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

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Teresa, The post a few down that Karen points out also doesn't mention that some vets are not up on nutrition, either. Just like if your doctor told you that you needed surgery you would get a second opinion, we need to do this with our dog feeding. Just because a vet or a doctor says "X" does not make it so. Before my dog died from the recalls of 2007, I never thought to doubt what my vet of 20 years said. When I started reading everything I could about dogs and feeding and vet care in the US, the more I started to doubt my vet.

Every year, he gave a cocktail of vaccinations, and last year when I wanted to titer my 8 yr old Bijon, and it was told to me that he didn't think it would matter. Huh? Does he not read vet literature? The titer came back that he had FULL immunity. So if we did another shot i would have overloaded his system.

When the recall was announced I called and asked what I should feed. He said he feed Beneful. Beneful?

Anyway, now I do my own research. Get Pitcairns, Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. You can learn to "balance over time" rather than "complete and balanced" which is a propaganda technique professed by the commercial companies. In the wild, dogs would eat a variety of things over a period of time. I have been homecooking and feeding some raw for almost 2 years now. We have not had to go to a vet at all.

To shorten my rant, there are very few vets who will work with you to "make sure your dogs are getting everything they need." If you do find one then you are one of the lucky ones. Do your own research, then ask your vet. If he is up on his education, he will advocate homecooking and/or raw. Certainly, he will reccommend organic, human grade, no additives, no rendering plants, no by-products or fillers. Sorry, I can get very long winded on this subject.

[Teresa]

Hi Lynn. I don't consider you ranting at all and do agree with your points. I'm a strong advocate of researching anything that I am told so that I have time to really understand what I am being told and then make my own decisions. I am fortunate in that I do have an amazing vet that is very good and actually giving me her point of view, giving me options and then letting me make a decision.

Question back to you - if you don't immunize every year, do you have any trouble taking your dog to groomer or any other dog service? or do you get a letter from the Vet saying that immunization is up to date?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I have never had a groomer even ask me if they were immunized, for anything. My present groomer has been with me for almost 8 years. The only one mandated by law here, is Rabies. If you are boarding, they might require to see proof. But a titer report should be accepted because it tells you the levels of immunity. My dogs are seldom around other dogs as my groomer comes to my home and only at the dog park do they really get near other dogs and that is for a short time. Does this help?

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

I do something similar, except that the only thing I make a big batch of weekly is a big pot of jasmine rice, and maybe sometimes a few chicken breasts separately. Then each evening, I take some of whatever protein I am eating and add it to some of the rice I have microwaved from the pot in the fridge, add some diced veggies, a little oil (except if his stools have been on the loose side), and I crumble up a NuVet Plus canine vitamin in the mix. Occasionally I will add some white or sweet potato. If I am eating something I know he cannot or will not eat (salmon, Chinese, etc.) then I substitute the aforementioned chicken breasts that are in the fridge for the protein. He seems to be doing well on this, and I too started this regimen when the pets were dying from the canned commercial foods a couple of years ago.....some of which I was horrified to learn I was giving to my baby! My vet really wants me to feed him Science Diet Dry, and I leave that kibble out for him if he wants it, but he really looks forward every night to his hot dinner, and it is important to me that he enjoys his food.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

That is great Ellen. I think if more people started doing this, in the long run our dog would live longer, healthier lives. You came up with a system that is easy for you, my regimen is to cook once a week and freeze batches for daily use. Every person has different time constraints, etc. But there are too many people who just flat out say "I can't" and that is sad. It is so much easier that having sick dogs.

As far as the Science Diet is concerned, my suggestion is to switch that. It has known carcinogens in it and is not healthy. That the vet suggests it means he knows nothing about canine nutrition, which is typical of most vets. Go read thru "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" right here on the food group. There are many high quality kibbles discussed there. Once you do your research, ask your vet why he wants you on SD. You're armed with info for him that he probably doesn't know himself. It's sad that we know more than the vets in this area and it is because of forums like this where we learn and discuss.

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

Canidae kibble is what the breeder fed and recommened I feed him, but he got really tired of it. The SD really has CARCINOGENS??? I'll go immediately to read the good the bad and the ugly

[Rory]

I keep reading that dogs used to live longer before kibble, but I have yet to find any sort of authoritative research that backs it up. What is the source of this claim? Or is it just anecdotal?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There is no research, and in fact, it isn't true. Dogs live much longer now than they did before kibble. Whether that's because of food is debatable, but the life spans of dogs on average have gone up, just like people.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

The point is, not to point out the loss of my beautiful dog, but to get others to research and think about what they feed their pets. Something I learned in the 2 years since the 2007 recall, is to question everything, regarding my dogs. From food to the forced vaccination schedules, I am to my dogs, now, like I was with my children when they were babies, THEIR VOICE. Just as my vet will do nothing without fully explaining and titering or testing before giving anything to my dogs. I will never trust commercial dog food companies to feed my dogs. There was just another Mars dog food recall, recently. So they have learned nothing. By homecooking or feeding raw, YOU ensure your dogs are fed properly.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would like to learn more about adding digestive enzymes when feeding a homecooked diet (and just in general.) Most of what I see on-line is on websites which are trying to sell the products. Any impartial, fact-based info would be very helpful.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Karen, I have been alternating between adding plain yogurt, Solid Gold SeaMeal containing Prozyme and a Probiotic Supplement from Nutri-Vet. I also add Bone Meal and Tast of the Wild Suppliment and Missing Link Supplement. I alternate every week with a different combination, thinking that I can balance over time rather than "Complete and Balanced" as the dogfood companies advocate. I feel this is closer to natural feeding. I get everything from onlynaturalpet.com. But reading books like Dr. Pitcairns really helps.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Here's today's batch: Beef, Chicken, rice, veggies and the last of the fresh parsley from my garden. Bye bye summer.