Home made pet food

[Altern]

We are considering making our own dog food.
If anyone has comments about THIS particular method & product we'd love to hear them.
Thank you.

[WandaLust2]

Pawz4me wrote:
If I were going to prepare my own dog food, I would educate myself extensively first. Two reputable sources of information IMO are:


Monica Segal (K9 Kitchen, as BCSnob mentioned above) and

Sabine Contreras

Exactly! Just buying a sack of raw meat and a supplement wouldn't be wise. But any of the good recipes out there (by Lic vets/nutritionists) are an improvement over the commercial kibbles. As for being cautious with raw meat... well aren't we all unless we're vegetarians? My husband and myself always wash our hands thoroughly after handling raw meat we cook for dinner.

[Altern]

Thanks for all the responses, particularly BCS & Pawz with such helpful links.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

dturm wrote:
BUT, if I was going to feed raw, hamburger would be the LAST thing I would use or recommend.

LOL!! I kept looking for the directions where it said "brown the ground beef" or bake it or whatever - when I realized they were talking about feeding raw hamburger - it gave me the heebie-jeebies 😉 The recalls on THAT stuff make the dog food recalls pale in comparison....

[Pawz4me]

If I were going to prepare my own dog food, I would educate myself extensively first. Two reputable sources of information IMO are:


Monica Segal (K9 Kitchen, as BCSnob mentioned above) and

Sabine Contreras

They are two of the sanest and most accessible voices in the home-prepared pet diets realm. Monica Segal operates the K9 Kitchen Yahoo group (here), and Sabine Contreras operates the K9 Nutrition Yahoo group (here).

Both have certifications in Animal Health Care through the University of Guelph, one of Canada's top universities. Their Yahoo groups are well-moderated by very knowledgeable people. There's a wealth of info available on those groups.

Another very reliable source, although perhaps not quite so easily accessible, is PetDiets, which is a service offered by Dr. Rebecca Remillard. She is a board certified veterinary nutritionist who currently teaches at the N.C. State vet school. On this page of PetDiets you can purchase, for a very reasonable fee IMO, a balanced home-made recipe for dogs of various sizes. Note those recipes are only for healthy adult dogs.

Edited to add: I was clicking around on the NCSU vet school site and found another resource for balanced home-made pet diets. It's a bit spendy at $231, but knowing you're feeding your pet well would be priceless. Nutrition service (click on "Owner Nutrition Consult Request").

[BCSnob]

When we fed raw we were using recipes from the "K9 Kitchen, Your Dogs' Diet: The Truth Behind The Hype" that utilized various "cuts" of meats and various vegetables in very specific proportions (measured with a scale). Each ingredient was selected to add certain nutrients to the diet; ingredients like muscle, heart, liver, and bone (typically ribs or necks) plus certain vegetables. The diet explained why each item and amount was added in terms of the desired balanced nutrition (protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, etc).

We were feeding raw to help one of our dogs with what has since been identified as Border Collie Collapse (similar to Exercise Induced Collapse in labs); the thought at the time was increasing the amount of L-carnitine would help with this and that the bioavailability of L-carnitine in tablets is much lower than dietary sources (especially in mutton heart).

[dturm]

Where do I start???

The first thing I always do is check the qualifications of the individual/company promoting. This is from their website

Cindy Lukacevic and her husband Ed own Dinovite Inc. She has helped thousands of pet owners in the past 10+ years to achieve the "no more itching, scratching, stinking and spending" pet! Cindy lives on a farm in KY with 4 dogs, horses, chickens, sheep. She and Ed have 3 children and 1 grandchild.

Having 4 dogs, horses, chickens, sheep and living on a farm does not make you an expert in canine nutrition. No other information about how this diet was developed, tested, manufactured ...

Next: You will see a note at the bottom of the page

NOTE: Remember you are handling raw meat so use common sense when making, storing and serving this food. Use the same precautions you would use when handling raw meat for your family.

Feeding raw is another issue I have and will be disputed by some here and is really another topic. BUT, if I was going to feed raw, hamburger would be the LAST thing I would use or recommend. I suppose they feel they have things covered with the statement above, but every food safety expert or agency recommends ALWAYS thoroughly cooking ground meats. So how can they in one statement say use precautions handling raw meat and promote feeding it raw???

PASS.

Doug, DVM

[WandaLust2]

Altern wrote:
We are considering making our own dog food.
If anyone has comments about THIS particular method & product we'd love to hear them.
Thank you.

It can get quite expensive if you have a large dog or several medium size dogs. Have you seen the price of beef lately? Even ground chicken will run $2 a lb or more. However it will be much better for the dog than any of the dry kibble out there.