I thought I’d do something a little unique for Day Four! Instructions on making homemade dog food. If you scroll ahead to the video, you will miss some important instructions I received after I put it together.
Some might think it’s a little neurotic to make my dog’s food, but it’s well worth the effort. First off, it’s better than any kibble you can buy at the pet store. I also like that I control what goes into Casper’s meals. Read labels of even the highest-rated dog foods on the market, and there will be numerous ingredients you probably won’t recognize.
I looked into getting The Farmer’s Dog Food because of its nutritional value, but even for a dog Casper’s size (six pounds) it would cost over $2.50 a day. And I was concerned about food being delivered to my front door when I’m not at home. Raw food, nonetheless. The fear of salmonella poisoning alone was enough to deter me, even if the price was reasonable.
Because Casper had bad tear stains, his groomer suggested I consider feeding him human food instead of dog food. She thought those pesky stains could be related to food allergies since his recommended dog food was very rich. A white dog with stains running beneath its eyes is not attractive, nor was it comfortable for Casper.
Another issue I was having was getting Casper to eat. I tried all the best foods, mixed things in to make them more palatable, and still, he’d turn up his nose unless I hand-fed him. Then he got a stomach bug, and I switched to white rice and boiled chicken. It shocked me to see him scarf it down like it was a gourmet meal. This is when I decided to make the shift.
At first, I cooked extra food we were already making for ourselves, without spices. But I’m not a seat-of-the-pants kind of person. I like to preplan, which is why I started cooking his food in bulk. Plus, it was easier to measure rather than guess if he was getting enough of everything.
One thing I always add to his meals is Dogzymes to be sure he gets all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that he may not get in the foods I cook for him. I highly suggest before you delve into this project, you visit the website Balance It. I put Casper’s food together on Friday morning, and he had his yearly checkup that afternoon. When I told the vet what I was doing for his food, he strongly recommended I go onto the site so I could be sure my dog was getting all the necessary nutrients and calories.
What I also loved about going onto this free recipe calculator was that I could plug in the foods I was already feeding him, and adding a few that I typically have around the house, I was quickly given everything I needed to make a completely balanced diet for Casper. Balance It advertises their supplement to use (in place of the Dogzymes I linked to above), but I think either is fine. The other thing that was suggested was to add liquid omega-3’s into the dog’s food. I use Pet Honesty Fish Oil and add the proper amount for his weight into his bowl as I put his food together.
Because I want to make Casper’s food in bulk (a month supply at a time), I thought it would be a tedious process to change the daily ingredients in the recipe Balance It came up with into the correct amounts for thirty days. It was actually quite easy. A calculator and a few searches on my phone, and I had it down.
You might think preparing your dog’s food sounds like a lot of work. But you’d be surprised at how easy it is once you get a system down. I cook the boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the crockpot ahead of time. The grains, rice, sweet potatoes, veggies, etc. can all be cooked at the same time. I put the rice on (35 minutes), and by the time it’s done, I have the veggies cut up and cooked and the apples diced. So, hands on time is about an hour. I only need to do this every four weeks.
The total cost is probably somewhere around ten to twelve dollars for one batch of food.
There is a list of foods you should absolutely never feed your dog—grapes, raisins, onions and garlic, apple core, avocados, and more. If you want to give your dog human food for snacks, make sure to do your research.
In the video, I told you that I freeze the extra chicken broth in ice cube trays and store them in a freezer bag to add to Casper’s water. But I also melt a cube to go into each meal, as well. Whatever I have to do to hydrate him!
Three months into this process, the weepy eyes disappeared, he eats like a champ and is totally healthy and active. Even knowing I’m going to make some adjustments after visiting the Balance It site, I won’t go back to kibble.
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