Home made dog food DOs and DO NOTs

I had a good catch up with my good friend Kal Barteski today. Kal has known us for a few years and it took her about that long to convert to making her own dog food. Like most people it was the recall that pushed her over the edge to make her own food. Anyhow, we had a good conversation about making dog food, some shortcuts that work and some that don't work out so well.

DO chop your meats/proteins before adding them to your roaster
DO NOT try to blend whole liver and CERTAINLY NO WHOLE KIDNEY in you BLENDER!

• You CAN blend both of these but ONLY if you've chopped them up and ONLY if you've removed the white core in the kidneys. Both can get really stringy and wrap themselves around the blender blades, bring it to a burning halt and render it not only useless but really really gross.

DO chop your veggies, you can even GRATE them!

• Typically, those who make lots of homemade dog food will GRIND the meats AND the veggies. If you don't have a table top grinder you can also grate your veggies. This is not something we do at chateau Holtslag but Kal and Dan do it and swear by it. The smaller you cut your veggies, the less time they need to cook. It will also increase the surface area of the veggies for better absorption. Excellent for smaller dogs Nice!

DO use a variety of fruits and vegetables
DO NOT use a lot of one fruit or veggie that typically is hard to digest and your dog isn't used to.

• You know, foods like broccoli, cabbage, saskatoon berries. Most pack a super nutritious punch and your dog will get used to them over time but try not to add TONS of a hard to digest food at once..or you might be at the receiving end of some pretty noxious by products.

DO use some grains in small amounts for variety in nutrients once in a while.
DO NOT pile on the grains.

• Some oats or rice is fine. Lots is not. At most, you food should contain 15% grains. Dogs can use them, they're excellent for energy but they aren't the food dogs need as a staple. They need meat as their staple. Buy treats with good grains to round out their diet.

DO keep some canned or kibbled dog food on hand.
DO NOT keep a cheap bag of food on hand.

• Cheap food is more than cheap, it can be harmful. Whether it's overloaded with grains, loaded with grain by products, meat by products, sugars, colors, chemical preservatives, chemical agents to make it "chewy" or plastic disguised as protein it's no good for your dog and undoes all of the good you're doing by making their food.
• If you're going to keep kibble on hand, keep a small bag. Because it's not full of chemical that can "keep" your kibblevforever (gross) it will loose it's good nutrients, aroma and flavour faster. If you can, keep it in an airtight container once it's opened. Or better yet, get a good canned food.

If you haven't seen the previous posts on making your own dog food, check out the recipes here.

Hope this helps
Bonnie

Comments

[Kal Barteski]

I like these posts about making your own dog food... AND I don't even mind being a source of DON'T for the very bad blender trick I tried.

Viva la homemade dog food!