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

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

mine does this with the carrots too! LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Soy is a big no-no for dogs! It's one of the top allergy provokers, is not well-digested by many dogs, and can also cause bloating. According to Joan Weiskopf in Pet Food Nation, "Pets can't utilize the amino acid complex from soy. You will find a lot of soy in commercial pet food because it is a cheap and plentiful source; it just happens to be useless to a dog or cat."

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Leigh, I have never heard of soy flour and none of my natural health books mention it. They do say tofu is OK and soybeans are OK. Wait, in Natural Health Bible for Dogs it just says soy flour has the second highest isoflavone levels: 44 mg. "In pets, a dosage for soy isoflavones of 2mg per pound of body weight twice daily has been suggested as an alternative therapy for dogs with urinary incontinence. Long term side effects are unknown...pets taking...should be monitored for side effects associated with estrogen." You may want to do some more research on this.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Leigh, I don't think a human grade whole wheat flour would be bad, unless they have some allergy problems? I know wheat itself is not a good ingredient in kibbles, but I think a lot of good nutritious dog treats use whole wheat flour, no? I know that Three Dog Bakery does, and their treats are certified human-grade, and were recommended to me when my 15 year old poodle was failing.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I use Whole Wheat Flour when I bake dog treats but like Karen said if there's an allergy you might have to do more research.

[cocoincanada]

Wow, this is very interesting. My two main questions are:

- When feeding homemade food, how do you know you're feeding enough? 1 cup, 2 cup, etc? Is it just trial and error?
- Do you still feed some kibbles, or do you feed ONLY homemade for all meals?

This is a very cool thread. I have given Sunny lots of raw/cooked veggies in the past (frozen veggies are his fave!), and he likes fruit like apples, watermelon, etc. too. I never would have thought it could be so simple as adding some extra ingredients to the cart at the grocery store and cooking for an hour.

Some of you have mentioned soft stool that melts away in the yard...this isn't a problem for home, but trying to pick up a soft poop while on a walk is often very challenging. How do you deal with this aspect of it?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Sorry, Coco, I can only rave about melt away poops, I can't help you pick them up. LOL We have a dog door and back yard, so melt away is nice. On a walk, well??? Maybe add some brown rice to "stiffen" it up. Good Luck!

On another note, I am so happy to see people homecooking. It warms my heart that so many of us are taking back the feeding of our dogs away from the crap DF companies have been giving them. I do still free feed kibble, about 2 cups a day for three dogs (only premium brands). It gets left out all day. My homecooked is their dinner, meal. Sometimes, I will give them an egg in the morning and, of course, treats as the day goes on. Frozen veggies is a great treat to give.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I also have to pick up poop twice daily on walks, but Jackdoodle is still mostly eating kibble with brown rice in it, with some homecooked tidbits added in; I find that rice is a must for keeping his stool firm enough to pick up. I think if you go the homecooked route, adding some brown rice, as Lynne suggested, would help. A heaping spoonful of canned pumpkin (NOT the pie-filler, but actually cooked pumpkin) helps too.

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

Well, I just made a batch of dog mush for Abby (second attempt) and here is what i did:

In a large pot:
add 8 cups of water
appx 4 tablespoons sodium free chicken stock - more or less as desired
I used 3# chicken breasts, diced. (they were on sale and cheaper than the thighs pkg)
I added about 4 cups of carrots, cut smaller to cook faster
about 4- 5 potatoes, washed but unpeeled and cut up
a sweet potato - this I did peel and cut up
I chopped about a 1/2 cup craisins - good for urinary tract
I boiled this until the veggies were mostly done.
I strained the veggies out and put them in a bowl.
In the pot of broth I added:
4 eggs, beat - pour in the hot broth slowly while stirring - more protein
1 1/2 cups raw brown rice - carbs and keeps stools firmer
Simmer this until the rice is done - appx 1 hour, stirring ocassionally

While the rice is cooking - I use a chopper and chop the veggies and meat mixture up finer. When rice is done, add the veggie mixture, a Tablespoon of garlic powder, and 1/4 cup olive oil - for the coat - back to the rice mixture in the pot.
( I did add some minute rice to absorb the extra liquid - I suppose you could use oatmeal also)
Let it cool and bag it up and throw in the freezer. (I bag it up 2 cups to a bag - enough for 2 days )
A batch this size lasts me 3 weeks to a month - more or less - feeding her appx 1 cup a day.

Her kibble (premium brand) is down during the day and put about 1 cup of this "mush" down at supper time.
Her stools are great, her coat is so soft, and she is filling out nicely. She was thin when we got her, she is a finicky eater, and she is growing so fast that she wasn't filling out at all. That's when i decided to make her this mush, and she loves it. You could add any combination of veggies, or use any meat. The options are limitless, but this recipe is somewhere to start.

Is there anything else I should be adding?? I'm new at this. Any and all advice is more than welcomed!! Anyone with anything more to add, please do so.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Denise, it looks like you have a pretty good plan. I do pretty much the same thing, but I do more meat and less other stuff and more low sodium broth and less water. I have been at this over a year now and find that as you find things on sale or fish or other meats on sale you can change it up. If you don't give marrow bones, you could add some food grade bone meal and salmon oil is also good for the coat. If you notice she is putting on weight, back off on the starches, carrots can be switched off with spinach, peas, broccoli or almost any fruit or veggie except mushrooms or onions. Read through these discussions and you will find lots of other tips.

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

Thanks Lynne - I guess I should have said - I use a powdered soup stock, so I have to start out with that much water. Where do you find food grade bone meal? I am watching her weight - but I am also trying to fatten her up to some degree - as I said, she has always been on the thin side. Her hip bones don't stick up any more but her ribs are sure close to the surface yet. I don't want a chunky dog - but I want her to feel solid and healthy, not bony and fragile. I will cut back on the starches tho, as we go along. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I don't want an over weight dog either...

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Health food stores would carry Bone Meal, or I got mine from onlynaturalpet.com. Or you can give marrow bones (raw) every once in awhile. Ground up egg shells can be added here and there or cottage cheese for calcium.