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 love that I know what is going into my little Josie’s tummy. It was good enough that I ate some for dinner LOL! I will also be giving my dog Hilary’s Blend Supplement as suggested by my veterinarian.
Both my dogs, ( a longhairs chihuahua 5lbs….. a mini bearnadoodle 51lbs) were super finicky! I spent hundreds of dollars on dog food that I kept giving away!! I tried your recipe 4 weeks ago & they . Love it
Now I make it once a week,for my dogs & my daughters dog too.
Thank you so much
Patti
I made a variation of this last week, but today used this recipe. I used fresh rotisserie chicken (skin removed), chopped rather than ground. Once I had all the ingredients mixed my son thought it was dinner it looked so good.
Does this recipe work for cats as well? The ingredients look fine for me.
First a question: can you be more specific about the amount of grated carrots, either by weight or volume?
My dog loves this recipe. She is a rescue dog that I adopted about a year and a half half ago. I tried a combination of several high quality moist and dry foods. The kibble was always available and she got moist food twice a day. Frequently it would be bedtime before she was hungry and would then eat what should have been her breakfast. Some days she ate her kibble, often it just sat there. With this recipe, she eats it all up, often holding her bowl down with a paw to lick the sides. She would happily eat a second serving if she could.
Cats are true carnivores, unlike dogs which are omnivores, and you should be careful when feeding them this many vegetables. They are incapable of digesting a lot of plant matter, but some of it is still good for them as it goes through their systems. You should look for a cat specific recipe and consult with your vet.
My dogs devoured it! Thank you for sharing!!
Does anyone have/know the guide for how much a dog should get for their weight?
I don’t want to over or under feed them.
I just read that it was 1/2 cup per 10 pounds
I read that it should be 2-3% of their body weight.
2-3% Per day, or 2-3% for each meal (I feed mine twice a day)
I tried 1/2 cp per 10lbs. & in 6 weeks my 90lb. Dog looked & acted(going in the trash cans) like a refugee camp survivor!!! I did more reading & found several people recommended 1cp. Per 10 lbs.. He’s been on that about 3 weeks & is still way too thin.
My vet said 25-30 calories per pound. My dogs weigh 30 pounds, so 900 calories per day. A cup of this is 400+ calories, so I feed them each a cup twice daily. Your dog should be getting 2700 calories per day, or about 4.5 cups of this daily.
My dog gets SO excited to eat this. I’m pretty sure he’d fight me for it if I took to long to serve it. I add a puppy supplement to it just to make sure he’s getting all of his nutrients – Wholeistic brand. He seems to be thriving on it.
My 17 year old Chi abruptly stopped eating her dry dog food. For the last week, I’ve been trying everything-wet dog food, treats, scrambled egg- anything assuming she was entering her last days. She’s eat it one day and walk away from it the next. But last night I made your dish – I use your recipes more than any other recipe site- and she tore into it. It may still be the end for her but at least I’ll know her tummy’s full. Thank you.
So wonderful and my dogs love it, recipe is so easy and I love knowing what is in the food they eat.
My puppy loves it! I make it on Sunday and bag out 21 servings for the week and keep them in the refrigerator. Is it ok to keep it in the refrigerator for 7 days or do I have to freeze it?
When I make homemade dog food, I put 3 days worth of thawed food in the fridge crisper and keep the rest frozen. Every time I use a day’s worth, I replace that with frozen so it thaws and I have an ever-rotating 3 days of fresh food without worrying about it sitting too long. I apply that same approach to what I eat, so I figure it works for them too.
I would keep it no longer than a week in your refrigerator.
It’s so easy and I already have most of the ingredients. Going to go make some dog food right now.
We have a toy poodle puppy who is a very picky eater, he will barely even eat treats unless he is really hungry. When we got him he was struggling to put on weight at the breeders and then had the same issues with us. We tried a few different brands and types of kibble then a few different types of canned food. He would barely touch kibble and the wet food he would eat but he didn’t like it, he had to be starving. Like others have said the first time we made this we gave him a serving, he sat there for 15 minutes after he was done just licking the bowl clean.
He has been on this diet for a month now and is definitely doing much better. He still loves this recipe he follows us to the kitchen and sits down and waits for his food to come out of the microwave. Its nice not worrying he isn’t eating enough and knowing he is getting good quality ingredients. In actuality this is a ton cheaper then canned food and it doesn’t leave our house smelling like rotten fish. I’ve also noticed his poop smells better, not that I would want to smell it but it is less poignant.
our 9 lb toy poodle is also a very picky eater and will not eat dry food as well as canned foods. She will eat this up however. how much are you feeding per day of this recipe? she is also getting a mutivitamin supplement. Thanks
I am trying to integrate more real, unprocessed food into my dogs’ diet. They can’t eat most meats, so I used tempeh instead of turkey in this recipe. They are picky eaters, and the LOVED this recipe! Thank you!
I have tried every store bought dog food. Pebbles, freeze dried, frozen raw, and my baby will never eat the whole thing or enjoy it. After eight years, I decided to try homemade dog food since she loves my cooking so much. Anything that is human food. This was the first recipe I found that looks super easy. And it was just that! I looked at one comment and it said that their dogs were super picky eaters and didn’t eat it. I was scared about that comment. I placed the dog food down and watched her go to town!!! Thank you for sharing you are a god sent!
How many servings is that?
My puppies won’t touch it 🙁 but I will! My puppies have gotten very picky the last week so was hopeful they’d love this.
Have you tried Halo? My pug loves it. I would give her the kibbles and can mixed together, with some warm water to soften the kibbles. Dog do not digest dry food well, and its much better to add some water plus keeps them hydrated.
Don’t know what to do just want to know what’s good for my dogs
I add 1 tsp. of turmeric in my dog’ food for joint pain prevention. I alternate brown rice and quinoa and started adding 1 tsp. of flax seed as I noticed that many anti-itch chews contain it.
What is the serving size for a 50 pound dog? I started feeding this to my dog about a month ago and he’s lost a good amount of weight so i’m just worried that it’s not enough and I don’t want him to become malnutrition.
I give my dog 1 cup in morning and 1 cup at night. She is 45 pounds and has maintained a healthy weight over 9 months on this food. I do use a vitamin supplement from The Missing Link. It is the original superfood supplement for hips and joints, the other type from this company is the same formula but without the joint supplement.
Would this recipe be suitable for a puppy and if so how much would I give? I currently have a 13.5 week old border collie. I would like to do a mix if kibble and wet food.
I chose the homemade dog food route after yet another one of the “trusted” dog food brands got sued for compromising ingredients. I have 2 boston terrier and this is such an easy recipe and my 2 hellhounds act like they are getting a treat every time. I put them in muffin tins for portion sizing and freeze them. 6 portions in each freezer bag to last a full day that I take out the night before I go to bed. And they are thawed out the next morning for breakfast. My female has suffered dry skin especially during the fall and winter months and her skin and coat looks so much better since I have been doing this. An unexpected benefit.
hey! haven’t tried yet but I definitely think my dog will love this! I’m just wondering though if I should add some egg shells and probiotics? also maybe egg yolks for omegas, or does this already have?Thank you so much for this recipe!