DIY Homemade Dog Food
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Keep your dog healthy and fit with this easy peasy homemade recipe – it’s cheaper than store-bought and chockfull of fresh veggies!
I never thought I would be one of those dog owners who made homemade human food for their pups. Not in a million years.
But when Butters recently fell sick with an upset stomach, our vet advised us to feed him a bland diet – chicken and rice without any kind of seasoning. So that’s what we did – we poached a chicken, shredded it in a food processor, and mixed in some white rice and fed him this bland diet for 3 days.
That’s when I started to do some research on homemade dog food, and I have been so amazed as to how many different kinds of vegetables dogs can have. And with the help of Balance IT, you can create so many different recipes for your pup!
Now the best part about making homemade dog food – just like making anything at home – is that you know exactly what is going into the dog bowl, and not any of that questionable gelatinous gunk from the canned food.
But it’s important to note that dogs have different nutrient requirements than humans for their proportional body size, such as:
- High-quality protein (meat, seafood, dairy or eggs)
- Fat (meat or oil)
- Carbohydrates (grains or vegetables)
- Calcium (dairy)
- Essential fatty acids (egg yolks or oatmeal)
Now this recipe here has a balance of 50% protein, 25% veggies and 25% grains, but the ratios can easily be adjusted to suit your pup’s breed and/or needs.
Once you’ve made your batch, you can divide them up into single servings, note the date, and freeze it. When ready to serve, you can defrost it in the fridge overnight and nuke it for 15-30 seconds. That’s it! Now who knew that making dog food would be this easy?
DIY Homemade Dog Food
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brown rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 pounds ground turkey
- 3 cups baby spinach, chopped
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1 zucchini, shredded
- ½ cup peas, canned or frozen
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 3 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add ground turkey and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the turkey as it cooks.
- Stir in spinach, carrots, zucchini, peas and brown rice until the spinach has wilted and the mixture is heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- Let cool completely.
Did you make this recipe?
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I made it but what are the calories
Any idea how much of the supplement “balance it” you would have to add to this recipe??I can’t figure that out. Thank you for any help you can offer
https://recipecard.io/recipe-nutrition-analyzer/
Add any recipe into the calculator and it will tell you all you need to know the calories and nutritional information. I based it on 4 servings but you can change that according to the needs and size of your dog. I haven’t made this yet so I don’t know how much it actually makes. But if you base it on the number of servings, once you have played with the calculator to get enough daily calories you can portion it out easily.
I have been purchasing “fresh” processed dog food for my dog. Then realized it is starting to get to be a little expensive. I found this receipe and thought I would give it a try. Mind you, I have a very picky eater of a dog. I was worried she wouldn’t like this, but gave it a try anyways. She devoured it. As soon as I get the bowl out of the fridge, she comes running into the kitchen to eat. I’m glad I found your recipe and my dog loves it.
Hello,
I was wondering if you can freeze for later to give them?
ABSOLUTELY! Remember, any left overs can be frozen. I hope your baby enjoys his meal 🙂
Hello!
My dog is about 35 lbs. I’m wondering if I give this to her once or twice a day? And do I replace her dry food with this?
Thanks so much!
The fresh veggies sound like a great way to keep my pup energized and fit. Can’t wait to try this recipe out! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the recipe but my dog is 60 pounds how do I know how much to feed him thanks
We use a similar recipe and give our 10-year-old 18 lbs dog 6.5 oz. I’m sure you can find some calculations. I would do around 20 oz.
Thankyou for the recipe my mother inlaw years ago had alot of animals and made dog food be for internet thankyou
This is a great recipe and my fussy Westie ended his hunger strike when I gave him a portion of this and started barking for more when he finished! ☺️
I did all the calculations and the nutrition facts for the whole recipie are:
Calories 3774
Protein 262g
Carbs 253g
Fats 193g
Fiber 22.3g
I used 85% lean ground turkey so this might change if using leaner turkey. You can Google your dogs daily calorie needs by weight to figure out how much to feed. It might also be good to use a supplement to make sure your dog is getting all the vitamins and minerals they need. There are many option on Amazon made specifically to be added to homemade dog food.
How many calories per cup please?
The total for the whole recipie is 3774 Calories, I’m not sure about per cup.
You divide the total amount of calories by how many cups you got from the batch.
Turned out good!! I reduced the spinach and peas, added apples, pumpkin and beets
A little lamb bone broth too..
Pets really are family. I can’t imagine my life without my little furballs
I just made this. I quadrupled the recipe to make plenty. It was a task.
One thing I’m curious on as I’m putting it together. Is the rice serving quantity cooked or uncooked? I was assuming cooked.
Since the recipe says to add the rice to 3 cups of water, I believe the amount called for is uncooked rice. Another indication for me was the ratio of 1 1/2 cups of rice to 3 lbs of meat. That is my reasoning anyway.
I made a variation of this recipe for the last two years after my 16 yr old Yorkie was given a few months to live with kidney failure. He lived on for almost two years after that initial report and I credit that to switching over to homemade food. Meal time was his favorite!! Thank you for keeping our pups healthy.
My story is much like yours however my baby is a shih Tzu. How did you change the recipe? What are the variations you used,please?
would you share some of the recipes. and did you mix kibbles with the food?
I made this today for my babies. I have 6 small dogs and 1 big one. And 2 cats. They all had it for dinner this evening and licked their dishes clean. I have enough left over for another meal for them. Going to substitute ground beef and sweet potatoes. Thank you for posting healthy meals for them.
Looks great! Sounds healthy. Do you add any supplements or anything to make it a complete meal?
How many meals does this make? I have 4 small adult dogs.
Thank you for the recipe, I cook chicken and rice for my dog 4 days week and alterniting mince beef three days but feel sad it’s a bit bland.
You have given me a way to add flavour and healthy ingredients that I didn’t know he was allowed.
So thank you so much, Regards Sandra ☺️
Whst is the serving size for a 90 lb dog using this recipe
There are 3774 calories in the whole recipie and a 90lb dog needs 1800 calories a day so your dog would need half the entire recipe per day.