and such, anyhow. Stick with the chicken and greens for them, it's not likely they'll ever turn their noses up at fresh chicken soup. :D