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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
It was amazing. But how do you preserve the left over for the next meal?
I measure out enough for 5 days In a plastic container and leave it in the fridge, then freeze the rest measured out in plastic containers. Also, I feed my 21# dog 1/4 cup dry and 2 tablespoons homemade food twice a day.
My dogs absolutely love this homemade food and look forward to dinner every night. However, I know the vet always comments on my Shorkie’s teeth saying how healthy they are and we just adopted our Havanese two weeks ago. What would you suggest to keep their teeth healthy and strong? Thanks!!
let me know your email address and I will share my dog research with you. email me at briannalatour233@gmail.com. It is about what you should and shouldn’t feed dogs, aggression, training, medicine, problems, breeding and such.
Okay this recipe is bomb! First of, I had some myself and it was so delicious lol. My dog loved it even more
Cooked this today for our 4 dogs. I’m sure they will love it.
Used chicken, didn’t have spinach or zucchini used coleslaw instead. Gibbs only eats when desperate and I’ve been feeding him chicken breasts and rice for years. Couldn’t believe it, turned to rinse pan, when turned around his dish was empty. Wow
I would be careful with the coleslaw or cabbage. Could cause gas or gastrointestinal issues.
Thank you so much..
I’m doing this recipe as I txt
How much of this recipe is sufficient for an 7 year old over weight pug mix. I really like the ingredients. I rescued him at 6 years old and he has gained a lot in a year. He’s 30 pounds and sluggish.
Badger has had intermittent problems with commercial dog food. Our vet also said he should be on a bland diet. He loves this recipe, but is not digesting the peas completely. Will either eliminate them from diet (pun intended) or smash them up…we’ll see.
Thank you kindly. Goingvto try. My poor dog always suffering with skin issues.
Question…Is the amount of rice the recipe calls for, for cooked or uncooked?
I have the same question but judging for the video I think it’s cooked rice
Do you measure the meat before or after cooking it?
Dogs loved it but pooped
I love this recipes
For my dogs. To keep them healthy and fit. Thanks to post it here.
Looks so good I might Eat it too!
Is the serving size based on pounds my dog weighs 55 lbs how much should I feed him
My dog weighs 7 pounds and she gets 2 meals a day how much should she get in each meal
I have a 18 lb Westie and she had pancreatitis is doing well now so am going to try this recipe, but to the know how much to feed her ! Can you help me?
I saw on another similar recipe that the recommended amount was 1/2 cup for 25 pounds. Hope this is helpful.
I have been looking for a good wholesome recipe for y dogs who are a bitnoverweight,. On e dog 8s inactive and the other partly active if he finds a tennis ball. These recipes look good, so i will change to a different meat every day. Thank You.
I started using your recipies and was blown away. My chis and slimming and o ly the right stuff goes it. Good proteins and nutrients. It’s incredible how much it worked. No more turned up little noses!! Thanx!
It is great that you are providing a means for people to prepare a homemade diet for their pets. I would like to respectfully point out that this recipe is deficient in providing an essential ingredient: calcium/phosporus. I encourage you and your readers who are interested to visit Donald Strombeck’s website (DVM) has a wealth of recipes that are properly balanced. http://dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/ is a wonderful resource. By simply adding bone meal (which has the proper mix of calcium/phosphorus) to this recipe, it will become more complete–adding to the current freshness and wholesomeness. Failing to do so means that the dog’s body will get what it needs from the dog’s bones causing structural damage.
Hello, I believe if it’s not added in their food directly, this can be solved with the right vitamins.
Cheers!
So glad to see some exact measure recipes. This makes so much, I know the recipe could be halved. I am wondering what luck anyone has had with freezing this in serving sizes. My little pup is a terrier mix about 13 lbs. Currently eats 3/4 cup of commercial dry dog food. Would he get the same amount of this or more? Thanks for all the information you have posted.
I meal prep for our Miniature Pincher every other week, and i freeze his food. I use snack bags & measure using a digital scale, then seal all in a gallon Zip lock bag. I don’t measure my ingredients, just try to make it healthy for him. He had a serious reaction to Blue Buffalo, and then Prescription Dog food. He is much healthier now!
I was very happy to find this recipe, as I was new to preparing my dogs food. I had no idea of the right ratio of what to what. My vet told me to use white rice though. Not sure what to think of that! But I was also pleased to see just how many veggies could be included. She eats 5 baby carrots and about 1/5 of a fresh pepper every morn but I wasn’t sure what elase was ok. Thank you again.