Help writing homemade dog food recipe with specific Ingredients

[The Food Group]

I am wanting to make my my dog homemade dog food, however his tummy is finicky, so less is best on the ingredient list. He is a working dog (K9 Sniffer), so a high Kcal/cup is very important to me because his stomach cannot hold a lot of food and he will vomit when exerting lots of energy, even hours after eating. 

This will be a cooked recipe. 

Essentially I want a Meat (chicken, beef, etc...) Sweet Potatoes, and Eggs, But is this nutritionally sound or does he need something else added. I prefer real foods over artificial supplements if possible. I can even include organ meats if needed, and if i have to include vegetables I will blend them excessively, but no Carrots if possible, he throws those up too.  What am I missing, what do i need?

No Rice or rice-like Carbs, need something wholesome and rice just passes right through him. 

Thanks in Advance!

-Nick & Tanner

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I'm no expert (waiting for an expert to show up) but I would think a dark green vegetable like spinach would round out the nutritional requirements.   The sweet potatoes may also be starchy enough on their own to fill him up, so you wouldn't need something like rice.  

There are some people in this group who make their own food, hopefully they'll chime in :)

[Tammy & Gracie]

I homecooked for Gracie for years.  I included some organ meats a few times a week.  Sweet potatoes were my starch of choice however I sometimes used oatmeal or barley instead.  I also used crushed eggshall in every meal for the added calcium.  I varied the veggies drastically. Spinich and other greens have something in them that can be over done (sorry I do not recall what atthis moment).  I used greens, squash of all types, carrots, beans, really anything I could find with the exception of corn or onions.  I ran the veggies thru a food processor and lightly cooked them.  I also added fruit often, unsweetened applesauce, apples, bananas, blueberries.  Again anything except grapes and raisins.  I used the theory that if she got a little bit of everything in a weeks time that her vitimin intake would be adequate.  I did add a multi vitiman and a little oil of some sort daily.  She did really well on this diet for years.  I only quit doing it due to family obligations and time constraints.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I do home cook and worked with a consultant and my Vet to formulate a recipe.  I've got to run out to a training session right now, but as soon as I get back home I'll find it and share it.  My base is chicken or turkey. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It was easier to find than I thought.  Here is my recipe...hope this helps. 

 

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I cook for my chihuahua that has kidney disease.  We work closely with our vet to determine the specific ingredients and measurements.  In our case we use ground beef, brown rice, olive oil, eggs and mixed vegetables.  I would ask  your vet for some advice also.

We have to add fish oil, Vitamin B and tums tablets for calcium also...  Keep in mind mine is for a kidney diet so your formula would be different. 

I agree with Jane to work with your vet if at all possible.

[Tammy & Gracie]

Guiness's recipe looks like the same proportions I used for Gracie.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jack's internal medicine specialist approved Jane's recipe as being nutritionally complete and sound; however, it is much, much lower in calories per cup than any kibble on the market. At the time, due to his being so ill and having lost so much weight from the IBD, he required 1600 calories per day, and the IMS calculated that he would need eight cups of Jane's homecooked food per day if that were his only source of calories; in other words, there are only about 200 kcal/cup in the recipe. 

You are never going to get a high number of calories per cup from a homecooked diet because of the high water content in any fresh food recipe. Protein & carbohydrates contain the same number of calories per gram; fat contains more than twice the calories per gram, but increasing the fat is contrainidcated for any dog with digestive issues. 

An active adult dog requires 15-25 calories per pound of body weight per day, depending on their size. Giant breeds are at the low end of that, toy breeds are at the high end. So a 15 lb active adult dog would require a minimum of 375 kcal per day, and a 100 lb active adult dog would require a minimum of 1500 kcal per day. (True working dogs require much, much more.) 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I honestly don't know. Anything with a high water content is going to have fewer calories by volume than a dry food, so the amount you would need to feed will be higher. Maybe one of the dehydrated raw products like Honest Kitchen with your own homecooked meat added would work? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I just checked the Honest Kitchen website. Their Thrive formula is made for active dogs and contains 516 calories per cup, which is a LOT, even compared to high calorie kibbles. (Orijen Adult has 480 kcal/cup.)

If you added a little of your own meat, that would boost the calories even more, in a relatively small amount of food. Here's the link to the product, see what you think: http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/thrive

[Jill, Woody & Maxi]

I am a home cooker..though I have been using The Honest Kitchen in between HC meals.. The recipe we use is very similar to what Jane has mentioned..chicken, sweet potatoes and a vegetable...though, depending on the weight of Tanner..that will be alot of cooking!!