Homecooking for your Doodles

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

A place to talk about feeding our doodles a variety of home-cooked foods, with recipes included. Ask questions, check on safe ingredients, share some tips. Please see The DK Cookbook Group for recipes, too!
http://doodlekisses.com/group/dkcookbook

[R Ullrich]

I took the plunge and started making food for my dog and WOW! He was shedding boatloads of hair everywhere and had dry skin and smelly ears. Long and short of it, it seems to have been poor nutrition from his former food. Since we started home cooking, all of those problems are gone in less than a month. He loves the food, goes insane when I get it out of the fridge and it is not hard to make at all. He has no issues with anything at all, his coat is softer. In other words, go for it!!!! I did also change his kibble to Solid Gold. I still give him that once per day because I want him used to eating that if we travel and don't want to lug food around. I give him a doggie vitamins and some fish oil. I haven't been able to find evening primrose at the store but I'm planning on adding that too.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The EPO is a human supplement which should be available at most grocery stores or pharmacies, and definitely at places like GNC. I buy the Safeway brand, which is the store brand at Dominick's grocery stores in my area. You can also get it through Pilgrim's Pride mail order for a good price.
Please add your name to the Homecooking Committee which I've just started, if you don't mind:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/homecoo...
I'm so glad "The Dark Side" is working for your dog!

[Lynda Kamrath]

I didn't want to start cooking for my dogs, but when Hondo had liver failure, he could not eat dry dog food any more and I started cooking for him. He is healthy right now. When he was recovering, the only thing he wanted to eat was routisserie chicken and that remains his favorite. Since I am cooking for one dog, I started cooking for them both and now have down my routine. My dogs also eat Solid Gold adult formula for their dry food, and that is mixed with meat from the grocery store (chicken, beef, and occasionally pork) and a dry mix called Happy Dog with lots of vitamins that I buy in large 20-pound boxes. It is great for traveling as you just cook up a couple of days supply when you have access to a cooking area and refrigeration. Hondo cannot have any shots and we just got him licensed without them with a letter from his vet. It has taken a little work on my part to get organized but we have it working now.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lynda, please add your name to our Committee, too, if you're willing.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

Although I have mentioned this company before in another topic, I thought I would ask here. Does anyone use the U-Stew mix from the Know Better Dog Food company? Also they make a mix called Better in the Raw, to use with raw meat. I use their mix for raw food for my cat who has IBD, but I haven't tried the dog mixes, due to the fact that I have 3 dogs now (5 before) and it isn't really financial possible for me to feed my dogs that way. But curious if anyone has used the dog products, I LOVE the cat formula, it is an excellent way to make sure that you are getting all the necessary nutrients in there for you pet.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

Correction, my cat food comes from Feline Future Cat Food Co. but these two companies were/are linked.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My concern would be where the company obtains the ingredients. I see there is a section on the website written in Japanese, and a section for Japanese orders.
The U-Stew mix is almost all animal proteins with fairly high fat contents, which might not agree with many dogs. Also contains some starches and dairy product in the form of whey. I was surprised not to see any vegetables or botanicals included. But I don't see anything harmful in it, provided the source of the ingredients is trustworthy.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

The idea is that you add your own meat and vegetables, then this mixture rounds out all your nutrients. As far as I know this is a Canadian company and that is where the ingredients come from. They may ship to Japan because there is a large dog training population there for French Ring and some other forms of competition. A lot of those people like to feed raw/homecooked diets.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

I emailed them to see about their ingredients. :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The company information gives Corvallis OR as their location, as well as BC Canada. Apparently, they have an American division?

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

The Oregon company is who distributes their US orders. The actual company is in Canada.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Canadian is good. :)